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National Reminders

Chronic disease is the leading cause of direct health care costs. Researchers estimate 75 percent of all health care costs stem directly from preventable chronic health conditions, yet only 1 percent of the $1.9 trillion dollars spent on health care in the United States goes to protecting health and preventing illness and injury.1,2 Care Solutions’ National Reminders Program works to change this by emphasizing prevention, early detection and treatment.


1Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. National Health Expenditures and Selected Economic Indicators, Levels and Average Annual Percent Change: Selected Calendar Years 1990-2013. Washington, D.C.: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary; 2004.
2Institute of Medicine. The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press; 2002.

National Reminders is a targeted, proactive mail program designed to help keep employees healthy by emphasizing prevention, early detection and treatment. Centered on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) evidence-based guidelines, the program identifies members in need of preventive services through medical claims, pharmacy claims and laboratory data, and encourages them to obtain specified services in a timely manner. Studies show increased compliance with preventive health care services leads to early detection of targeted diseases and lower medical costs.

A recent study conducted by Milliman, C-Change and the American Cancer Society found that three to five lives per 50,000 employees could be saved each year if employers fully adopted select USPSTF cancer screening and tobacco treatment recommendations.3 Achieving 100 percent compliance would cost employers an estimated $7.50 per member per month. Because most employers already provide some type of cancer prevention and early detection benefit, the average incremental cost of moving to 100 percent compliance is about $2.95 per member per month.3

1Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. National Health Expenditures and Selected Economic Indicators, Levels and Average Annual Percent Change: Selected Calendar Years 1990-2013. Washington, D.C.: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary; 2004.

2Institute of Medicine. The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press; 2002.

3Pyenson B, Zenner PA. Milliman, Inc. Cancer Screening: Payer Cost / Benefit thru Employee Benefits Programs. Commissioned by C-Change and the American Cancer Society; 2005.

4Centers for Disease Control, Accessed August 2008.

5Stamler J, Stamler R, Neaton JD. Low risk-factor profile and long-term cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality and life expectancy: Findings for five large cohorts of young adult and middle-aged men and women. JAMA 1999; 282:2012-2018.

6Vita AJ, Terry RB, Hubert HB, Fries JF. Aging, health risks, and cumulative disability. N Engl J Med 1998;338:1035-1041.