Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit—Now available for your benefits communication | Segal Benz

From the minute we heard about the Choosing Wisely® campaign, we knew it would be a success. The campaign aims to get employees better engaged in their health decisions and to improve health outcomes by encouraging physicians, patients and other health care stakeholders to think and talk about medical tests and procedures that may be unnecessary and, in some cases, cause harm. More than 25 leading medical specialty societies have created recommendations for physician/patient discussion, and Consumer Reports has translated the clinical recommendations into insightful tips and free resources for the general public.

All the pieces of the Choosing Wisely campaign are aligned with employer health care goals. So when Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) and the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) asked us our thoughts on how to make it easy for employers to educate their employees and spread the word about the Choosing Wisely campaign, we couldn’t wait to get started. It’s been a pleasure working on the Choosing Wisely Employer toolkit, and we’re so honored to have been hired to create this toolkit in collaboration with PBGH, NBCH and Consumer Reports.

We’re thrilled to announce that the Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit is now available online. The materials found in the toolkit can be used by employers of all sizes to easily build new campaigns and integrate Choosing Wisely materials into existing resources.

The Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit includes:

• eight new ready-to-use articles;
• more than ten tip sheets from Consumer Reports;
• a PowerPoint presentation for use in meetings with employees;
• an index of Consumer Reports resources;
• an index of employer materials, with reference guide to familiarize employers with the available resources and their intended purpose;
• sample campaigns, including a three-step guide to launching a Choosing Wisely campaign;
• a sample Choosing Wisely campaign timeline/editorial calendar; and
• tips for integrating a Choosing Wisely campaign with current wellness, enrollment and other benefits campaigns.

“We know too many employees are getting tests they don’t need—and even treatment that is unnecessary,” said David Lansky, PBGH CEO. “This new resource is an important tool to help educate employees to talk to their doctors and really understand what tests and treatments are right for them.”

You can download the Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit here. More information about the Choosing Wisely campaign is available at http://www.choosingwisely.org and www.consumerhealthchoices.org