FIRMS TRY TO LOWER CARE COSTS

Twenty-two area businesses, which combined have about 6,000 employees, are seeking to reduce their ever-rising health care costs through the efforts of a group they have established the Cape Area Business Health Care Group.

The group has been in existence for about 15 months and is now in the process of hiring an executive director, said Bob Cranmer, employee relations manager at the Procter and Gamble plant and president of the health care group.

The group has advertised the position in the Wall Street Journal. Cranmer said Monday that the group hopes to fill the position by late October or early November.

"This has always been our game plan along the way, to hire somebody that can help guide our efforts in the whole field of health care," said Cranmer. "We wanted somebody to guide our efforts both at the local level and at the legislative level."

Cranmer said members of the group have talked to representatives of both Cape Girardeau hospitals. He said another group is being formed comprising representatives of the businesses and Southeast Missouri Hospital to look at ways to control health care costs.

"We're looking for some good partnerships to be developed this next year so we can begin discussing openly this whole subject," said Cranmer.

He said that businesses must deal with the entire provider network: doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. Businesses, he said, must also develop programs for their employees that encourage a healthy life style.

Cranmer said the businesses in the health care group have experienced hefty increases in health care costs. "Our increases over the last year ranged anywhere from 16 to 80 percent," he said. "The national average is 20 percent."

The Cape Area Business Health Care Group includes both small businesses and large industries. Some of those businesses are spending millions of dollars annually on health care, said Cranmer.

"This is one of the most rapidly rising cost elements that businesses have," he said.

The health care group, he said, is continuing to expand. "We've been adding two to three businesses a month."

Cranmer said that he expects the group will eventually comprise area businesses employing a total of 7,000 employees.

The group currently includes a number of major employers such as Procter and Gamble, Lone Star Industries, Southeast Missouri State University, Noranda Aluminum, Tri-Con Industries, Biokyowa, Union Electric, M&W, Dana Corp., TG-USA, NPS Corp., East Perry Lumber Co., Blair Industries, Rapco Industries, HAVCO Wood Products, and May Centers, which operates West Park Mall.

Cranmer said that "the way we will get to cost control is to develop partnerships, sit-down sessions where businesses and providers sit down and really talk about cost control.

"We want to see this as a positive relationship versus an adversarial relationship," he added.