For employers, health care quality is an issue that hits the bottom line. The question, “How much does this health plan cost?” isn’t just about premiums anymore. It is also about sick days, sick wages, and worker productivity.

We know that when we feel good, we are more productive. It's common sense. And we know that the converse is also true. But what common sense fails to offer in terms of proof, data provide. Consider the following:

• In 2005, the failure to routinely follow recommended guidelines for evidence-based care for just four conditions—asthma, depression, diabetes and hypertension—cost employers $10.6 billion in avoidable lost productivity.
• The same suboptimal care resulted in 64.7 million avoidable sick days in 2005. That's the equivalent of the entire workforces of Boeing and Starbucks calling in sick every day for a year.
• The cost of depression in the nation’s workforce is estimated at more than $30 billion per year.
• Smoking-related health care expenditures and productivity losses exceed $167 billion annually.
• In 1999, lost work time due to illness and disability cost the telecommunications industry $11.5 billion—the equivalent of eight percent of total revenue.

Data such as these are increasingly showing that poor health decreases productivity and increases costs. More than thirty studies have been conducted during the past decade on the links between health risks, medical costs, and workplace productivity. The studies provide compelling evidence that investing in employees’ good health pays off in measurable ways. NCQA has a free online tool--the Quality Dividend Calculator--that affords you the opportunity to see for yourself how quality care can impact your bottom line.

In sum, quality matters. As an employer making contracting decisions, you have the opportunity to demand that your health plan routinely engage in quality measurement activities and continuously work to improve the quality of care delivered to your employees. One way to do so is to ask if your plan is NCQA-Accredited.

And if your health plan isn't NCQA-Accredited, there's a simple question to ask: Why not?