The Business of Better Health:

Healthier people, healthier bottom lines

Every Michigan employer feels it: Healthcare costs are climbing at an unsustainable rate and it isn’t clear the money is buying better health, a stronger team or fewer disruptions to the business. That conversation is happening in boardrooms, at kitchen tables and in Lansing, but too much of the conversation is focused on who is to blame for rising costs, rather than how to actually solve the problem.

Our perspective: Workforce health is a business strategy. Spending in the right places — prevention, primary care, smarter partnerships — helps employers lower healthcare costs while increasing the value they and their employees get from every dollar: a healthier, more engaged and more productive workforce.

What’s Really Driving Your Costs

There are many factors driving up healthcare costs. Only some are within employers’ control. But those that are can meaningfully impact both healthcare spending and employee health, productivity and retention.

It comes down to how care is delivered, when it's accessed, and where dollars get spent long before anyone gets sick.

Uncover Why

This Is Our Business Too

Henry Ford Health makes the same healthcare cost decisions that most other Michigan employers make, for a workforce of more than 50,000 people and their families (65,000 total). Additionally, Henry Ford Health has operated value-based care programs for close to two decades, well before most employers began asking hard questions about healthcare value.

We’re still learning too, but we’ve already proven what works.

Learn How

What You Can Do About It

There is no single fix for healthcare costs, but there are tangible actions that employers can consider, already proven to lower costs while improving outcomes for employers and patients. Collaborative employer health programs can deliver more than a 2-to-1 return. (Hawrilenko et al., Journal of Health Economics and Outcomes Research, 2025)

We recommend five specific, practical shifts you can start putting to work today.

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