Medical consumer education

The need for health promotion programs in the workplace is more important today than ever before in these times of increased costs of health care. It is essential for corporations to develop efficient and effective health programs which will reduce the costs of employee health services while providing quality care. Occupational therapists can make significant contributions to the development and implementation of health promotion and health education programs in the corporate world. The Medical Marketplace project described was a federally funded research project designed to assess the effectiveness of a health consumer education and training program on the reduction of health care costs. The training was intended to increase the knowledge and skills of employees, making them wise and informed consumers of health services; to improve the quality of health care by helping consumers find appropriate care more quickly and directly; and to reduce employee health costs by eliminating the use of unnecessary or inappropriate services. The occupational therapist was the principal investigator of this project.