Of all the health conditions that affect the U.S. workforce, allergic rhinitis is not only the most common but is also one of the most financially impactful.
“I actually had to call in sick a couple of days at work because my allergies were so bad,” says Stephen Spong, a 37-year-old librarian. “You kind of cease to function and want to stay inside and hide, so that’s what I did.”
There are between 9 and 10 million allergy-related doctor visits in the U.S. each year, making allergy treatment a large part of employee out-of-pocket medical expenses. It is also estimated that these visits result in medication costs of at least $2.4 billion annually.1
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the average American with allergies now spends $566 each year on their allergies to manage their symptoms, which over a lifetime can be a startling amount because over the counter solutions only treat the symptoms, not the cause.
A study of more than 8,000 participants demonstrated that 55% of employees experienced allergic rhinitis symptoms for an average of 52.5 days. This led to workday absences of 3.6 days per year per employee due to the condition, and employees were unproductive for 2.3 hours per workday when experiencing symptoms.2
With this information, we can extrapolate that even a small business with 20 employees will likely experience 72 sick days per year due to allergies. That’s like giving one employee more than two months off each year! On the other hand, a business with 200 employees experiences more than 360 days—the equivalent of one and one-half full-time employees! No matter what size the company is, the impact is real.
Now, let’s put that into a cost perspective. There are about 260 workdays in a typical year. The average annual revenue per employee for a small business earning less than a million dollars is $43,000 or $165 per day. For a business earning $50 million or more, the average is $230,000, or $884 daily. Absences alone for the 20-employee business cost the company almost $6,000. However, for the larger business, with 200+ employees, that translates to more than $318,000 off the bottom line. Assuming an average profit margin for a U.S. business is 10% of revenues, that means that for a $50 million business, allergic rhinitis can reduce the profit margin by just under 7%.
Moreover, due to climate change, plants are growing faster, producing more pollen, and the pollen has higher concentration of allergens. Not surprisingly, allergic rhinitis prevalence has increased significantly in the last two decades and continues to climb, which means the financial impact on U.S. businesses will only worsen.
According to the Harvard Business Review, corporate wellness programs have impacted the bottom line, returning $2.71 for every dollar spent. Considering that allergic rhinitis is the most common employee ailment, current pharmacological interventions, though effective in some individuals, do not resolve the problem. Most importantly, when interventions are discontinued, the symptoms return as they didn’t modify the fundamental illness. Allergen-specific immunotherapy is the only intervention that modifies the disease, yet the insurance-approved 113-year-old allergy shot protocol is inconvenient, laced with side effects, and associated with mortality (a few cases every year). We at Potens Allergy have developed an innovative, novel protocol that can be used to treat allergy symptoms in as little as 30 days. Given the unobtrusive nature of the protocol (drops administered at home), we see patients every 3 months, significantly lowering the cost to the industry in both unscheduled office visits and repetitive visits associated with allergy symptoms.
Our patented protocol has a ramp up phase that is short, safe, and effective. It induces relief of symptoms in as little as 22 days. Imagine the impact on your employees and the business of adding an effective allergy treatment like the Circava System™, which works quickly for the majority of people on the treatment!
There are several ways in which employers can make Circava System therapy available to their employees–through their corporate wellness program, through direct health insurance benefits for companies who self-insure and as an approved HSA plan reward. We invite you to have a conversation with us. Our team will work with you to find the solution that works best for your company.
1. William Storms, MD et al. The economic impact of allergic rhinitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol June 19972.
2. Charles E Lamb et al. Economic impact of workplace productivity losses due to allergic rhinitis compared with select medical conditions in the United States from an employer perspective. Curr Med Res Opin. 2006 Jun; 22(6):1203-10
