Health And Wellness Programs

Employee Wellness Plans are proven to increase productivity and reduce medical care costs.  For a business, that makes a difference in the bottom-line. Today, more than 81% of America’s businesses with 50 or more employees have some form of Employer Health and Wellness Program with the most popular being exercise, tobaccos cessation classes, back care programs, and stress management. The majority of companies offer Employee Wellness Plans simply because they think the benefit is worth the cost. Yet business leaders continue to ask themselves how to control huge annual increases in health insurance premiums and medical care costs.

For many businesses, medical costs can consume 50% of business profits or more. Some employer’s look to cost sharing, cost shifting, managed care plans, risk rating, and cash-based rebates or incentives. But these methods merely shift costs. Only Employee Wellness Plans stand out as the long-term answer for keeping employees well in the first place.

Employee Wellness Plans are an example of medical care reform that works. Results from America’s finest businesses, summarized here, are reason enough to consider offering Employee Wellness Programs.  This investment in your most important asset – your employees – can have a positive impact on your bottom-line.

Employer Health and Wellness Program Statistics:

Providence Everett Medical Center, a member of the Wellness Councils of America, in Everett, Washington, saved an estimated 3 million or a cost-benefit ratio of 1 to 3.8 over 9 years of an outcomes-based Employee Wellness Program. By offering financial incentives ($250 – $325) to employees who meet specific organizational and employee health initiatives the Employer Health and Wellness Program continues to meet cost containment expectations in the area of medical care use, sick time, injuries, while improving health habits and self-care practices.

During the first 4 years of the Employer Health and Wellness Program there was a 28% average reduction in medical care utilization compared to nine other Providence hospitals that were used as a control group.

Du Pont saw that every dollar invested in their Employer Health and Wellness Program returned $1.42 over two years in reduced rates of absenteeism costs at Du Pont Co. (Well workplace Gold in Delaware). Absences from illness unrelated to the job among 45,000 blue-collar employees dropped 14% at 41 industrial sites where the Employer Health and Wellness Program was provided, compared with a 5.8% decline at 19 sites where it was not.

The Travelers Corporation claims a $3.40 return for every dollar invested Employee Wellness Programs, yielding total business savings of $146 million in benefits costs. Sick leave was reduced 19% during the four-year research study. In addition to improving the overall health of 36,000 employees and retirees by reducing poor health habits and increasing good ones, The Travelers realized cost savings by decreasing the number of unnecessary visits to a doctor and emergency rooms. In a similar but smaller research study, members of a Travelers fitness center Employer Health and Wellness Program were absent from work significantly fewer days than non-members.

The Employer Health and Wellness Program at Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Company, based in Las Vegas, cost $76.24 per employee during the two years it has been in operation. Over 50% of the 1,600 employees took part in the Employee Wellness Program. Participants significantly lowered cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and weight and experienced 21% lower lifestyle-related claim costs than non-participant. Resulting savings: $127.89 per participant in the Employer Health and Wellness Program with a benefit to cost ratio of 1.68 to 1.

Superior Coffee and Foods, a Bensenville, Illinois-based subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation, attributes impressive results to the success of the organization’s complete Employee Wellness Program. Superior showed 22% fewer admissions to a hospital, 29% shorter hospital stays, and 42% lower expenses per admission when comparing costs for this division’s 1,200 employees with costs for other divisions. Long-term disability costs were down by 40%.

With medical costs per employee at $6,000, nearly twice the national average, Union Pacific Railroad introduced their Employer Health and Wellness Program to its 28,000 employees, mostly union and blue collar, in 19 Western and Southern states. Beginning with a modest medical self-care initiative at an annual cost of $50 per person, the Employer Health and Wellness Program achieved a net savings of $1.26 million. In addition, a voluntary Employer Health and Wellness Program to help employees decrease health risks projected a cost-benefit ratio of 1 to 1.57 after one year. Workers in a treatment group decreaseed their risk of high blood pressure (45%) and high cholesterol (34%); others moved out of the at-risk range for weight problems (30%); and 21% stopped smoking.

Average medical costs of high-risk Steelcase employees- those whose lifestyles include two to four health risks such as tobacco use, little exercise, overweight- are 75% higher than those of low-risk employees. But high-risk employees at this Grand Rapids, Michigan-furniture manufacturing organization who improved their health habits through the company’s Employer Health and Wellness Program and became low risk cut their average medical claims in half thus lowering their medical insurance costs by an average of $618 per year. If all high-risk employees (20% of the total employee population) in one location changed their lifestyles to become low risk, the projected savings could total $20 million over three years.

Workers at Berk-Tec, a small manufacturing organization in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, learned self-care techniques and decreaseed their organization’s medical care costs in one year. By using a self-care guide, the 938 employees and their family members made smart medical decisions and saved $21.67 per employee and dependent a nearly 18% reduction in costs. By combining reductions in doctor visits and emergency room use, the corporation saved $39.06 per employee a 24.3% decrease in costs over the previous year.

A medical claims-based research study of 72,000 people insured through 285 Wisconsin school districts found a reduced demand for medical services among those with access to Employee Wellness Plans and self-care programs. Reductions in medical services results in savings for the Wisconsin Education Insurance Group of as much as $4.75 for each $1 spent, higher savings were found in the group receiving access to a 24-hour phone-based nurse advice line, a self-care reference book, and health education materials.

CIGNA’s Healthy Babies prenatal Employer Health and Wellness Program delivered an average savings of $5,000 per birth by offering expectant mothers with educational materials and rewarding early and regular prenatal care. And 80% of participants had normal births without complications compared with 50% for non-participant.

With savings estimated to be as high as $8 million, the California Public Workers’ Retirement System sent its 55,000 retirees a health rist assessment followed, in some cases, with individualized reports and letters and self-care materials to encourage change and help reduce health risks among retirees and at the same time reduce the medical care claim costs. In another research study, Bank of America retirees in California who chose the full Employer Health and Wellness Program and demand reduction program showed a decrease in total direct and indirect costs of 11% compared with a rise of 6.3% for those who completed only a simple health questionnaire.

With reduced medical care claims, medical costs decreased 16% for workers in the City of Mesa (Arizona) who took part in the complete Employee Wellness Program. The city realized a return of $3.60 for every dollar invested in the wellnss program for the city workers.

To prevent back injuries among its workers, a county in California targeted white- and blue-collar employees, provided classes and fitness training. As a result, there was a significant increase in employee morale, reduced worker’s comp claims, medical costs and sick days related to back injuries producing a net cost-benefit ratio of 1 to 1.79.

Employee Wellness Programs: Savings

Employee Wellness Plans offer Long-Term Savings

Employee Wellness Programs, according to an article in Crain’s Detroit Business, come in two varieties:  Employee Wellness Plans or Health Insurance products that aim to reduce costs if healthy habits are followed.  Both options are a good choice, but only one will really offer long-term health benefits for your workers and reduce costs over the years.

Employee Wellness Plans offer Assistance

Insurance-based products offer workers the opportunity, according to the article by Jay Green, to save money on their premiums if they follow certain steps, including performing an online health assessment, visiting their physician, and agree to adopt a healthy lifestyle.  These plans usually involve one coach call to the employee during the first 90 days.  We wonder if these brief wellness encounters will actually change a individual’s lifestyle.

It is the overall change in a individual’s lifestyle, as well as disease prevention that will lead to reduce medical cots in the future.

Employee Wellness Plans offer convenient Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) and health testing for things like diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.  As the article notes, these have initial start-up costs, but the savings accrue over time and workers are more likely to stay active in an worksite employee Wellness Program.

Employee Wellness Plans Get Results

Finally, the article notes that corporations with an effective Employer Health and Wellness Program can expect to see “500 percent reduce absenteeism, 400 percent fewer disability claims, and 350 percent reduce medical care costs.”  These are numbers that are very hard to argue with.