Health And Wellness Programs

The Partnership for Avoidance was formed to encourage Fortune 1000 corporations to consider making workforce health a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) issue and adopt strategies to promote avoidance and wellness.

After several years of double-digit rate increases for health insurance, businesses are realizing that among the best ways to slow the cost increases is to have workers take more responsibility for both costs and health options.

A majority of corporations surveyed feel that the best way for reducing costs is financial incentives to encourage employees to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Nearly 100% of businesss surveyed say that healthcare costs will be a critical or meaningful concern over the next five years, as reported by a recent survey by United Benefit Advisors.

More companys are adopting higher deductible health plans with HRA’s or HSA’S, health promotion programs, and expanded disease management programs for control ever-increasing health care costs.

Failure to deal with these issues could be disastrous for an employer. Wayne Sensor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alegent Health lately stated, “I think that we’ve built a healthcare machinery we cannot afford. I think we’re choking the economic engine of America.”

In his October 2005 newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil stated, “I think rising health- care costs are becoming the major economic issue in our nation”. Obesity costs California organizations billions of dollars each year.

Projected costs for 2005 may reach 28 billion dollars for direct and indirect health costs, staff member’s compensation, and lost productivity. California has experienced one of the fastest growing rates of obesity of any state.

As reported by California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, “The obesity epidemic is more than a public health crisis, it’s an economic crisis.” What is frightening is that most individuals  don’t even realize that they are obese, which is defined as only 20 percent above normal weight.

There’s a great need for more education on weight and resulting illnesses, and the workplace is an ideal venue. Health Promotion education and programs can result in a significant return on investment and, when structured properly, can produce causes a very short period of time.

Although many employers have attempted some form of wellness program in the past, results from those efforts have been disappointing.

In many cases, the healthier workforce participated for incentives, like health and fitness center memberships, but those who needed it most did not take advantage of the program in a meaningful way.

Organizations are looking at ways to encourage more workforce to purchase into the wellness movement.

A recent webinar hosted by Human Resource Executive Magazine and presented by Carlson Advertising Group titled, “Healthier Employees; Healthier Bottom Line –  Engaging Employees is the Missing Link in Managing Healthcare Costs,” drove this point home.

This session provided actionable advice on how organizations are achieving higher impact with their wellness investments by focusing on employee engagement. It also highlighted how you can create an Economic Engagement Model to forecast the potential impact for your organization.

Corporations can simply no longer ignore the issue of their employee’s unhealthful lifestyles and must take action to engage them in a meaningful health promotion program to reduce health costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Employees also benefit as they derive better health and greater satisfaction in both their personal and specialist lives. the alternative is being caught in a non-competitive position and severely impacting the bottom-line of the corporation.