Wellness Quote – Wellness Proposal

At the end of the day, is it worthwhile to ban tobacco use on the premises at your corporation?

It depends on the steps you take to support workers trying to kick the habit, finds a recent published study .  The Journal of Tobacco Policy and Research found that smokers do, in fact  take more sick days than their non-use of tobacco peers.

And even when the smoker is in relatively good overall health (i.e., isn’t obese, does not have chronic medical conditions), he or she is still likely to have higher health care costs than a comparable non-smoker over the last three years.

How does a smoking ban fit into the cost equation? When the smoker quits, health costs even out.

But when the person only refrains from use of tobacco on the job

In the last few years, there’s been a rising trend for public corporations

Quitting smoking at any age can improve a person’s health.  And believe it or not, older staff members often fair better with smoking cessation than younger employees.

According to the Journal of American Medicine, Duke Univ. reseearchers tracked 573 older patients over 10 years. They found that just 16% of those who joined the tobacco use cessation program later returned to tobacco use.

Previous research has found young smokers who try to quit have a 35% to 45% relapse rate within two years.

Given that staff nationwide are retiring later and the cost of retiree health care is sky high, you might want to keep trying with use of tobacco cessation programs, even for the oldest staff on your health plan.

In this recession economy and out-of-control staff member debt, many companys who don’t have automatic 401(k) enrollment have seen participation drop.

Here is how one small organization in Arizona cleverly tied 401(k) education to employees’ other financial concerns. Rather than simply holding its usual 401(k) open enrollment education meeting, it held a “financial wellness fair.”

Stressed 401(k) importance

Exactly how it worked –  on the same day the company’s 401(k) provider sent a plan rep to discuss the retirement plan, the corporation also arranged for a licensed financial planner to speak to personnel.

The financial planner went first. She began the session by pointing out that she wasn’t affiliated by any method with the management of the 401(k) plan.

That was crucial both for the company’s legal protection under ERISA and for building trust with staff members. She then discussed why it’s crucial for individuals  to take part in the 401(k) plan, and offered attendees budgeting tips and basic strategies for cutting their debt.

The financial planner’s talk cut to the heart of a few major issues that hurt both employee salary satisfaction and 401(k) participation. Numerous studies show that the No. 1 reason many people  avoid 401(k) participation is that they feel they can’t sacrifice any part of their entire paycheck and still survive financially.

The second part of the session was the standard 401(k) enrollment presentation from the provider. End result – Workers were more attentive and there was a noticeable uptick in both new 401(k) enrollments and salary contributions from already-enrolled employees.

The event was such a smash that the organization plans to make the Financial Wellness Fair a regular part of 401(k) enrollment. While the financial planning advice is generic (the organization may add third-party personal finance planning as a voluntary benefit in the future), it’s also timely.

The 401(k) signup appeal comes while the financial planning tips are still fresh in employees’ minds and they’re motivated to do something to help themselves.

Looking for incentives to get overweight workforce to purchase into a health promotion program? A recent study  suggests many workforce are even willing to pay much

Studies show that roughly five% of workforce drive about 80% of your health benefit costs.

No shocker here –  Smokers and obese staff are the highest risk group for developing the sorts of chronic medical problems that send costs through the roof.

A small, but rapidly growing number of businesss are taking desperate measures to avoid the costs associated with these staff.  The step may be broken down into three levels of aggressiveness and potential risk/reward.

Level one –  the business installs a wellness program in which non-smoking employees and those who commit to maintaining a healthy weight receive financial incentives that lower their share of monthly insurance premiums.

Level two –  the corporation disqualifies job candidates who smoke or are significantly overweight from hiring consideration. Alternatively, some firms require new hires to undergo a health risk assessment as a condition of being hired.

Level three –  the employer docks pay or fires employees who fail to control their lifestyle-related health risks. Example –  A corporation called Clarian Health has sent notifications to employees that starting in 2009, employees who smoke or chew tobacco are going to be charged $5 per paycheck.

Are these strategies legal? at level one, the answer is a licensed yes. HIPAAs non-discrimination rules permit such incentives under several conditions.

Wellness incentives walk a fine line respecting health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)s non-discrimination rules. It is legal to reward staff for wellness participation but its illegal to punish those who fail to improve their health.

Example – If an employee follows a weight-loss program in good faith but fails to lose weight, you can’t withhold the incentive. In like manner, if an employee fails repeated tries to quit use of tobacco, you’re still legally obligated to give them another shot next year.

Additionally keep in mindthat, by law, the size of the reward or penalty under your wellness program cant exceed 20 percent of the sum cost of coverage.

The other two are still largely uncharted waters in the courts. Businesss considering these policies should proceed with extreme caution. Remember that the question of “can you do it” (i.e., is it legal?) is different from “should you do it?” (i.e., is it good business?)

Health promotion programs come in all shapes and sizes. But regardless of plan design there are five common components that set the successful health promotion programs apart from the rest.

At their core, wellness programs require constant monitoring and periodic adjustments.  The wellness programs that get mediocre results are the ones that are left to run on autopilot. That’s why it’s vital to -

1. Know thine enemy You’ve to know what’s driving your largest claim costs on your health care plan – both among employees and their dependents.

2. Create realistic expectations. With wellness, what an business gets will nearly always depend on how much it spends, how well it plans and how well it sustains communications with participants and the provider.

3. Maintain strong communications.  The health promotion programs that achieve the greatest success are those which are communicated aggressively from the get go and are sustained. Repetition is your friend when doing staff member education.

4. Integrate wellness with other benefits. Real-life experience has shown that you should consider your worker assistance programs (EAPs) an extension of the wellness program. You should also consider issues like absenteeism, disability and worker’s compensation to be pieces of the wellness puzzle.

5. Practice what you preach.  The key to ensuring employee buy-in is for executive management to lead the wellness program by establishing a positive example. If upper-level managers are unwilling to participate and address their own health issues, don’t expect many workforce to take the wellness program seriously.

Here is more evidence that health promotion programs pay for themselves -

Over the last two years, one corporation in five has seen significant betterment in employees’ health status

Corporate America is increasingly investing in staff member health promotion because it is good business.  In order to meet productivity demands, organizations must rely on a healthy, productive workforce to succeed in the highly competitive global marketplace.

Over a hundred studies in both corporate and governmental settings have documented the economic benefits of employee wellness programs, including decreased absenteeism, decreased injuries and workman’s compensation costs, decreased health care costs, decreased employee turnover, in addition to increased productivity, greater employee satisfaction, and improved morale.1-10

The more recent literature reflects improvements in wellness programming along with greater return on investment.  In general, the more focused and intensive the wellness program, the greater benefit realized.

To enhance their effectiveness federal government employee wellness programs could  be able to incorporate some of the features described. Staff Member wellness programs shown to have positive returns on investment often include the following features -

1   Health and productivity management model

Programs characterized by this model focus attention on identification and reduction of specific risks or behaviors like tobacco use, lack of exercise, excess weight, unhealthy diet, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stress, depression, and so on.

High-risk workforce are specifically targeted for intervention, although the most successful wellness programs also direct efforts towards healthful workforce in order to maintain their low-risk status.  This model emphasizes outcomes as opposed to simply offering wellness activities for their own sake.

2   Health risk appraisal

Use of a computerized health risk appraisal  instrument with individualized feedback and recommendations is almost universal in successful health promotion programs. Employees take the questionnaire annually in many cases.

The Health Risk Assessment (HRA) serves to elevate awareness, provide direction, and motivate individuals to improve specific behaviors.  In some cases, the personalized report is directly linked to appropriate resources related to identified risks.

Research indicates that the use of an HRA is effective when it’s followed by some type of educational or therapeutic intervention for identified risks.  It often serves as the entry point into health promotion programs.

3   Biometric analysis

A lot of health promotion programs combine the results of the health risk appraisal with measurement of each worker’s biometrics, including weight and Body Mass Index , blood pressure, cholesterol, fasting glucose, and assorted other metrics.

Combining the results of the HRA with biological measures leads to a more precise risk profile.   Computerized health risk assessments often incorporate biometric data in their risk analysis.

4   Wellness Program Incentives

Staff Members are frequently given monetary or other meaningful rewards for completing an HRA, participation in a health promotion program or class, specific accomplishments such as stopping tobacco use, losing weight, or exercising, and for maintaining healthy status and/or behaviors.

In many cases the monetary incentives are associated with reductions in medical insurance premiums.  Some wellness programs use disincentives in addition to incentives, like charging personnel who smoke higher rates for their medical insurance contribution.

5   High health promotion program participation rates

Successful health promotion programs use incentives to drive participation rates up.  They also market their health promotion programs comprehensively, and may use contest or challenge strategies to heighten enthusiasm and encourage participation.

6   Health Promotion coaching

Employees with identified risks or desire to improve their health habits may  be periodically coached via telephone by trained wellness Coaches.

Coaching helps workers set and achieve realistic lifestyle-related goals including those addressing stress, work life balance, use of tobacco, weight, exercise, and various behavior modifications.

Three or more sessions are usually offered.  In some intensive health promotion programs, the coaching extends to actual disease management intervention for staff members with identified high-risk diseases.

7   Multiple formats

Programs may offer wellness content in online, paper, and seminar formats to provide stimulating variety and alternatives in order to accommodate the needs of all staff members.

In addition to on-site physical activity and healthful consuming events, on-line wellness programs, e-mail reminders and notices, printed newsletters and materials, and worksite courses and workshops are common dissemination strategies.

8   Senior level management support

Enthusiastic and frequent endorsement by senior management is vital to achieving high rates of participation.  When senior executives are wellness role models themselves the effects of endorsement are enhanced.

9   Frequent contact

Successful health promotion programs have frequent contact of some sort with every employee.  This may  be through advertising efforts (e.g., posters, e-mail notices, reminders, or messages, etc.), bulletin boards, newsletters, staff meeting presentations, discussion in new employee orientation, supervisory sessions, etc.

The key is to enhance employee awareness of wellness opportunities and reinforce the corporate emphasis on wellness through frequent and multiple “touches”.

10   Open enrollment

To encourage high participation rates workforce must’ve easy access to the wellness programs and activities.  Open and uncomplicated enrollment processes achieve this.

Many corporations automatically enroll all workforce and then allow those who don’t wish to participate to “opt-out”.  This practice has been proven to improve enrollment rates in some settings.

11   Family involvement

Many health promotion programs encourage spouses and other family members to take part in the company wellness activities and to adopt a healthful lifestyle along with the designated staff member. It’s far easier for the staff member to have a healthful lifestyle if his/her family does so as well.

12   Tobacco use cessation

Because use of tobacco and other use of tobacco is the number one threat to health it is critical to offer workforce effective and convenient assistance with quitting.

Access to smoking cessation pharmaceuticals is often part of such health promotion programs.  In-house health promotion programs provide the most convenient access to these services, although on-line or telephone-based health promotion programs may  be available as well.

13   Physical Activity

Regular exercise is a core component of every health promotion program. Staff Members must be strongly encouraged to engage in regular exercise.

Most health promotion programs provide either periodic or continuous on-site opportunities, and some locations have on-site health clubs, swimming pools, walking trails, etc.  Discounted or paid memberships to community exercise facilities is a common alternative to on-site facilities.

14   Weight management

Because obesity is a major threat to health it’s crucial that programs offer effective assistance with weight control. Comprehensive encouragement from upper management to shed excess weight is important.

Web-Based wellness programs, workplace programs, or discounted access to weight control programs in the community may all be available.  Long-term follow-up is crucial for maintenance of weight loss.

15   Stress management

Worksite stress is perhaps the most common complaint among personnel and a major contributor to absenteeism, presenteeism (reduced productivity), and low morale.

Almost all successful health promotion programs offer assistance with personal and worksite stress.  Some programs refer personnel to outside resources for additional serious conditions like depression and anxiety disorders, but most offer web-based or frequent on-site general stress reduction programs.

Some corporations endeavor to structure the work environment to minimize stress, both physically and operationally.

16   Medical testings/immunizations

Staff Members are actively encouraged to complete recommended medical screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, Body Mass Index (BMI), colorectal and breast cancer, and others.

Annual influenza immunizations are also encouraged.  Some sites provide these services at the worksite.  Incentives are often awarded for completion of these screenings/immunizations.

17   On-Site health care

Actual provision of onsite primary care medical services is a growing trend.  The rapidly escalating costs of medical care insurance for staff has stimulated this trend.

Many organizations have found that it’s less expensive to provide main care services themselves than to fund those services through health insurance.

On-Site care also lowers the amount of time workers would otherwise spend away from the workplace getting such services.

References

1   Aldana, Steven G.  (2001)   Financial Impact of Wellness Programs –   A Extensive Review of the Literature.   Am J Wellness 15(5) – 296-320.

2   Chapman, Larry.  (1998)   the Role of Incentives in Wellness.  The Art of Wellness  2(3) – 1-8.

3   Chapman, Larry.   (2003)   Biometric Screening in Health Promotion –   is it Really as Important as We Think?  the Art of Health Promotion  7(2) – 1-12.

4   Chapman, Larry.  (2005)   Meta-Investigation of Employee Health Promotion Economic Return Studies –  2005 Update.  The Art of Wellness, July/August, 1-15.

5   Chapman, Larry.   (2006)  Employee Participation in Company Health Promotion and Health Promotion Programs –  Just how Important are Incentives, and Which Ones work Best?   North Carolina Medical Journal   67(6) –   431-432.

6   Chapman, Larry, Lesch, Nancy, and Passas Baun, Mary Beth.   (2007)   the Role of Wellness Coaching in Company Wellness.   the Art of Wellness, July/August, 1-12.

7   Chapman, Larry.  (2007)   Proof Positive –   an Analysis of the cost-Effectiveness of Corporate Wellness.  Northwest Health Management Publishing, Seattle, WA.

8   Chapman, Larry.  (2007)   an In-Depth Look at the Economic Evidence for Rewarding Health Behavior Change.   Workshop presentation at the World Research Group “Rewarding Healthful Behaviors for Health Plans and Corporations” Conference, Orlando, FL, January 23-24.

9   Edington, Dee.   (2001)   Emerging Research –   A View from One Research Center.  American Journal of Wellness 15(5) –  341-349.

10   Edington, Dee W.  (2007)   Health Management as a Serious Corporation Strategy.  Presentation at the World Research Group “Rewarding Healthy Behaviors for Health Plans and Companys” Conference, Orlando, FL, January 23-24.

11   Pelletier, Barbara, Boles, Myde, and Lunch, Wendy.  (2004)  Changes in Health Risks and Make certain to work Productivity.   Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 46(7) –  746-754.

12   Pelletier, Kenneth R.  (2005)   A Review and Analysis of the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness Studies of robust Health and Disease ManagementPrograms at the Workplace –  Update VI 2000-2004.  JOEM 47(10)1051-1058.

13   DeVol, Ross, Bedroussian, Armen, et.  Al.  (2007)  an Unhealthful America –   the Economic Burden of Chronic Disease.  Report released by the Milken Institute.   www .milkeninstitute.org.

14   Partnership for Prevention.  (2008) Investing in Health –   Proven Health Promotion Practices for Workplaces.   http – //www .prevent.org/images/stories/2008/investinginhealth_finalfinal.pdf.