Organization Wellness Becomes CEO Problem – How to Reduce Workplace Health Expenditures

The Partnership for Prevention was formed to promote Fortune 1000 corporations to consider making workforce health a CEO concern and adopt strategies to promote prevention and wellness. Following several years of double-digit rate increases for health care insurance, corporations are realizing that one of the best ways to slow the cost increases is to have employees take more responsibility for both expenditures and health choices. A majority of corporations surveyed feel that the best way for reducing expenditures is financial incentives/rewards to promote employees to adopt healthier lifestyles. Nearly 100 percent of corporations surveyed say that health expenditures will be a critical or important concern over the next five years, according to a survey by United Benefit Advisors. More corporations are adopting higher deductible health plans with HRA’s or HSA’S, wellness programs, and expanded disease management programs in order to control ever-increasing healthcare expenditures. Failure to deal with these problems could be disastrous for a organization. Wayne Sensor, Chief Executive Officer of Alegent Health recently stated, “I think that we have built a healthcare machinery we can’t afford. I think we are choking the economic engine of America.” In his October 2005 newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil stated, “I think rising health- care expenditures are becoming the major economic concern in our nation”. Obesity expenditures California corporations billions of dollars each year. Projected expenditures for 2005 may reach 28 billion dollars for direct and indirect healthcare expenditures, worker’s compensation, and lost work rate. California has experienced one of the fastest growing rates of obesity of any state. According to California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, “The obesity epidemic is more than a public health crisis, it is an economic crisis.” What is frightening is that most people do not even realize that they are obese, which is defined as only 20 percent above normal weight. There is a great need for additional education on weight and resulting diseases, and the worksite is an ideal venue. Wellness education and programs can result in a important return on investment and, if structured properly, can produce results in a very short period of time. Although many corporations have attempted some form of wellness program in the past, results from those efforts have been disappointing. In many cases, the healthier employees participated for incentives/rewards, such as fitness center memberships, but those who necessitated it most did not take advantage of the program in a meaningful way. Employers are looking at ways to promote more employees to buy into the wellness movement. A current webinar hosted by Human Resource Executive Magazine and presented by Carlson Marketing 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 corporations are achieving higher impact with their wellness investments by focusing on employee engagement. It also highlighted how you can establish an Economic Engagement Model to forecast the potential influence for your organization. Employers can not ignore the concern of their employee’s unhealthy lifestyles and must take action to engage them in a meaningful wellness program to decrease health expenditures, absenteeism and lost work rate. employees also profit as they derive better health and greater satisfaction in both their personal and professional lives. The alternative is being caught in a non-competitive position and severely impacting the bottom-line of the organization.