Every organization is concerned about
employee health and wellness. But,
while implementing a wellness system can be quick and painless, keeping track of it
is anything but.
Many innovative organizations have turned
high-tech in tracking their employees’ wellness, according to Phyllis Marino, senior vice
president of marketing and public relations
for the Akron General Health System.
“Once both management and workers get
past some initial hurdles, a data-enabled wellness system can offer big returns,” says
Marino. “Workers get healthier. Employers
cut benefit costs and reduce absenteeism.”
Smart Business spoke with Marino about
data-enabled wellness programs and what to
look for in a good program.
What is a data-enabled health program?
There are several online services available
to help companies implement and track wellness and health programs. They help the
company make the operation more efficient
and effective. Most companies that start a
program give incentives to employees who
enter their data and reward their participation when they reach certain goals.
What makes a good program?
The city of Dublin, Ohio, is self-insured, and
it pays for employees’ insurance contributions if they participate. It also uses internal
resources to implement its Health by Choice
program. Human resources tracks internal
involvement and answers employee questions. The budget manager provides analysis
of impact on claim costs and the recreation
staff has a part-time employee dedicated to
the program. The recreation staff administrator runs the voluntary program. There are
two committees that meet once a month to
discuss the program and communicate ideas.
The city’s per capita cost of screenings and
coaching services averages $110. An annual
health fair, which includes various screenings, costs $3,000. The city waives employee
contributions if both the worker and covered
spouse participate in the program. The city
figures high-risk workers cost more than
$5,600 to insure, but low-risk employees only
about $2,500. Through the program, the city was able to increase the number of low-risk
employees by 7 percent to 72 percent, and
cut high-risk employees from 11 percent to 7
percent. Each person who moved from high
to moderate risk reduced claims by nearly
$2,200, while each person who moved from
moderate to low risk reduced costs by $700.
Will a program consume a lot of resources?
A well-run program does not take a lot of
resources or space, especially since program
tracking is online. There will be some personnel time commitment, of course. There
has to be administrative time allocated if you
expect to implement positive change. With
an online program, the employee can enter
data from home, over the weekend or after a
visit to a health care professional.
What information should be tracked?
Most companies have their employees go
through a health risk appraisal. A typical program tracks basic health factors like blood
pressure, cholesterol reading, glucose levels
and body fat index. The two key measurements are blood pressure and cholesterol.
Health risk appraisals take the information the client enters and give a readout on where
the client should be — for example, giving a
target range for blood pressure readings. The
program then tracks workers’ progress.
Innovative companies reward their workers
when they achieve a goal in any one of the
categories. Generally, to achieve a goal, a
worker has to get his or her reading into the
accepted range for that measurement.
Who controls the data?
Typically, the HR department is responsible
for tracking data. It makes sense, especially if
there is a reward program tied to the employee benefit package. And, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) applies and the data has to be protected. You have to get the employees’ written permission to look at the data. Most companies will get their employees’ permission
to access the data so they can track progress.
How long should a program last?
This is not a quick fix. If you start a program
and align incentives correctly, you have to
keep with it for the long haul. I think a one-year commitment is the minimum. You might
want to just dip your toes into a program first.
A good place to start is a smoking cessation
or weight-loss program. Both can give rapid,
positive returns and both will serve as proof-of-concept for expanding into a more complete program.
What is the payback?
If you run a good program, the benchmark
for return on investment is about a 3 percent
reduction in insurance costs. A program like
Dublin’s will have an even better return. Of
course, there are the immeasurable returns
on the program like a happier, healthier work
force and the employees’ appreciation for
what management has done for them. Dublin
figures the ‘cost of doing nothing’ would
result in increases of 47 percent in claims
costs over three years. But, in actuality, the
city experienced a more modest rate of
increase, about 5.5 percent per year.
PHYLLIS MARINO is the senior vice president of marketing and public relations for the Akron General Health System. Reach her at
[email protected].
