Workplace Wellness Improves Health and Costs
By Tammy Worth 
If you ask Liese Kateman what “worksite wellness” means to her, she will tell you it literally saved her life.
A couple of years ago at Polsinelli Shughart PC where she works, Kateman received a visit from Julie Johnson, the organization’s health enhancement coordinator, who was visiting everyone to check their blood pressure. The routine test found Kateman’s pressure to be dangerously high.
That result prompted Kateman to find a primary care doctor that very day. About a year later, still not feeling well, Kateman saw that same doctor, who diagnosed her with ovarian cancer. She has since been successfully treated.
“If she [Johnson] hadn’t come to me that first time, I wouldn’t have been advocating for myself and my own wellbeing … with a doctor [with whom] I had formed a relationship,” said Kateman.
Employees across the country are losing weight, eating healthier and ceasing to smoke with the support of employer initiatives. While keeping employees healthy is important, many business owners are starting the programs with the hopes of cutting soaring health care expenses.
Recent research released by the Harvard School of Public Health found the top three preventable risk factors for death in the nation are smoking (which kills 467,000 people annually), high blood pressure (395,000) and excessive weight (216,000).
Because so many of our illnesses today are caused by factors within our control, worksite wellness programs are a way to get a message to a captive audience.
“It’s a great teachable moment,” says Garry Lindsay, managing senior fellow and senior program officer at the Partnership for Prevention, an organization of businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies promoting ways to improve health. “People spend most of their waking hours there [at work] and have at least one meal there.”
The City of Kansas City, Missouri is trying to reduce health risks and increase quality of life for city employees with their “Fountain of Health” program created in 2002. Efforts are focused in different areas depending upon the staff’s health needs. Since the program began, 3,500 people have participated.
“We are always striving for more people to start making healthy choices,” stated Katy Lovill, the city’s wellness coordinator. “We are building a culture – providing a supportive environment whether going tobacco free or offering classes for stress management or opening up stairwells.”
The CDC’s “LEAN Works!” states that programs yield increased productivity and friendship among the workforce, and reduced absenteeism and turnover. They also help attract and retain employees.
Reducing the burden of health care costs is another important reason many employers create wellness programs.
Medical expenses for obese employees can range between 29 percent and 117 percent higher than other employees, according to “LEAN Works!” And obese individuals spend 77 percent more on medication than those with a healthy weight, says the American Heart Association.
A review of 73 published studies regarding return on investment from wellness programs by the U.S. Workplace Wellness Alliance found: a $3.50 savings for every $1 spent in reduced absenteeism, a 26 percent reduction in health costs, and a 32 percent reduction in workers’ compensation and disability costs. It also found overall average of $5.81 savings for every $1 spent.
“We spend more money than most developed countries on health care,” said Lindsay. “But we spend 95 percent on treatment and only about 5 percent on prevention.”
There is cost associated with wellness programs. The City of Kansas City spends about $65 annually per employee and estimates a return of about $1.78 for every $1 spent. Polsinelli Shughart spends $30,000 to $50,000 a year for its 1,000 employees.
Wellness programs vary widely between companies and work most effectively when they are adapted to the workforce.
Lovill says the city offers programs including health risk assessments, lunch and learns, monthly wellness challenges and weight management classes.
“We have found over the years that offering incentives can drive the population into changing their lifestyle choices,” she says.
The goal of the program at Polsinelli Shughart is to have the program as part of the culture. Some of their initiatives include an on-site health fair, subsidized weight watchers programs, no smoking policies and reduced health insurance premiums for those who take part in health risk assessments.
They also work on mental wellness by having an employee assistance program where individuals come on-site and talk to employees about issues including stress reduction, dealing with aging parents and professionalism.
“We do as much as we can do,” says Stacie Ferschweiler, Polsinelli Shughart’s director of human resources. “We have put healthier choices in vending machines and bottled water that costs the same as soda.”
Lindsay says while there are corporate leaders across the country embracing the concept of corporate wellness and getting a lot of press, there is still a long way to go. Only 6.9 percent of approximately 1,500 employers surveyed by Partnership for Prevention in 2008 provided programs that met the goals of the Healthy People 2010 initiative.
After companies adopt a wellness program, it still must survive budget cuts. Those companies that integrate worksite health promotion into their company design are more likely to keep the program even during tough economic times.
Bottom line, companies must decide which cost is more acceptable: programs to promote healthier employees or higher health insurance premiums.
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