Business Matters

Oh, Wellness

By Bill Santamour

As employers, hospitals have many reasons to jump on the health promotion bandwagon

I was going to start out whining about wellness—not the concept, the actual word. It's so cloyingly New Age, so deceptively benign. What does it mean exactly, anyway? The state of being well? I thought we had a perfectly adequate term for that: "health."

But I'm over it now. I get that "wellness" along with the equally grating "meaningful use" and "accountable care" and "comparative effectiveness" have unceremoniously plopped themselves down in the health care lexicon. At this point I'm just trying to understand how these ideas will play out in the real world. In the case of wellness, the implications are manifold for hospitals as providers and as keystones of public health in their communities—and, just as significantly, as employers.

Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act adds urgency to wellness and prevention, health promotion initiatives have been around for some time, particularly in the private sector. The Kaiser Family Foundation last year found that 58 percent of companies provide weight-loss, stop-smoking, yoga or other wellness programs for workers. The Business Roundtable in 2007 estimated 40 percent of large employers spend more than $200,000 a year on wellness programs.

The return on investment can be significant. Highmark Inc. cut health care expenses $176 a year per employee for workers who participated in wellness programs in 2001 through 2005. Research reported in Health Affairs in January suggests that medical costs could be reduced by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on workplace wellness programs.

The reform law takes workplace wellness to another level. It continues to allow employers to underwrite such things as health screenings and gym memberships. But as of 2014, they can also offer discounts on insurance premiums of up to 30 percent if an employee meets certain health targets. That's a boost from the current 20 percent, and it could be raised to 50 percent if the secretaries of Health, Labor and the Treasury agree. The provision is not without controversy; patient advocates worry that meeting specific health goals could be hard for people with chronic illnesses, single parents and those with less access to healthful foods.

There are reasons beyond insurance savings for hospitals to offer wellness programs to staff. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study, "Wisdom at Work: Retaining Experienced Nurses," found that health and wellness programs can increase job satisfaction and lower turnover rates. The January Health Affairs study also showed that absenteeism costs could drop by $2.73 for every dollar spent on wellness programs.

Then there's the old mission thing. Hospitals are committed to improving the health of their communities, and they're often the lead organizers of community wellness programs like weight-loss challenges, 5K runs and healthy eating education. Another way to meet your mission is to model workplace wellness and encourage local businesses to follow your lead.

This article 1st appeared in the June 2010 issue of HHN Magazine.

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