Posts Tagged ‘Dallas worksite wellness’
Want to REALLY Lower Your Healthcare Costs?
Healthcare costs are higher than ever and the increased prices have forced many small businesses into bankruptcy. So what is the solution to lowering healthcare costs? Take the steps to encourage your employees to make better lifestyle choices. As a small biz, one of the things you can do is acknowledge the health problems affecting your employees and implement programs to solve them.
One of the most serious public health problems, and the leading cause of preventable death, is obesity. It also costs the United States $147 billion a year in healthcare. Your small biz can help to motivate your employees to exercise by offering discounted gym memberships, hosting company run/walks or implementing exercise programs. Yo could also bring in a nutritionist or help bring in healthy food options in the cafeteria or vending machines.
Healthy Americans may account for only 8 percent of the population, but these 24 million people are the answer to saving America billions of dollars on unnecessary health care expenditures each year. More than 40% of premature deaths in the U.S. are a result of unhealthy behaviors like obesity and smoking. These habits are costing Americans $100 billion to $150 billion a year!
Smokers have cost the U.S. $96 billion in healthcare this year. Almost 21 percent of Americans smoke, which is more than 45 million people. Therefore, employers should encourage their staff to quit smoking by offering incentive programs or access to counselors. Many companies are taking more extreme measures by implementing a tobacco-free workplace.
Lastly, be aware that the current economy may have an increased affect on your employee’s stress levels. This can lead to smoking or unhealthy eating. Make sure to continue positively reinforcing your employees and let them know exercise is a great way to alleviate stress. By keeping employees healthy, businesses can reduce healthcare costs, which in turn will impact their bottom-line.
Healthcare Reform is a Winner for Wellness. Really?
It’s official. President Obama signed “our” new health care bill last week, and now it’s law. It’s supposed to “explore” how wellness concepts can be integrated into federal policy for agriculture, transportation, education and other areas announced that provisions in the health care reform bill will address the underlying causes of poor health habits. The new bill is also supposed to increase the number of businesses that offer wellness programs, increase the number of employees who participate, more effectively track programs, and improve overall program effectiveness.
In addition, there a six specific provisions in the bill that “directly relate” to worksite wellness programs:
- Development of a national health promotion plan
- Enhance health promotion research
- Technical assistance to enhance evaluation of workplace health promotion programs
- Regular, periodic surveys on workplace health promotion relevance and components
- Grants to pay a portion of the cost of comprehensive workplace health promotion programs for small employers
- Allowing employers to offer employees a premium discount of up to 30% for positive lifestyle practices or participation in health promotion programs
There are many “leading experts” in my field that think these provisions are the best thing to happen to the field of health promotion since the invention of “sliced whole wheat multigrain bread.” Well, I personally wouldn’t go that far. Forget making sense of the new 2,400-page health care law. Try interpreting just these new provisions, how they will be implemented and when they will begin.
We’ll let’s start with the easy part first. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a pretty good summary on their website. Its broken down the bill in an easy-to-read time-line format. In a nut-shell, here it is:
- Small businesses will be able to receive federal grants to start wellness programs. The grants will be available for up to five years. (Starting in 2011)
- A new National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council will be formed to develop a national health improvement strategy. (Starting in 2011)
- Chain restaurants and vending machines that sell food must disclose nutritional information. (Starting in 2011)
- Employers will be able to offer employees who participate in wellness programs up to a 30% discount on the cost of insurance coverage. (Starting in 2014)
- A 10-state pilot program will allow participating states test the efficacy of offering similar rewards in the individual insurance market. (Starting in 2014)
Now, here’s where it gets confusing. As you can see, out of the six, only three of the provisions have actually been mentioned. Let’s see how easy it will be to sign-up for those grants next year. While I am at it, why only keep the availability of the grants for 5 years? How about keep them indefinitely? I’ll keep you updated on the grant-process.
Next, there are so many companies, including us, that already provide wellness programs that include strategies for implementing, maintaining and evaluating the success of those wellness programs.
I understand that having information on the “foods” we eat makes us “more informed” – I say that grinning – but how much “nutrition” info can you put on a bag of Cheetos or on a Triple-meat-with-cheese? I’m just saying…
HIPAA already allows for a 20% discount on those who are participating in a “bonafide” wellness program. You can read more about how the HIPAA rules affect your small biz wellness program. Finally, we’ll have to wait and see how successful this new “pilot-program” will be.
As I wrote about earlier, it would have been great if they would have included the Healthy Workforce Act or at least specific provisions from these bill. In the next coming weeks, I’m going to do my best to better explain what these 6 provisions actually mean.
Communicating Your Wellness Program
Four Steps to Successfully Communicate Your Small Biz Wellness Program – Prt. 2
We already know that offering wellness programs are important and even necessary, but it’s not enough. When it comes to motivating your small biz employees to change their behavior, you have to communicate your wellness program, and communicate it well. This is the second of 4 articles in which we’ll cover four – “must” – steps your small biz must take to make sure you’re getting your message across to your employees.
As we talked about in “Part One” of Successfully Communicating Your Small Biz Wellness Program, the first thing you need to do is take a look at all the different things you use to communicate to your employees. By assessing how you are currently doing things, you can get a good an idea of how well your wellness program is being communicated.
Your Wellness Program Communications Checklist
Remember to check back as we have two more “steps” to go. The following best practices will help organizations develop an effective wellness communications strategy:
Step 1: Communicate frequently. Ongoing communication with employees is key to creating awareness, building understanding and influencing behavior.
Step 2: Come Up with a Communications Strategy. Next, you need to come up with a plan around the issues that were identified during the the assessment process.
- Come up with some set short and long-term goals. You need to really map out what you want to get out of the program. Set participation goals for the short-term (e.g., 75 percent of the employee population takes a health-risk assessment within the first three months). Results-oriented goals should be set for the long term (e.g., 50 percent of smokers complete a smoking-cessation program).
- Know your Small Biz’s Culture. The better the communications are tailored to your employees, the more effective the communications will be. Your goal is for your employees to take action (e.g., target smokers by placing communications in locations where they tend to congregate).
- Know your audience. The demographics of your employees should pretty much determine “what kind” of communication campaign you have. For example, a poster or flier that some may think is offensive, might “hit home” for others and cause them to take action immediately.
- Build a wellness brand. This may include a name, logo, color scheme and/or an eye-catching message. The goal is to grab the employees’ attention with something that is action oriented.
- Decide whether incentives will play a role. Once again, it is important to know your audience and what will motivate them. A health condition that is not life-threatening and involves maintenance or prevention could land low on an employee’s priority list. In such cases, incentives can help make the issue more of a priority. Incentives can include premium reductions, cash, gift cards and individual recognition (such as diplomas). Remember that incentives are not always necessary and may create an additional administrative burden.
- Select the media to be used to communicate the wellness program. Look at your audience and find out what will make your employees pay attention and take action. One good strategy is to see where employees spend their free time at work and place print materials accordingly. It is important to determine whether the majority of employees have computer access and will respond to electronic campaigns; if so, the focus can be online.
Implementing a small biz wellness program for your employees will end up controlling health-care costs, while improving their health. At the core of every small business wellness program is the drive to change employee behavior.
The success or failure of the wellness program comes down to the degree to which your employees respond to your program’s efforts to change their behavior towards healthier lifestyles. To help with that behavior change, you really need to review how your small biz wellness program is communicated to employees. Without effective communications the best wellness program in the world is not going to succeed.
Small Business Wellness Really Does Work
Small Biz Wellness programs are an effective way to reduce major risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, says a new American Heart Association policy statement. Each year, heart disease costs the United States about $304.6 billion, the association says. Companies spend 25 to 30 percent of their annual medical costs on employees with significant health risks, mainly because of their increased likelihood of experiencing heart disease and stroke, it says.
But the financial burden also falls on workers, it says, in the form of higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles, reduction or elimination of coverage and trade-offs between insurance benefits and wage or salary increases.
“Research shows that companies can save anywhere from $3 to $15 for every $1 spent on health and wellness within 12 to 18 months of implementing a [workplace wellness] program,” the statement’s lead author, Mercedes Carnethon, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a news release from the heart association.
“Beyond cost savings and increased productivity, visionary employers are realizing the value of an employee’s total health,” she said. “An effective worksite wellness program can attract exceptional employees, enhance morale and reduce organizational conflict.”
More than 130 million Americans are employed, according to the association, which means that workplace wellness programs have the potential to reach a sizable population.
“We are making great strides in workplace wellness, but we also know that half of employees don’t have access to these programs, mainly because they work in small companies or for employers that have a small number of employees at multiple sites,” Carnethon said. “We are hoping this paper shows employers large and small the benefits these programs may provide to both their employees and their bottom line.”
Keys to a successful program, according to the policy statement, include:
- Smoking/tobacco cessation and prevention
- Regular physical activity
- Stress management/reduction
- Early detection/screening
- Nutrition education and promotion
- Weight management
- Disease management
- Cardiovascular disease education, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training
- Work environment changes that encourage healthy behaviors and promote occupational health and safety
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You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.