Where to Begin with Wellness.

Ten Steps Toward Strategic Health Promotion Programs

The Wellness Program management world is evolving quickly. Each month, there are new research findings that support the premise that Wellness Programs and disease management have a long-term impact on healthcare costs.

A lot of large businesses that began Health Promotion Programs three to five years ago are showing savings in health, disability, and workforce compensation costs. Small to mid-size businesses are watching all this and wondering where to start with wellness.

Getting executive management support and budget approval is one of the challenges at the starting of a Wellness Program. This is the case because Wellness Programs could be expensive, averaging $150-300 per employee each year in big organizations.

Most of the savings are not realized for a number of years. This long-term investing is hard for corporations on the move.

The key to success for Health Promotion Programs is to take a strategic approach. Here are ten steps to consider when beginning a Health Promotion Program.

1. Start with executive management. Without executive management support, a wellness strategy can fall flat. Start with the health of your executive team and discover your wellness champions at the top of the business.

2. Analyze the problem. Look at your healthcare claims and analyze the trends. Which conditions are driving your medical, disability, and workers’ compensation claims and which are modifiable? What is worked and what has not as a result far? What is the long-term impact of doing nothing?

3. Hold an initial wellness meeting. Invite your key stakeholders both inside and outside the business. Ask your broker to facilitate the meeting and invite key health providers including health, disability, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), fitness, and occupational nursing.

Review claims and utilization data and identify key areas of concern. Look at current offerings and see how they can be tailored to the needs of the population.

4. Consider both healthy and unhealthy staff. Since 85 percent of claims are ordinarily attributed to 15 percent of claimants, it is essential to reach those with the most expensive conditions while also reaching individuals  who are at risk for developing preventable illnesses in the future.

Voluntary health promotion programs such as lunchtime wellness workshops miss many of the individuals  who need them most. Consider health promotion programs that are population-wide or target intact workgroups. Health Promotion incentives help but don’t motivate everybody.

5. Be certain to set short-term goals for the wellness programs. Be certain to set some realistic short-term goals based on your key areas of concern. Are there any plan design changes that could have an immediate impact on spending? Are there some programmatic actions that could have immediate results?

6. Find out what workers are thinking. Hold some focus groups to determine where people  are with wellness. What is working? What isn’t? Just how much interest do people  have in the Health Promotion Programs? What obstacles and barriers are workers experiencing when they try to change behavior?

7. Be certain you’ve a high-impact Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP). Your first wellness dollars should go into upgrading your Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP). A highly utilized Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP) can provide a foundation for all of your future wellness activities.

A good Worker Assistance Program (EAP) is a trusted link to the hearts and minds of personnel.  At no additional cost, the Worker Assistance Program (EAP) can provide needed follow-up coaching and personal attention for personnel who are working on modifiable health behaviors or involved in disease management (DM) programs.

Nutritionists, fitness, pregnancy, and stress management specialists are all part of a high-value Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

8. Make certain to set three to five year objectives for healthcare savings and measure them. Get help from your broker and insurance carrier help you on long-term objectives for your health, disability, and staff members compensation plans.

Establish program metrics that will help you to measure Return On Investment (ROI). Go beyond participation rates, completion rates and program satisfaction. Measure changes in readiness, changes in behavior, and changes in risk factors. Establish rigorous methods to measure healthcare savings over the long term.

9. Be certain to set goals for organizational health. Consider the more intangible benefits of a health promotion program and quantify them whenever possible. Include employee turnover rates, cost of new hires, employee morale, benefit satisfaction data, and employer of option issues in establishing goals. Establish ways to measure success in these areas.

10. Add specifics to your short and long-term plan. Include a program strategy, a communication strategy, and an incentive strategy that will fit with your corporate culture. Focus on integration of related components along a health continuum with communications that are focused, simple, and human.

Establish a budget that includes key components such as consumer education, wellness, health risk appraisals, and regular biometric screens.