Ms. Mason's boss, Ken Sigman, president of HBS LLC, a health care consulting firm in Leawood, Kan., gave his six employees free memberships to Center for Health & Human Performance at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.
"We realized we better walk the walk with our own employees instead of just talking about wellness with our clients," Mr. Sigman said.
Employers nationwide are coming to Mr. Sigman's realization. For some, employee wellness initiatives - and the goal of a healthier work force - are their last, best hope to rein in ever-increasing employee health benefit costs.
A survey of National Association of Manufacturers and ERISA Industry Council members found that 71 percent of the member companies offered employee incentives this year for participating in health and wellness or disease management programs. That was up from 62 percent of their memberships in 2007.
According to Hewitt Associates, 88 percent of companies it surveyed this year "plan to make investments in longer-term solutions aimed at improving the health and productivity of their work force over the next three to five years, up from 63 percent last year."
Fit workers are a worthy goal in itself. But the increase in corporate wellness programs is driven by the bottom line.
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimates a return of from $3 to $6 in health care cost savings for every $1 invested in a corporate-based wellness program over a two- to five-year period.
So far, only about one-fourth of companies that have implemented employee wellness incentive programs have said in recent surveys that they've been able to track and document specific cost savings, but those who have are happy with the bottom line.
Health2Resources this year found that eight out of 10 employers who calculated their returns on investment in 2007 "more than broke even" with their wellness programs.
The manufacturers' association survey found that the average incentive value (such as health insurance premium cost reductions or gift cards for employees who participate in wellness programs) was just under $200 per participating employee.
HBS spends about $800 a year per employee on its wellness initiative, which includes a bit more than the JCC memberships, Mr. Sigman said.
Ms. Mason, the HBS employee, signed up for the Jewish Community Center's wellness program in February. She began working out under professional supervision, and now can walk up a flight of stairs without wheezing, something she couldn't do before.
"As America's battle of the bulge continues and other health concerns grab headlines, it's no longer a secret that obesity, tobacco use and stress are the most common hazards to health in the American work force," said Jack Bastable, health and productivity management national practice leader at CBIZ Benefits and Insurance, based in Leawood.
Since the 1980s, Mr. Bastable has been one of the Kansas City area's pioneers in spreading the corporate wellness gospel. Currently, he works closely with John Mullin, health enhancement department chairman for St. Luke's Health System, which has contracts with 22 major Kansas City area companies, law firms, school districts and municipalities to provide wellness counseling and programs.
"Coast to coast, wellness programs are growing exponentially," Mr. Mullin said.
He and Mr. Bastable espouse a corporate culture that goes "beyond water bottles and T-shirts," Mr. Mullin said. "We work for a corporate culture that's more allied with well visits to physicians, exercise habits, thinking prudently about diet, and managing disease. Employees who participate will be rewarded in discounts in their premium costs or deposits into health savings accounts."
Such employer-sponsored wellness initiatives get resistance from some workers who don't want their bosses to have a role in supervising their personal health or fitness.
In the recent Hewitt survey, only 12 percent of employees said they thought their companies had a role in helping them understand how to stay healthy.
Employers who have wellness programs also need to be careful not to violate nondiscrimination provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Simply put, health information obtained in wellness programs shouldn't be shared with employees' supervisors or co-workers.
The federal government also does not sanction wellness programs that fail a "reasonable" test. In other words, the rewards or incentives (such as reduced health insurance premium costs) can't require meeting a fitness or participation standard that would be considered unreasonable.
Navigating through the privacy concerns and legalities hasn't deterred a growing number of companies.
One corporate approach to wellness steamed through the summer at the Epiq Systems Inc. headquarters in Kansas City, Kan. Fitness trainer Greg Justice, owner of AYC Health/Fitness, designed a 12- week fitness "boot camp," given onsite at Epiq. Twenty-five employees, or about one-fourth of the headquarters' staff, signed up.
"Doing it onsite creates a much greater adherence rate than if employees have to go offsite," Mr. Justice said. "Epiq has a state- of-the-art gym on site, so that made it easy."
Epiq covered the $249-per-person cost, as long as the employee showed some fitness or weight-loss improvement at the end of the session, Mr. Justice said. Enough positive outcomes were recorded to spark the beginning of a fall boot camp at Epiq, which takes place over the lunch hour.
Because some Epiq workers travel, the fitness program included an online component to help them keep up with suggested exercise and diet programs.
Lockton Benefit Co. contracted with Front Door Fitness, another Kansas City fitness company, to subsidize the cost of onsite personal training for employees.
In the year since Lockton began the program, more than three- fourths of its employees have participated in at least one part of the fitness package, ranging from motivational fitness presentations to one-on-one counseling and training.
At law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon, chairman John Murphy said about 500 lawyers and other employees are participating in the "A Healthier You" program sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.
The firm is discounting the cost of health insurance premiums for employees who participate in the wellness program, which offers health screenings, a health risk appraisal and connects employees with health coaches.
"It's really raised awareness that they can change behaviors to improve their health," Mr. Murphy said, noting that the benefits go beyond lower health care costs: Employees seem more productive.
Originally published by Diane Stafford McClatchy Newspapers.
(c) 2008 Augusta Chronicle, The. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
