Another Method to Cut WC Costs: Companywide Wellness Programs

Monday, December 7, 2009 | 0

By Eugene Keefe

Synopsis: We aren’t just going to tell you about this one, we are bound and determined to do it. Consider a company-wide Voluntary Corporate Wellness Program to save health care and workers' comp costs, folks.
 
Editor’s comment: As we approach the holidays, we want all of our readers to think about this simple concept—in this modern day and age, we are much more in control of our health. We just have to have the guts and the drive to take necessary steps to do something about it.
 
Earlier this year, we heard a brilliant commentator point out one encompassing reason Americans are so much fatter than folks from most other countries. The commentator’s point was we don’t have a chance. He pointed out every day; Americans are bombarded with ads, coupons and promotions for things like “butter-burgers,” deep-fried potato sticks and donut “holes.” These are unquestionably delicious food choices that aren’t designed to be good for you or the slightest bit healthy; they are designed to sell. One of the highest cholesterol-laden foods on this planet is otherwise healthy chicken that is pressure-cooked to crush in enormous quantities of fat and salt; it is sold at a national fast food chain very well known to every American school child.
 
In order to sell food, many fast food chains and grocery store food purveyors analyze and test their foods with hundreds and hundreds of focus groups and testing panels. The overriding concern of the people who employ focus groups is not to make healthy food; it is to create foods you will love, pine for, purchase and eat regularly. What happens when we eat such heavily consumer-tested food is we get obese and unhealthy. Unhealthy folks need more medical care than healthy folks. The point of the commentator mentioned above is you have to have the strength of a thousand U.S. Marines to avoid or even limit eating foods that are designed to make you crave. For the weak of heart and stomach, we truly don’t have a chance.
 
Voluntary Corporate Wellness Programs are a simple concept that will save both health care and workers’ comp costs
 
While researching other things, we note an Illinois employer started a wellness program and within two years, they feel they are experiencing a 10:1 return on investment. Robinson Engineering, a South Holland, Illinois-based municipal civil engineering firm, said most of the company’s 108 employees were excited about a wellness program. They started the program at their annual meeting in May 2007 and were really surprised with the positive reaction when they asked for volunteers. The program was implemented with help from The Horton Group, an insurance brokerage agency based in Orland Park.
 
Their program starts off with a health screening and a questionnaire, on which employees are asked about things such as diet and exercise. The Horton Group then works with companies to produce reports for each client. The company gets the screening data, compliant with HIPAA standards of confidentiality on things such as blood pressure, smoking and diabetes. The corporate wellness program is based on that initial survey and data.
 
The company didn’t expect to see a return on its investment right away, but were interested in the program for its long term benefits—both financially and for employee morale. Company representatives didn’t see any initial return on the program during the first year of implementation. But Robinson Engineering had an incentive in mindemployees have the option of participating in the wellness program, but should they choose not to participate, the company held them responsible to pay a portion of their group health care insurance costs. We caution this may cause Illinois’ aggressive work comp claimant attorneys, Commission and judiciary to later find participation is not “voluntary” making injuries occurring during the program to potentially be work-related. Regardless, Robinson Engineering kicked off the program with hosted health screenings and then decided to address the largest concern reported from employee questionnaire responses that is so common throughout Americachallenges with weight loss.
 
When the program started in 2007, Robinson Engineering employees focused on weight management, so they kicked off their own version of The Biggest Loser. With 50 percent participation, they announced the winners at their annual holiday party and gave away prizes such as running shoes. The company also began focusing on nutritional food choices. Topics were chosen each month for “lunch-and-learns” based on themes such as weight management, healthy eating, stress reduction, first aid and CPR training.
 
In addition to health-related luncheons, the company began incentivizing employees to walk more as part of a program titled Virgin HealthMiles. The program provides employee health programs that pay people to get active, attracting an average of 40 percent of employees who participate in the program regularly, which helps their organization reduce medical costs and improve employee productivity and satisfaction. Each participant has a pedometer that comes with a USB cable and they can find out how many steps you take per day. Depending on how much they walk, the worker can earn up to $500 per year.
 
Please note this overall concept may not apply in the workers’ compensation arena; there are no co-pays or other concepts that cause employees to care at all about their health and concomitant skyrocketing WC costs. We are hoping some day, enlightened minds may bring a revolution in workers’ comp concepts so employees share responsible for increased costs due to unhealthy personal activities. To the extent Illinois employers are becoming more and more liable for conditions of life and not the more traditional “accidental injuries,” we feel our society is going to have to address rising WC costs as a joint concern of both employers and their workers.
 
At present, zero per cent of Robinson Engineering’s employees are in the high health care risk category, down from three percent when the program began in 2007. They report a dramatic improvement in employee cholesterol, reduced glucose levels and improvement in HDL and LDL levels.

Eugene Keefe is principal with Keefe, Campbell & Associates, a Chicago workers' compensation defense firm. This column was reprinted with his permission from the law firm's newsletter.