Another consequence of the poor economy: Employees are cutting back on preventive healthcare measures in an effort to reduce expenses.
People are trading nutritional eats for processed and fast foods. They’re also spending less time exercising.
That means now’s a great time to refocus on preventive health care. If your company already has a wellness program, it’s a good idea to make sure these proven features are included:
3 areas to check
Referrals from claims and on-site screenings. Most wellness programs pinpoint at-risk employees by relying solely on the employees’ honesty in responding to health assessments.
Certain wellness program providers use a combination of data to determine those at-risk for chronic conditions.
Example: OptumHealth uses on-site health screenings, claims and referrals to assess if an employee is at-risk.
This approach can help to identify up to 10 times more at-risk employees.
Wellness consultants. These individuals are assigned to a company to help develop a wellness strategy, plan promotions, interpret reports and gauge the overall success of the company’s wellness program.
Benefit: By keeping a close eye on a company’s wellness program, consultants can tweak and fix problems on the spot.
Cross-trained coaches. These coaches take a big-picture approach to helping employees with various lifestyle-related health issues.
Example: Smoking. There are a significant number of people who won’t try to quit smoking simply because they’re concerned about gaining weight in the process — a common problem.
A cross-trained coach will help an employee quit smoking, while also ensuring that he or she makes smart nutritional choices to avoid the common weight gain.
