Lower healthcare costs: New survey shows how

Most firms want to lower healthcare costs. A new report offered advice on just how to do that. Focus on employees in a specific group when designing health and wellness programs. That group is: Employees at high risk for poor health and have low motivation.

A Virgin Pulse report surveyed 990 American adults about their health and what needs to be done to improve it. What it also found was Benefits pros play a vital role in “empowering people to meet their health and well-being goals.”

The pandemic made this benefit role even more urgent. Why?

Because COVID-19 had a negative impact on employees’ physical health. It caused them to develop bad habits while being quarantined and working from home. Plus, people put off appointments. So, preventive medicine visits didn’t happen. And people’s health and issues got worse and more expensive to treat. This drove up your healthcare costs.

Strive to be healthier

Very likely, many of your employees want to improve their health. But you need to help them get motivated.

How you may ask?

By providing them with the right tools they need. And by focusing on the “high risk for poor health and low motivation” group.

People who have good health and have average risks are also the most motivated to get healthier. So, by just offering them tools, they’ll use them. But the poor health group needs more from you.

3 steps to take

You’ll get the best results by showing employees were to start. Forty-four percent of the respondents said they didn’t know where to start. So, show them.

Step 1: Set goals and make them small and attainable. Big goals can be motivation killers. Typically, small changes of daily routines are a good start.  

Step 2: People need to see and track goals. It provides them with motivations. Find an app people can download that will do that for them.

Step 3: Encourage people to share their results. While you might think that would discourage others, according to the survey, it inspires them.

Remember, people want to preserve their quality of life. No one wants to see their health decline. If you educate them on chronic conditions and how they can improve/maintain their health, it’ll help motivate them and encourage them to keep going. And, as a plus, it’ll lower your healthcare costs by having healthier employees.