Five Steps to a Healthier Workforce and Lower Health Care Costs

We have found that the key to a successful wellness strategy is to implement a process that follows the 5 steps of risk management.

* Identify risk with Health Risk Assessment at over 90% participation without paying employees to complete one. (high participation is key and where most wellness plans fail)

* Analyze the HRA summary to identify your populations 4 key risk factors along with health plan and work comp claim data. (without high participation in the health Risk Assessments this information may not be credible)

* Control risk by implementing a customized health and wellness strategy which includes face to face or telephonic coaching to encourage behavior change. (without behavior change there will be no savings)

 * Finance risk by matching the right benefit plan design to assure that any savings go to the employer instead of the insurance company.(we have been successful in getting work comp carriers to give savings upfront by demonstrating successful implementation of the first 3 steps)

* Measure results by benchmarking how many risk factors each employee has in 3 groups low, medium and high. Most groups start at around 50% low risk and will move up to 70% low risk in 3 to 4 years.

Fewer risk factors leads to less disease and lower cost.

The Total Value of Health

The total value of health is much more than just medical/hospital & drug costs yet that is what most employers concentrate on. Add to the list absenteeism,  disability, worker’s comp, effectiveness on job, recruitment, retention &  morale of a workforce. To be effective employers must deploy strategies that keep their employees heathy& safe at home and at work. This will have a huge positive impact on a company’s bottom line.

Wise Words from Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett speaking to a group of college students made a statement that is worth repeating.

“There are 7 billion people in the world and everyone has their own ticket,” he said, adding that only five out of every 100 people are born in the United States. “Would you want to give up your ticket and pick another from a hundred? If you don’t want to play that game, you’re saying you’re among the luckiest 1% of humanity.”