On-Site Clinic NewsON-SITE CLINIC NEWSLETTER

The Newsletter for Employer-Managed Healthcare
In This Issue
Impact of Worksite Wellness
The Health and Productivity Advantage
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Vol 2 No. 2 January 2010

Greetings!    

Sometimes making a decision is so tough and fraught with what we perceive to be risk, we put it off.  I have learned over the years that not making a decision is a decision, in and of itself.  By delaying, I have "decided not to decide."  

Making decisions about employee benefits is never easy.  And, risk is always present - the risk of a negative reaction from employees and their dependents, the risk of increasing costs and/or reducing quality (all at the same time), and the risk of foreclosing other options. 
 
Making the right decision calls for good information.  In the field of employer managed healthcare and on-site clinics, data collection and reporting is finally coming of age.  In this issue, we direct you to two studies which we believe to be not only credible, but also significant.  We hope they help you to evaluate the potential for on-site clinics, give you data to take to the decision-makers in your firm, or simply to re-affirm a decision you have already made.
Impact of Worksite Wellness Intervention on Cardiac Risk Factors and One-Year Health Care Costs

This study, published in the July 2009 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology followed 339 employees of a single corporation for approximately eighteen months.  The first six months was the "intervention" period, and the subsequent twelve months included health care cost-data collection and reassessment of health status following the initial intervention period. 

The study participants were separated into two groups.  One received active intervention by trained cardiac rehab staff; the second group received "usual" medical care.  The findings showed significant improvement in multiple health areas including body fat, HDL, BP, and even things like depression and anxiety.  Total health risk was down an astounding 25% in the group receiving wellness and health intervention on a programmed basis, and claim costs decreased a dramatic 48% for this group (from $2,960 for the twelve months immediately before the study to $1,539 for the twelve months following the study).  Full details of the study can be reviewed in the article and elsewhere; however, we believe that this certainly provides current, statistically significant, and reliable data for evaluating focused wellness interventions - the kind that is so typical of mature workplace medical clinics today.
The Health and Productivity Advantage
The second study is likewise, we believe, important.   Performed by Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt Worldwide), this is the 2009/2010 Staying at Work report, "The Health and Productivity Advantage," based on responses from 352 HR or health benefits managers of companies with at least 1,000 employees, including 70 from respondents in Canada.  The study attempts to identify the key characteristics of an effective health and productivity (H&P) program in the workplace.  Some findings were:  "Leading-edge employers are shifting their senior management discussions from the cost of benefits to how to create value through investment in employee health and effectiveness;"  "Health and productivity programs, which create value for employees and employers alike, are being viewed as a competitive advantage;"  "Vendor simplification will likely continue in both the United States and Canada;"  and "The trend has been toward consolidation of H&P programs with a single partner to improve coordination between programs. . . "  [Vendors - take note!]
 
There are two corporate vignettes included, one regarding The Dow Chemical Company where they estimated that ". . as much as one-third of all medical expenditures may be spent on unnessary or inefficient care; . . .  between 30 percent and 50 percent of all health care conditions could be modified by preventive health interventions. . ." (emphasis added).   Dow committed extensively to employee health and productivity programs and considers measurement of effectiveness a "hallmark."  Results?  For health indicators, like tobacco use, physical inactivity and obesity, Dow reports that between 2004 and 2008 it had a reduction in  ". . its percentage of employees at high risk by 15 percent and increased the number of employees at low risk by 18 percent."  What about costs?   Dow was able to maintain cost increases for employee health care in 2008 at 2.4 percent compared to a national average of about 6.3 percent, for a savings of $11 million in that year alone.  This study runs the gamut, looking at the impact on costs, health, and productivity for a truly wide variety of conditions and issues.  We encourage each of you to read the entire study.  The 15-20 minutes it will take you will be well worth the effort.
For more on-site clinic news, visit our Web site at www.onsiteclinics.org .
Just a reminder, if you have news about on-site clinics that you feel should be reported here, please let us know.  Click on the contact button, or just give us a call.  Our goal is to make the newsletter a source of current information on this exciting and rapidly changing field for everyone.  Toward that end, we are also working on updating our Web site, www.onsiteclinics.org .  We'll make an announcement here when these improvements are complete, which will include updated vendor information, links to past articles, and blogging capabilities.
 
Sincerely,

Mike La Penna
The La Penna Group, Inc.