Small Businesses, Kansas Employers Increasingly Offering Worker Wellness Programs

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 31 Oct 2007 - 8:00 PST

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The following summarizes recent newspaper coverage of efforts by employers to implement wellness programs and other health initiatives for employees.

• Chronic disease: Many Kansas employers are "intrigued by the potential savings from in-house wellness programs," as the costs for treating preventable illnesses in the state are on the rise, the Wichita Eagle reports. A recent report by the research firm Milken Institute found that treatment for seven of the most common chronic diseases -- including diabetes, heart disease and hypertension -- is costing Kansas employers $9.3 billion in lost productivity. In response, companies have implemented wellness programs to address lifestyle changes such as smoking and obesity as ways to improve employee health. Some companies offer more "sophisticated" programs that analyze and track employees' health, while others have created tools to help calculate returns on investments from wellness programs and are penalizing employees for unhealthy behavior, according to the Eagle (Atwater, Wichita Eagle, 10/29).
  
  
• Small businesses: The Chicago Tribune on Monday examined how a "new crop of small business [are] tapping wellness programs -- as well as consumer-driven plans -- among the newer options in health care benefit choices that, until recently, mostly larger companies have adopted." According to Robert Nielsen, managing director at Chicago-based Mesirow Financial, small businesses have experienced double-digit annual increases in health care costs since about 2000, which is similar to increases experienced by larger firms, and are seeking new ways to contain costs. Nielsen added that implementing wellness programs and consumer-driven health plans over time can reduce medical claims, lower insurance premiums and produce an overall healthier work force. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is expected to release a state-funded report in January 2008 that will encourage wellness programs, health club membership discounts and coverage of flu shots and annual exams, as ways small businesses can contain health care costs, according to chamber President Jerry Roper (Nemes, Chicago Tribune, 10/29).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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