Wellness Plans : Where to Begin with Wellness.

Ten Steps Toward Strategic Wellness Programs

The Wellness Program management world is evolving rapidly. Each month, there are new research findings that support the premise that Wellness Programs and disease management (DM) have a long-term impact on health care costs.

Many big organizations that began Wellness Programs three to five years ago are showing savings in health, disability, and staff members compensation costs. Small to mid-size organizations are watching all this and wondering where to start with wellness.

Getting executive management support and budget approval is among the challenges at the starting of a Health Promotion Program. This is the case because Health Promotion Programs could be expensive, averaging $150-300 per employee a year in large companies.

Most of the savings aren’t realized for a number of years. This long-term investing is hard for corporations on the move.

The key to success for Wellness Programs is to take a strategic approach. Here are ten steps to consider when starting a Wellness Program.

1. Start with senior level management. Without senior level management support, a wellness strategy can fall flat. Start with the health of your executive team and discover your wellness champions at the top of the corporation.

2. Analyze the problem. Look at your healthcare claims and analyze the trends. Which conditions are driving your medical, disability, and workers’ compensation claims and which are modifiable? What’s worked and what has not thus far? What’s the long-term impact of doing nothing?

3. Hold an initial wellness meeting. Invite your key stakeholders both inside and outside the corporation. Ask your broker to facilitate the meeting and invite key health vendors including health, disability, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), fitness, and occupational nursing.

Review claims and utilization data and identify key areas of concern. Look at current offerings and see how they can be tailored to the needs of the population.

4. Consider both healthful and unhealthful employees. Since 85% of claims are normally attributed to 15% of claimants, it’s essential to reach those with the most costly conditions while also reaching people  who are at risk for developing preventable illnesses in the future.

Voluntary wellness programs like lunchtime wellness seminars miss many of the people  who need them most. Consider wellness programs that are population-wide or target intact workgroups. Wellness incentives help but do not motivate everybody.

5. Make sure to set short-term objectives for the wellness programs. Make sure to set some realistic short-term objectives based on your key areas of concern. Are there any plan design changes that could have an immediate impact on spending? Are there some programmatic actions that could have immediate results?

6. Find out what staff members are thinking. Hold some focus groups to determine where individuals  are with wellness. What is working? What isn’t? How much interest do individuals  have in the Health Promotion Programs? What obstacles and barriers are staff members experiencing when they attempt to change behavior?

7. Make certain you’ve a high-impact Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP). Your first wellness dollars ought to go into upgrading your Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP). A highly utilized Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP) can provide a foundation for all of your future wellness activities.

A good Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP) is a trusted link to the hearts and minds of staff.  At no additional cost, the Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP) can provide needed follow-up coaching and personal attention for staff who are working on modifiable health behaviors or involved in disease management programs.

Nutritionists, fitness, pregnancy, and stress management specialists are all part of a high-value Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP).

8. Be certain to set three to five year goals for healthcare savings and measure them. Get help from your broker and insurance carrier help you on long-term goals for your health, disability, and employees compensation plans.

Establish program metrics that will help you to measure Return On Investment. Go beyond participation rates, completion rates and program satisfaction. Measure changes in readiness, changes in behavior, and changes in risk factors. Establish rigorous methods to measure health care savings over the long term.

9. Make sure to set goals for organizational health. Consider the more intangible advantages of a wellness program and quantify them whenever possible. Include worker turnover rates, cost of new hires, worker morale, benefit satisfaction data, and business of choice issues in setting goals. Establish ways to measure success in these areas.

10. Add specifics to your short and long-term plan. Include a program strategy, a communication strategy, and an incentive strategy that’ll fit with your corporate culture. Focus on integration of related components along a health continuum with communications that are focused, simple, and human.

Establish a budget that includes key components like consumer education, wellness, health risk appraisals, and regular biometric screens.