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Imagine if it were possible to prevent considerable human suffering among your employees while saving your company thousands, even millions, of dollars each year. The possibility exists, but it requires rethinking what we mean by “health care.” It means shifting our efforts toward chronic disease prevention rather than focusing on acute care. Consider this: preventable illness makes up about 70 percent of the actual burden of illness and the associated costs. This makes sense, when you consider the Centers for Disease Control estimates one in five annual deaths is attributable to smoking alone. And the National Center for Health Statistics estimates 32 percent of American adults age 20 and over—60 million people—are obese. In 2000, the CDC forecasted the total cost of obesity to be $117 billion. You may have heard the statistic that 15 percent of employees generate 85 percent of health care costs. But it’s not visits to the emergency room that run up health care costs. It’s what happens at the dinner table. Untreated hypertension can lead to a stroke. Poorly managed diabetes can lead to amputation of a foot. And it all starts at the dinner table. Overeating and poor food choices can lead to obesity and other risk factors for chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. The solution? Build a corporate culture of health that targets workers with poor health habits and makes them partners in changing those habits now, helping them avoid chronic disease in the future. Help employees with chronic health issues manage them effectively, and reduce or avoid acute-care episodes. And deliver programs along the entire continuum of health that improve employees’ lives inside and outside the workplace. To take this integrated approach to managing health care risks, it requires a fundamental shift in thinking: from sickness care to health management, and a positive investment in employee health and productivity. We see a growing number of Fortune 500 companies beginning to recognize that building a culture of health makes bottom-line sense. And when employers take this approach, our experience shows they are poised to reap the rewards of a healthy, empowered workforce with higher productivity and profits. Yours in good health,
Gregg Lehman Inside HealthFitness As chief medical officer, Reynolds has oversight of all clinical aspects of programs and services, including establishment of best practice standards and use of evidence-based guidelines. He also oversees the newly formed Research, Development and Outcomes division. Reynolds comes to HealthFitness with an accomplished track record in employer-focused health management strategy development, program design and implementation. He is a physician with board certification in internal medicine. Griffin oversees operations, information technology and account services functions at HealthFitness. In this role, he will spearhead initiatives to enhance our e-Health platform, improving the user experience and expanding our depth of reporting. Griffin brings more than 20 years’ experience in executive leadership of health management and health information technology organizations. HealthFitness also announced that Jerry Noyce retired from his role as vice chairman on Jan. 31. He will continue to work on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and in other advisory council roles that focus on health and fitness management. He will also continue to serve as director on the HealthFitness Board. Noyce joined the company in 2000 as president and chief executive officer, leading the company through expansion of its health management services and the acquisition of HealthCalc Network Inc. and the health and fitness division of Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. To learn more about HealthFitness’ new executive staff, visit http://www.hfit.com/pressreleases.cfm HealthFitness Welcomes More Than 25 Clients in 2007 Read more about our strong 2007 growth and the growing number of companies adopting a culture of health at http://www.hfit.com/pressreleases.cfm Research Director Discusses Best Practices in Maximizing ROI in Health Promotion His presentation, “Defining Participation in the Era of Tailored Approaches and its Implications to Outcome Evaluation in Worksite Health,” will examine the current practice of reporting participation in corporate health management and its potential impact on outcomes evaluation. He will also discuss ideas for a standard practice of reporting program participation, especially as it relates to tailored interventions. Find out where HealthFitness’ subject matter experts will present next at: http://www.hfit.com/events.asp. We’ve Moved! Industry Insights Highlights of topics addressed include: A value-based design model targets patients and enhances benefits for specific clinically defined categories based on patient-specific characteristics.With a value-based benefit design, diabetics, for example, could be allotted to receive free foot and eye exams to prevent possible complications from the disease. She cited poor communication, low motivation, low morale in co-workers and not enough training as key interferences with productivity. If health care alone was the single most important factor affecting productivity, she said, how could Sweden—which ranks higher than the U.S. in the World Health Organization’s ranking of world health systems—have an illness absence rate that is seven times higher than the U.S.? To gain optimal human capital performance, Lynch said it requires four types of incentives: Best-in-Class Practices and Awards HealthFitness can partner with you to craft your award application. Contact your program manager to learn more. Deadline for submissions is April 18, 2008. Visit http://www.workforce.com/global/optimas.php for additional information. Upcoming Events |
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