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In today’s tough economic landscape, the need for solutions that dramatically reduce health care claims, costs and absenteeism has never been greater. Our experience shows a direct correlation between participation and ROI. And to deliver ROI and motivate employees to achieve their personal health improvement goals, HealthFitness has found four key attributes must be present: • A focus on employee readiness versus risk factor alone. Research shows true behavior change occurs when an individual is ready to accept personal responsibility for change. At HealthFitness, this is why our philosophy requires that the employee ‘own the change’ as opposed to our staff simply telling the employee what to do. • Employee freedom of choice. Traditional health coaching programs are determined by the provider, which typically only offers one delivery method to each employee. Our experience shows empowerment drives engagement, which is why our approach empowers employees to choose how they receive a lifestyle intervention: face-to-face, telephonic, Web-based or a combination of these methods. • Performance-based pricing. A legitimate frustration of most major corporations with lifestyle programs is how employee enrollment solely drives vendor compensation. In a traditional pricing model, the vendor receives the entire fee upfront. If the employee drops out of the program, the vendor retains the fees. In contrast, HealthFitness’ compensation is based on the rate at which we keep employees actively engaged in their personalized program. If the employee stops participating, the client stops paying. • Superior customer service. Today, the pendulum is swinging to a continuum of care and capturing employees before they are at risk or worse, already sick, thus directly impacting absenteeism and presenteeism. To motivate an employer’s total population to improve and maintain their health, HealthFitness offers targeted, configurable marketing and engagement tools. We also bring extensive experience in designing and implementing incentive programs that are proven to drive and sustain participation. As a trusted health advisor, our mission is to partner with clients to reduce health risks for chronic illness, promote better health and productivity among the entire employee population and cut costs that threaten corporate competitiveness. We achieve this by collaborating with clients to deliver results-driven, integrated solutions that include everything from health risk assessments and screenings to on-site fitness centers, health coaching and occupational health. Interested in learning more about how we can further help you to reduce health care claims, costs and absenteeism? I encourage you to talk with your program manager. As always, we look forward to our continued collaboration to help you create a culture of health, providing solutions that address the health of your entire employee population. Yours in good health,
Gregg Lehman Inside HealthFitness HealthFitness first introduced Walk This Way in 2002 as a program that required HealthFitness on-site staff. Walk This Way is a program that motivates participants to improve their fitness by accumulating 10,000 steps or walking 30 minutes each day. To better serve client needs, Chris Shesney, technical projects lead, Sharon Kordik, program development manager, and Anne Spangler, program developer, worked with a team to create Walk This Way for our Web-based eHealth platform. The team also developed an eHealth Plus version for clients with employees who cannot access a computer. With eHealth Plus, employees can call customer service to enroll and log their steps by phone. “The beauty of a walking program is it’s so simple and easy for employees to participate,” said Shesney, who brings 15 years in the health and fitness industry and a master’s degree in health administration. “By offering Walk This Way on our eHealth platform, this easy and simple program can be made available to a client’s entire population.” Other members of the HealthFitness team also bring extensive industry knowledge. Kordik has a master’s degree in exercise physiology and more than 21 years of experience in the corporate health and fitness industry. Spangler is a registered and licensed dietitian with more than 20 years’ experience in areas such as health education and behavior change. She also has a master’s degree in exercise science. Key benefits of Walk This Way on eHealth include: • Increased usage of eHealth platform by employees as a resource for timely health information. • Ability to customize program length from 12 weeks to 12 months. • Does not require on-site HealthFitness staff to coordinate. • Materials (pedometer and guide) can be shipped directly to participants. • Simple registration process, online step tracker, weekly educational and motivational e-mails and access to a variety of walking tips, tools and resources keep participants engaged and motivated. • Ability to customize program Web pages. To learn more about offering Walk This Way on eHealth or eHealth Plus at your site, talk with your program manager. HealthFitness Launches Enhanced Incentive Solution Experience shows that when a client implements a financial incentive, participation rates range from 25 percent to more than 90 percent, depending on the type of incentive used—premium discounts, merchandise, gift/debit cards or cash. The associated values range from $50 to $500 per participant per year. Using incentives to reward employees for participating in health management programs is a critical component in delivering results through a 21st Century Health Benefit Design, which is our unique approach to collaborate with clients to realize their vision for a healthy, productive workforce. To enhance our ability to engage employees in adopting healthy behaviors, HealthFitness is launching a simpler, more robust and configurable incentive design, tracking and fulfillment solution in partnership with Online-Rewards.com this July. Our newly enhanced incentive program will serve current and future clients in increasing and sustaining employee participation, ultimately improving the employer's total population. Our seamlessly integrated incentive solution offers: • Incentives that can be integrated into an employee health benefits plan or bona fide wellness program. • Fulfillment via our eHealth platform. • An online redemption site that gives clients—and participants—a choice of rewards, including flexible spending account, health savings account or health reimbursement account credit, or waived deductible; reduced Rx co-pay or co-insurance; merchandise; and gift/debit cards. As always, HealthFitness remains committed to partnering with clients to determine the types of incentives that are appropriate for their population and culture as part of a long-term strategy to meet participation goals. To learn more about our new, more robust incentive solution, contact Bruce Guthmann, director of strategic solutions, HealthFitness, at bruce.guthmann@hfit.com. Learn What Works–and Doesn’t Work–in Health Coaching Held Thursday, June 26, from 12-2 p.m. Central Standard Time, the “What Works in Health Coaching?” audioconference features a roundtable of providers in addition to HealthFitness, including Wellcoaches Corporation, Nationwide Better Health, Permanente Medical Group and UPMC Health Plan. Health coaches are specially trained health care professionals who advise patients and employees to understand their conditions and become motivated to lose weight, stop smoking and decrease stress related to chronic illness. Health coaching has been linked to increased employee satisfaction, increased well-being, improved fitness and nutrition, as well as, lower health care costs, lower rates of absenteeism and presenteeism and increased productivity. To register and learn more, visit www.wellnessaudioconferences.com. Best-in-Class Practices and Awards For the Chicago headquarters of CNA, a U.S. commercial property and casualty insurer, HealthFitness provides integrated fitness center management and health management services, including biometric screenings, physical activity programs and EMPOWERED™ Health Coaching. CNA chose HealthFitness as its partner in 2006 to provide facility planning and design services to establish the company’s fitness center, which features state-of-the-art strength and cardio exercise equipment, a weight area, and other amenities. In 2007, HealthFitness helped CNA launch its health management program, Wellness Matters. The combination of fitness and health services is helping CNA employees improve their health. One participant said it was the joint support of EMPOWERED Health Coaching and Your Weigh…Together, HealthFitness’ on-site weight management program, that empowered him to lose 15 pounds. Since the launch of Wellness Matters, CNA has also seen participants reduce their health risks by increasing their physical activity. One program that has shown impressive results is Walk This Way, HealthFitness’ walking program. Prior to starting Walk This Way, 42 percent of participants surveyed had a high health risk due to physical inactivity. Upon completion of the program, only 6 percent did. For many, participation in Walk This Way marked the beginning of new lifestyle choices. “I am a two-time breast cancer survivor and feel that this has helped put me on the track to a healthier lifestyle,” said a CNA employee about Walk This Way. “We [our walking group] intend to continue walking once the program has ended. Thank you so much for getting us started.” To learn more about the impact an integrated health and fitness management approach can make at your company, visit www.hfit.com or contact your program manager. HealthFitness Clients Win National Business Group on Health Award HealthFitness clients who received the award include: • Platinum Award—Cigna, Texas Instruments • Gold Award—Sprint, Intel, Pfizer, WellPoint, Chrysler • Silver Award—Cerner Corp., Becton, Dickinson & Company, Maersk For more information about their award-winning programs, visit NBGH’s Website at www.businessgrouphealth.org. Highlight Your Excellence and Innovation with Employee Benefits The Benny Awards are organized into categories that include “Benefits Professional of the Year” and “Benefits Leadership-Health Care.” Judging criteria include recent achievements involving innovative multiyear projects, professional recognition and depth of experience. Awards are granted to employee benefit, human resource or other practitioners directly involved in the management of employee benefit programs. Employers, co-workers and benefit suppliers or consultants may submit nominations. Only one person per company may be nominated. The deadline for nominations is June 13. Visit http://ebn.benefitnews.com/topic/benny-awards.html to learn more, or contact your program manager. Promote Your Program’s Success to Peers at World Health Care Congress World Health Care Congress is currently accepting speaking proposals that encourage your peers to take action to improve the cost and quality of health care. Possible topic areas include: • Results from value-based benefit design to contain costs and to improve health status • Value-based purchasing and the impact of performance-based payment for providers • Models to achieve consumer engagement and delivery of health information to consumers • Prevention programs that produce a ROI Submissions are due July 11, 2008. Visit http://www.worldcongress.com/events/HR09000/ to learn more, or contact your program manager. Industry Insights Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute, and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis designed a study to determine whether chronic disease management of individuals with diabetes and/or congestive heart failure (CHF) improves health outcome and lowers health care costs. The researchers randomly assigned individuals with the two chronic conditions to either chronic disease management or a control group based on their primary care provider’s location. Individuals judged to be at highest risk were given intensive health care management conducted by a nurse care manager. Those with lower risk were provided with education and care support over the phone. Their findings were much more complex than they had anticipated. The telephonic support, when given to the lower risk group for either disease, resulted in a significant reduction in subsequent health care claims paid. Results for high-risk patients were more ambiguous. The researchers found that nurse care management resulted in lower average claims for high-risk CHF patients, but slightly higher average claims for high-risk diabetes patients, although neither effect was found to be statistically significant. Too Much, Too Little Sleep Tied to Ill Health in CDC Study The study is based on door-to-door surveys of 87,000 U.S. adults from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the CDC. In addition to obesity, the study linked sleep to other health risk behaviors, such as cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and physical inactivity. According to the report, adults who slept less than six hours per night were: • 60 percent more likely to be a cigarette smoker; • 15 percent more likely to consume five or more drinks in a day; • 17 percent more likely to engage in no leisure-time physical activity; and • 50 percent more likely to be obese. Adults who slept nine or more hours per night were: • 43 percent more likely to be a cigarette smoker; • 27 percent more likely to engage in no leisure-time physical activity; and • 18 percent more likely to be obese. The exact nature of the causal relationship is not yet clear. However, the study supports previous research that shows engaging in healthy behaviors and receiving six to eight hours of sleep per night is helpful in maintaining good health and quality of life. Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/sleep04-06/sleep04-06.htm Physically Active Women May Outrun Breast Cancer Risk According to the findings: • Postmenopausal and thinner women (body mass index less than 22) appeared to receive the largest benefit with a risk reduction of 27 percent. The following link provides a chart that will help determine BMI: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.pdf • Certain activities, such as recreational physical activity, cut the risk of breast cancer to a greater extent than did work-related activity. • Recreational activity, vigorous activity and lifetime or later-life activity provided the strongest reductions in breast cancer risk. • Moderate activity, work-related activity and household chores all lowered the risk for breast cancer. • Women who had given birth, had no family history of breast cancer, and non-white women also had a reduced risk of breast cancer. • In 50 percent of the studies, there was evidence of a dose-response effect, which means more exercise is associated with more benefits. The results of the literature review confirmed that physical activity is likely to reduce the risk of breast cancer in women and while almost every type of woman received some benefit, certain subgroups did benefit more than others. Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/ExerciseFitness/tb/9429 Upcoming Events |
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