Most Employers Still Offer Health Programs

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite healthcare cost increases and other pressures facing corporate America, an overwhelming majority of US companies still offer some kind of health-promotion program, the benefits consulting firm Hewitt Associates reports.

Ninety-two percent of 1,020 companies surveyed last year offer some type of health and wellness program, and that's up 4 percentage points from 5 years ago, Hewitt said.

``Employers are offering the health and productivity programs in an effort to reduce their costs and positively impact the health of their employees,'' said Camille Haltom, a healthcare consultant with the Lincolnshire, Illinois-based company.

Seventy-one percent now offer employees some kind of education or training, up 5 percentage points from 1995, the survey found. ``Programs offered range from seminars and workshops to counseling for lifestyle habits that contribute to chronic or acute conditions, according to a Hewitt press release on the findings.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of companies surveyed use health screenings, mostly to detect high blood pressure or cholesterol. That's up 7 percentage points from 1995.

Seventy-seven percent now offer special programs such as disease management, flu vaccinations, well baby or childcare and prenatal care, compared with 71% in 1996. Comparable 1995 data were not available.

Increasingly, employers are turning to disease management programs to help them manage rising healthcare premiums, Haltom noted. It's interesting, she said, that nearly three quarters of employers say they are considering or already have some disease management initiative in place ``because one of the first questions we get is, 'Are other employers doing this?'''

A separate Hewitt survey of more than 600 companies finds that 77% of companies are offering a disease management program as part of their health plan benefit design and another 10% are administering their own programs.

While it can be difficult to measure the financial benefit of health promotion programs, there is ``strong evidence'' that disease management produces significant returns, Haltom told Reuters Health.

Less popular are financial-incentive programs designed to reward employees who participate in health screenings, for example, or to dissuade employees from smoking or driving without buckling up. Forty-percent offer such programs, up 8 percentage points from 1995.

Also, the percentage of corporations that administer health risk appraisals designed to make employees more aware of their need to change unhealthy habits has held steady over the past 5 years at 27%.

Reference Source 89

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