Wellness Benefits Why A Wellness Plan Sells Itself
by George DeVries

Toyota’s new advertising slogan hit a chord with fed-up consumers at the height of rising gas prices a couple of years ago, “I want my…I want my MPG!” As sales for its gas-sipping car models skyrocketed, there was the subtle shift in what represented value for today’s car buyers. Consumers developed a growing expectation that the U.S. auto industry must deliver higher fuel efficiency.

Brokers see themselves in a parallel universe today. Many employers have abandoned more luxurious health plan models for economy plans due to rising health premiums, a crushing economy, and increasing employee medical utilization. And in the distance, brokers may be able to hear the cries of I want my…I want my ROI ! (return-on-investment).

For decades, too many employers and their employees shelled out big bucks for traditional health plans that simply paid for sick care. Few people mentioned ROI back then. Today, employers know that there are health plans that can help stabilize their healthcare expenditures while actually improving their employees’ health and productivity – wellness plans.

If you haven’t begun to sell wellness plans, it’s time to reconsider. As in the auto industry, there are growing expectations for brokers and health plan providers to deliver more cost effective and efficient healthcare strategies. In this challenging sales market, wellness plans give you an opportunity offer positive solutions for your clients and their employees. In case you need more convincing, here are five key reasons why wellness sells itself:

One – More Employers Are Demanding Wellness Plans

All options are on the table as employers look for cost relief. Wellness plans offer a long-term solution. Instituting a -wellness plan can be much more compelling to groups making drastic benefit cuts that may only offer short-term relief to the bottom line while damaging employee morale and productivity and increasing turnover.

A growing number of employers have become convinced of the value of wellness plans. More than 80% of employers said that offering employee lifestyle interventions and incentives is the most promising cost containment benefit strategy, according to a 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey. Wellness continues to resonate even in today’s tumultuous economic environment. In early 2009, nearly 65% of employers said they would continue making significant investments in employee health and productivity improvement and 75% said their three-to-five year plans included improving employee health and productivity, according to a study by Hewitt Associates.

Two – Employers Can Achieve Significant ROI with Wellness Plans

Over the past 10 years, study after study has demonstrated that wellness programs produce positive results. For example, employers that offered physical activity programs were able to reduce healthcare costs by 20% to 55%; reduce short-term sick leave by up to 32%; and increase productivity by up to 52%, according to a 2002 report by the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
More recently, health and productivity management programs were found to lower healthcare cost increases, according to the latest Staying@Work survey (2007/2008) conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health. Cost increases for employers were three and one-half times lower for general healthcare coverage, five times lower for sick leave, four times lower for short-term disability, and four and one-half times -lower for long-term disability. A great example is Johnson & Johnson, which credited its long-running worksite health and wellness program for helping it avoid an estimated $15.9 million in healthcare costs in 2007.

Some wellness studies equate effective health and wellness programs with higher revenue and increased market value. For example, the Watson Wyatt survey also revealed that companies that implemented highly effective health and productivity management programs achieved 20% more revenue per employee, delivered 57% higher shareholder returns, and had a 16% higher market value on average. That’s an ROI that everyone would aspire to!

Since ROI is comprised of many variables, results are as individual as thumbprints. One company cannot mimic the results of another. However, most programs can count on delivering an ROI of three to one, according to estimates from the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA). This means that, for every $1 invested in a wellness program, groups can save $3 in medical costs. In addition, many wellness plans can help groups implement a measurement strategy to understand the effect of the company wellness program. Employers can use heath risk assessment tools and existing claims data to benchmark employee health risks and medical utilization before implementing a program. This allows them to establish a baseline profile for the company.

Employers can then look at subsequent medical claims data and health improvements to track clinical outcomes, changes in medical utilization, and claims. A large employer in Arkansas found the following when tracking clinical outcomes of its wellness program:
• 92% of participants in wellness plans reduced their health risks by improving their eating habits, increasing their activity levels, and managing key stress factors.
• 86% of members participating in smoking cessation set a date to quit; 55% showed improvement in exercise; and 52% showed improvement in managing stress.
• 1% of employees who had 15 sessions or more with a health coach, lost one or more BMI points and 30% lost 10 or more pounds.
• 78% of those who had quit smoking were still not smoking after two months and 53% were still not smoking after six months.
When analyzed on a regular basis, these kinds of clinical outcomes can be golden to your groups.

They will help identify the key areas of success and areas for improvements. Groups can better understand the health and financial ROI by tracking outcomes over three years, five years, and 10 years.

Three – More Employees Believe in Wellness, Boosting Plan Participation and Success

Employee participation has long been one of the key challenges in creating successful wellness programs. But things are changing. U.S. consumers have been hearing and reading about wellness programs for years. They are finally beginning to see that a wellness plan is a benefit in -every sense of the word. Three fourths of workers who have wellness plans are using them, according to the 2008 Principal Financial Well-being Index. Nearly 80% of workers who have wellness plans take advantage of the educational tools and resources that are offered and 77% participate in screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Equally important, the majority of employees believe that wellness benefits can help them reduce their healthcare costs, improve their health condition, and live longer. When employees fully recognize the benefits of participating in the company wellness plan, they enroll in greater numbers and that means greater success for groups and their brokers.

Four – The tools for Success have Improved

Today’s wellness plans offer an -incredible array of programs to help employers educate, engage, and retain the interest of members. Here are a few examples.
• Comprehensive Promotions To Create a Healthy Company Culture – Rollout programs, general health campaigns, and seasonal, monthly or event-oriented promotions help employees understand how poor health habits can lead to chronic and serious illness and high healthcare costs. The best offer on-going promotional programs, challenges, contests, and classes that appeal to almost every employee personality, from the joiners who crave group reinforcement, to individualists who prefer going solo or working one-on-one with a health coach. Employers can maximize member participation and success by creating a culture that reinforces healthy behavior and positive health improvements. They can saturate the work environment with positive health messages through e-mail reminders and intranet notices; posters, paycheck stuffers, newsletter articles, tent cards and meetings. They can also demonstrate a high level involvement in these programs.
• Technology-based Tools That Engage Employee and Collect Data – Health plans are using technology to engage employees in and out of the workplace. For example, members can get automated alerts to their telephones, Blackberries, or computers, reminding them to schedule a workout, take their vitamins, or drink their eight glasses of water. Telephone health coaches can meet with employees monthly to help plan health improvements and reinforce positive behavior. Web-based health information and e-coaching courses give employees even more flexibility to engage when it’s most convenient. Wireless technology is one the newest innovations in wellness plans. Wireless home fitness and health equipment, such as treadmills, exercise bikes, weight equipment, and blood pressure monitors, allow members to monitor at-home exercise activities or biometric changes and transfer this information to the wellness website. Wireless tools enhance health plan tracking and measurement by freeing employees from tracking and entering data into a logbook.
• Inspiring and Rewarding Participation – Over the past few years, incentives have proved so vital to employee participation and motivation, that wellness plans and groups have upped the ante. To encourage the broadest participation, incentives are more diverse and customized than ever. Employees can now get branded gift or merchant cards, cash awards, free health club memberships, and gifts, such as relaxation CDs or recipe books. Some employers pay a higher percentage of their employees’ health plan premiums to incentivize their groups. Incentives can provide that extra nudge to encourage employees to get biometric screenings, engage in health coaching, or join the walking club. About a third of employees who said they are not motivated to participate in programs on their own accord, said that appropriate incentives or rewards could motivate them, according to the 2008 Principal Financial Well-being Index.

Five – Wellness is in the National Spotlight

Never before has wellness and preventive care achieved such a high profile. Top officials leading today’s reform debates recognize preventive care as a cornerstone of healthcare reform. All of the health reform bills in Congress include prevention and wellness incentives and require insurers to cover preventive services.

Also, the costs of healthcare have never been higher, prompting even greater national scrutiny. The poor health and lifestyle choices of Americans are no longer sustainable with skyrocketing cases of chronic and serious illness, increasing medical utilization, rising healthcare costs, and declining employee productivity.

At this critical juncture, your knowledge of these wellness products can give you a very important place at the table with your clients now and in the coming months and years. There has never been a better time to promote wellness. It’s the one solution in your portfolio that practically sells itself while providing a good return on investment. In fact, you could earn the greatest ROI of your career:
• Respect from your groups for thinking strategically.
• The opportunity to counsel your clients on additional products and services down the road.
• Influence as an authority on current and strategic issues and solutions.
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George DeVries is chairman and CEO of American Specialty Health and its subsidiary, Healthyroads, a national health and wellness company. ASH received the 15 Fittest Companies in America Award by Men’s Fitness Magazine and the 2004 Innovators Award from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) among other awards. In August 2009, American Specialty Health was named to the Inc 5,000 list of fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. For information on employee health coaching and wellness plans, visit www.ashcompanies.com.