The workplace is an ideal environment in which to build a culture of health and wellness. Helping your employees adopt healthier lifestyles could have a profound effect on your business—50 to 70 percent of illnesses can be prevented by healthy behavioral changes. Wellness has the potential to boost productivity, driving a 3 to 1 return on investment (ROI) over time—it’s a business strategy. (Source: Wellness Council of America)

Compared to traditional health plan members, employees who are enrolled in a CDHP and participate in a health and wellness program demonstrate positive behavioral changes. In 2008, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association discovered that:

Making the case for building a culture of health and wellness should include tracking progress, (both short- and long-term results), so you’ll always have data to support your program. How do you measure the success of a health and wellness program? Establish a budget and some performance expectations to measure program effectiveness. Consider your company’s vision, financial strength, and strategic priorities so you can explain how building a culture of health and wellness can advance the company’s goals. To demonstrate its value, explain how you will document ROI and routinely share information on performance with all interested parties. Specific measurements can include retention, morale, and healthcare cost containment. Determine realistic participation levels for activities and set increasing goals to sustain involvement as your program matures.

Conduct an interest survey and establish a health and wellness committee before launching a program. This will help you gauge interest and find out which initiatives and activities employees are likely to participate in. Consider building a culture of health and wellness in stages. When employers offer too much programming all at once, the program usually has trouble getting off of the ground; interest and participation wane and the program is thought to have failed. To ensure this doesn’t happen, consider implementing 1 or 2 targeted programs in the first year—it’s a much more focused and reasonable approach, which can be very successful in terms of interest and participation.

How do you find the financial resources to pay for a health and wellness program? Employing a strategy that helps you fund a health and wellness program with premium contributions from non-compliers is a good place to start. Leveraging your health plan’s health and wellness resources is another option. Most health plans offer and support health and wellness programs. Speak to your Benefits Advisor about identifying health and wellness resources, maximizing assistance, and minimizing cost.

CDHPCoach’s Storage Facility, where the Coach has organized and compiled a vast amount of tools and resources for you to access.

Housed here are key components and information within the book, Bend the Healthcare Trend which was the impetus behind the CDHPCoach.