DOES WELLNESS REALLY WORK AND; WHO SHOULD PAY FOR IT?

The AMA states, “70% of healthcare costs can be attributed to lifestyle-related illness and are therefore preventable”

If what the AMA claims is true, and recent studies have shown that it is, then keeping employees and their dependents healthy must obviously be a key component in your benefits planning strategy if you hope to manage the cost of providing healthcare benefits in the long-term.

That said, I’m going to confidently assume I don’t have to convince you very hard to believe “the facts,” but be that as it may and facts notwithstanding, how do you positively impact your bottom line with a Health and Wellness program in the most cost-effective manner that engages, educates and motivates your employees to participate?

Develop a voluntary “Employee Health Risk Management Plan” that includes a “Bona Fide Health & Wellness Program.”

Studies have shown that for every $1 spent on a wellness program, as much as $3 in healthcare expenses is saved, “yada, yads, yada” and I can hear you saying it now, “Sounds great, Mark, and we believe it, but I don’t have an extra $3, or $4, or $5 per employee per month in my budget and, unless I can demonstrate a guaranteed ROI to my CEO, I can’t get the cost for a wellness program approved.”

Truth is, you really can’t afford not to have a wellness program, and the fact may be you really don’t have it in your budget to justify the additional expense for an ROI that certainly won’t be realized in the first year, nor the second year and probably not until the third year at best. By then, you’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars in a wellness program that may just begin to produce ROI results that are skewed and diluted by employee turnover.

It’s true, “necessity is the mother of invention” and I firmly believe that creating a health and wellness program is a necessity for every employer, small to large, but I don’t believe employers should have to pay for it to benefit from it financially.

A “voluntary” Employee Health Risk Management Plan includes a Bona Fide Health & Wellness Program whereby employees enroll in and pay for their own “Employee Health Risk Management Plan” and have access to a Health & Wellness Program based upon their specific needs and personal health risk profile.

Which makes more $en$e?

1. Throwing more money at an investment currently with no ROI and hoping for one, or;
2. Achieving the best possible ROI on an investment you’re already making?

If this sounds like an oxy moron, it’s really quite simple. 20% of your insured population accounts for 80% + of your group’s incurred claims – (a fact we all know) – making a traditional group health plan a very poor investment for sure and, if you really think about it, the money you spend providing healthcare benefits for your employees is an investment – in them.  Unfortunately, less than 25% of your employees are truly benefiting from your investment while the remaining 75% bear the burden of cost for the overall health risk of the group.

The key to achieving maximum ROI from your healthcare investment is not to throw good money after bad, but rather re-establish your healthcare investment budget and re-allocate those funds to motivate the high utilizing (25%) population to change the way they think about their health and make lifestyle changes that improves their health status and ultimately produces a better ROI on your investment.

For a fresh new approach and innovative, non-conforming ideas on how I can save you money providing healthcare benefits to your employees and help you control your healthcare cost in the future, write: mark.capuano@skyinsure.com, or call me at 330-492-3373.

http://www.markcapuano.com. http://www.skyfi.com. This article may be reprinted with Author’s email, phone number and web address included. Copyright © 2005-2007, Mark L. Capuano. All rights reserved.