Benefits of Employee Health Promotion Programs
Posted by Health Promotion | Posted in Employee Health Promotion | Posted on 10-07-2009
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The costs of healthcare have been rising more than 10 percent each year for several years. A substantial amount of the money invested in the healthcare system treats costly illnesses and diseases.
- pproximately 95 percent of the $1.4 trillion that we spend as a nation on health goes to direct healthcare services, while about 5 percent is allocated to preventing disease and promoting health.
- Potentially, 50 percent to 70 percent of all diseases are preventable as they are associated with potentially-modifiable health risks.
- In an effort to optimize employee health, decrease preventable healthcare utilization and enhance work achievement, and in turn lower healthcare costs and better employee satisfaction and retention, many organizations are planning, or are interested in planning, Employee Health Promotion Programs for employees.
The benefits of worksite wellness are well documented. More than 120 research studies repeatedly show themes such as improvements in health outcomes coupled with high returns on investment (ROI). Some primary findings include the following:
- Savings of $3.48 in reduced healthcare costs per dollar invested.
- Savings of $5.82 in decrease absenteeism costs per dollar invested.
- ROIs of at least $3 to $8 per dollar invested within five years of program implementation.
- Lifestyle behavior modification programs: $3 to $6 return on investment within 2 to 5 years.
- Self care, decision backing programs: $2 to $3 return on investment within a year.
- Disease Management (DM) programs: $7 to $10 return on investment within a year.
By offering health improvement programs, organizations are not only providing an additional service for employees, but they are also gaining monetarily. Furthermore, the influence of a health improvement program goes beyond lowered healthcare cost and return on investment. A health improvement program can affect productivity, absenteeism, morale, recruitment success, turnover, and healthcare costs. Source: Rees, C., and Finch, R. (2004). Health Improvement: A comprehensive guide to beginning, launching and evaluating worksite programs. National Business Group on Health, 1 (1), 1-7.