Employee wellness now in mainstream

STANDING-ROOM ONLY: Insure My Trip Services User Experience Manager Chris Jackson, foreground, and Web designer Hristo Kanchov work from standing workstations in their Warwick office. The setup is part of the wellness program at the company. / PBN PHOTO/CHRIS SHORES
STANDING-ROOM ONLY: Insure My Trip Services User Experience Manager Chris Jackson, foreground, and Web designer Hristo Kanchov work from standing workstations in their Warwick office. The setup is part of the wellness program at the company. / PBN PHOTO/CHRIS SHORES

Ten years ago, wellness in the workplace was a simple concept promoted by health insurers trying to reduce their costs through preventative care. Like many revolutionary ideas, businesses and the public didn’t embrace it wholeheartedly.
Now wellness has entered the mainstream, as companies offer their staff free resources and discounts, and employees are actively participating in a variety of programs. Insurers have also picked up the slack, offering more ways to keep people healthy.
Dennis Carroll is a typical example. He normally works on a computer at Insure My Trip Services Inc., of Warwick, but had read that sitting for long periods of time isn’t healthy. He created a standing workstation and after a few months felt better. He also reported his findings to the company.
“We found it to be a novel approach,” said Vikki Corliss, IMT head of public relations and wellness-committee co-chairwoman.
The company culture itself embraces the philosophy. Of its 50 employees, as many as half of them participate in ShapeUp Rhode Island programs. Advisers from the Health and Wellness Institute – a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island – have given discussions about healthy-eating habits. They also help with blood drives and cancer screenings, all for free.
Critical to wellness plans are the emergence of unified health centers, a one-stop medical care, psychological counseling, health and wellness facility. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration lists 35 centers in the Ocean State, a number that has steadily increased over the past several years.
But that’s not all. The company has their own gym on-site. May Day breakfasts celebrate the season while remaining healthy. Furthermore, councilors meet with employees and advise them on specific health concerns, ranging from nutrition and diabetes to smoking cessation.
“Our wellness program is certainly inspired by Blue Cross, but we consider their services very separate from our own program,” said Corliss.
Like many other organizations, health insurers and chambers of commerce, BCBSRI presents annual wellness and worksite health programs. Blue Cross holds its 18th annual Worksite Health Awards breakfast and ceremony later this month and Amica Mutual Insurance Co., as well as IMT, will be honored.
Jean Tapley is a full-time wellness coordinator at Amica, a testament of the company’s dedication to employee health. With 1,300 workers divided between four buildings in Lincoln, wellness is a large undertaking and Tapley is up to the task; she holds a master’s degree in mental-health counseling, an undergraduate in community education and is a personal certified trainer. Most of Amica’s wellness program is run by the company; other benefits are provided through Blue Cross.
Amica boasts an on-site fitness center and will reimburse employees and their families for up to 80 percent of the costs to exercise elsewhere. There are walking paths on their Lincoln campus and employees are urged to walk during the week. “We encourage camaraderie, to get out and get exercise together,” she said.
Amica works with their dining services to promote healthy meals and even subsidizes their cost in order to make them easily affordable. “We subsidize our garden burger, for example, so that it costs only 99 cents. Amica said, ‘Decrease the price and more people will have it,’ and that’s exactly what’s happened,” Tapley said.
Weight Watchers is on-site and Amica will reimburse most of the cost for a membership. The same can be said for plans to quit smoking. Enter their diabetes program and if you complete it successfully it’s all for free, with zero copay, Tapley said. And that’s not even mentioning cholesterol, blood pressure and a host of other screenings, as well as employee-assistance programs.
Health insurance providers are getting into the act as well. Blue Cross regularly holds community events that include wellness staples like a Nutrition 101 stop-by, as well as blood pressure and sun-safety screenings. If your company is large enough, the event will be held at your office, free as charge.
“We’ve had that practice for the last several years,” said Kimberly Reingold, director of media relations and external affairs. “We have a number of employers that have various programs that they allow for their employees, whether it be smoking cessation [or] cooking lessons for eating well and exercising.” “We meet with employers to discuss how wellness is best paired with a company’s benefit plan,” said Shanna Marzilli, Blue Cross senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “We help put together a plan design, along with a series of incentives, but it’s about building a culture around health. We help put on classes for smoking cessation and stress reduction, which is big right now. In an economy that’s tough, employers are telling people to do more with less. It has a big impact on the bottom line.”
According to a review of Blue Cross claims, participants in wellness programs have shown an average medical-claims savings of $580 annually and have better performance evaluations from their managers than nonparticipants. Blue Cross studies with multiple companies have demonstrated a return on investment as great as 5:1 in productivity, and a multiyear analysis at three of the companies showed a 39 percent reduction in high-risk members for a medical savings of approximately $180,000 during the study period.
At Tufts Health Plan, Anne Marie Ludovici-Connolly was named its new director of health, wellness and productivity in January. Tufts already has partial and full reimbursement plans for nutrition counseling, Weight Watchers, NutriSystem and diet and nutrition supplements.
The R.I. Department of Health also provides businesses help through a personal worksite-wellness coordinator to companies wanting to begin a program. Personnel form a wellness team to survey opinions, create goals and establish plans best suited for those specific needs, from stress management to blood pressure, cholesterol and mammogram screenings.
And the state is trying to lead by example. Last December, the wellness program for state employees “Rewards for Wellness,” was one of three winners of the 2011 International Health Promotion Awards competition. Benefits included smoking cessation, health coaching, Shape Up Rhode Island and Weight Watchers. •

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