CEO (or equivalent): Louis R. Giancola, CEO and president
Number of employees: 969
The Well Beyond program, incentivizing healthy choices among South County Health employees since 2010, has potent tools to help turn choice into habit: family support and, added recently, phone access to health coaching.
The program focuses on core areas such as physical activity, including flexibility and strength training; nutrition, including how to gauge portion sizes; preventative care (knowing your numbers); resilience, including managing stress; financial wellness; and career development, supporting professional learning.
The company itself provides advanced inpatient, outpatient and home health services for Washington County. It encompasses four Joint Commission-accredited health care entities: South County Hospital, South County Home Health, South County Medical Group and South County Surgical Supply, employing about 1,400 people.
Well Beyond is a benefit-linked, incentive program that requires voluntary participation in a health screening each year by staff and enrolled partners. They get health screenings on-site or through their own primary care doctors, and earn additional incentives by taking advantage of resources for which they can earn points.
Each 100 points earns a participant $100, with a plan-year maximum of $300 per individual and $600 per staff and spouse/partner. The plan has enjoyed some success since the company began offering the incentives to employees in 2016. This year South County Health has enjoyed an 86 percent participation rate, as opposed to industry benchmarks of 55 percent to 75 percent.
The incentives aren’t the only new perks. The company now offers phone access to health coaching services previously offered solely on-site, said Maggie Thomas, chief human resources officer at South County Health, which is much more convenient for many team members.
In the past, someone working a later shift getting out of work at 7 p.m. wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the company’s on-site health coaches, Thomas said. Now, after a busy shift ending in the evening, an employee can head straight home and still call in for dietary or exercise advice.
The new phone service is intended to support physical activity – rewarding staff for healthy habits at work and in their lives outside of work, she said.
Another Well Beyond benefit added this year: massage therapy. Previously, the service was provided to employees intermittently throughout the year. Now the program is offered to employees on an ongoing basis, and has won strong support from the employee base.
“I would say our staff is definitely excited about that,” Thomas said.
During the winter, the company also opened the employee gym during weekends, and extended the benefit to include spouses and partners.
Encouraging loved ones to participate in the program along with an employee helps people turn incentivized healthy choices into long-term habits. Keeping up with regular exercise and healthy eating is easier with the buddy system, Thomas said. With that in mind, the company has been increasing offerings available to spouses through health-coaching opportunities and educational seminars.
“We know that the support of their family members makes all the difference in changing behavior,” said Thomas.
The wellness program offers a 12-week, medically supervised cardiac-rehabilitation program, medication-management services, nutrition counseling, surgery-preparation coaching and a smoking-cessation program.
There are also support groups for new moms, those undergoing treatment for cancer, diabetes management and caregivers.
South County Health’s efforts have earned it attention outside the Ocean State.
In 2016, the Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress ranked South County Health’s wellness program No. 74 in the nation at its annual conference.
Thomas helped start the wellness program at South County in 2010, when the company was set to move to a self-funded health insurance system. “It seemed like a really key moment in which to think about it,” Thomas said. A focus on prevention and wellness also seemed logical for a health care provider.
“We saw it as a way to invest the staff in living the vision of the hospital,” Thomas said.
