CEO (or equivalent): Larry J. Merlo, CEO and president
Number of employees: 149,000
It makes sense that the health care provider and retail giant CVS Health Corp. would rank as one of the region’s Healthiest Employers.
But that doesn’t mean reaching award-winning status was easy. CVS needed to create employee-wellness programs that addressed every health risk imaginable – and offered valuable incentives to join in.
CVS employees get an approximate $1,000 reduction in the medical-coverage costs for programs that include health coaching and screenings, no-cost flu shots and certain activities, such as healthy-behavior challenges.
The MinuteClinic weight-management and smoking-cessation programs offer one-on-one consultations with nurse practitioners. Free telephone health-coaching sessions from certified health education specialists give advice on subjects ranging from nutrition and physical inactivity to quitting tobacco, weight loss and stress management.
There’s also the Accordant Health Care Management program, which focuses on rare, chronic conditions; the maternity program Destination Healthy Baby; and the Path to Healthy Nutrition program, which offers low-cost, healthy meals in 20 CVS Health locations.
A recent organizational health score enumerated impressive results through tracking 10 health risks and the costs for the insurance claims they create. Four of these risks – stress, depression, blood glucose management and obesity – can be linked directly to higher claim costs among the enrolled CVS population.
The report shows that for CVS pharmacists, all 10 risks “stayed flat or declined in prevalence from 2015 to 2016.” Eighty-four percent of CVS employees enrolled in the programs showed health improvement under the category of stress. For obesity, 66 percent improved. For depression, 70 percent improved, and with blood glucose management, 82 percent showed improvement. Blood pressure had the lowest rate of “persistence” between 2014 and 2016, at only 11 percent. Stress moved from the second to the fourth position of persistence, reflecting a decline in reported risk.
A big part of the company’s wellness-programming strategy is Strive, an online program that allows anyone enrolled in a CVS Health medical plan to access HealthConnect, a new, easy-to-use digital hub for information on well-being programs.
“The Benefits Strategy Team at CVS Health introduced the Strive program last summer, but many of the programs under the Strive umbrella have been in place for several years,” said Candace Jodice, vice president of benefits. “Strive encourages colleagues to ‘Be Your Healthy Best’ … The programs are all no- or low-cost, and most are open to all CVS Health colleagues.”
She explained that if CVS colleagues and their spouses complete a free health screening and health-risk assessment, they can save up to $1,200 (per couple) on their health insurance premiums. If they take the tobacco-free pledge, they also earn a $50 (or $100 per couple) annual contribution to their Health Savings Account.
“Between Feb. 1 and the May 31 deadline, 85 percent of our colleagues and spouses completed the tasks, learned about their health and earned their incentives,” she said. “Over 70,000 on-site health screenings at MinuteClinic locations around the country are making it easy for employees and their spouse to take advantage of this program.”
One prime example of how the health assessments are helping, she said, is the story of the CVS employee who visited MinuteClinic and was found to have a very elevated blood sugar level but had not been diagnosed as diabetic. After speaking with a physician, that employee started on medication, changed eating habits and lost a significant amount of weight.
The employee “returned to MinuteClinic this year for an annual screening and to thank their MinuteClinic provider.” The result of a year in the program: the blood sugar value was half of what it was the year prior, Jodice said.
“We believe health is everything. That’s why we’ve created a culture that helps us achieve our purpose of helping people on their path to better health. When our colleagues and their families are healthy, our company is best positioned to help others achieve the same,” she said.