If the $130,000 that Electric Boat has invested in a wellness/fitness center at Quonset Point helps to prevent just eight employees from having a heart attack, it will pay for itself.
A heart attack costs an average of $16,200 per hospital stay per patient, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. A diabetic’s hospitalizations can cost between $8,500 and $23,100 per year depending on how many times he or she is hospitalized.
Though it is difficult to measure savings from what doesn’t happen, Bob Nardone, vice president of human resources at Electric Boat, said he imagines the company will recoup the money it has invested in a relatively short time, because keeping heart disease and diabetes in check translates into direct health care dollars saved by the company.
But health care cost savings wasn’t the only incentive for Electric Boat to provide the wellness/fitness center for its 1,900 employees in North Kingstown.
“From my perspective, the ultimate goal is to end up with a more healthy work force, which translates into a more productive work force, a more creative work force and less absenteeism,” Nardone said.
Electric Boat hosted a grand opening last Wednesday, with tours of the 4,100-square-foot wellness/fitness center, which offers exercise classes, fitness and weight equipment, hand weights, personal trainers, smoking cessation counseling and nutrition counseling.
It is open 24 hours a day, seven days per week, available to employees only, at no charge.
The company purchased treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bicycles as well as Pilates exercise balls, bands, mats and steps for step aerobics.
“We’re trying to make it pretty versatile,” said Dr. Susan Andrews, medical director for Electric Boat at Quonset. “Each person has different likes and wants. … We try to have something for everyone.”
And because the work force is 87-percent male, Andrews said, the exercise classes are geared more toward activities such as kick-boxing in order to spur interest. As interests change, so will the programming, because that is what keeps employees coming back, she said.
It is also important that the wellness program addresses the health risks associated with the work force, which is why Andrews chose a cardiovascular focus.
Heart and cardiovascular diseases are a huge concern for men, she said. And smoking is one of the leading causes, which is why the wellness program includes a smoking cessation component. It provides employees the option of a seven-week class or one-on-one counseling in addition to nicotine patches and informational materials.
Though it is difficult to measure how many workers are smokers, Andrews said, “you can safely assume in a male-dominated hourly work force, often 20 to 30 percent are smokers.”
And for every year that someone stops smoking, it can save the employer $2,500 to $3,500 in health care costs.
The wellness program also includes a nutrition component. In the last couple of years, Electric Boat has implemented a color-coding system for food in its cafeterias. Each color represents one of the six food groups in the new food guide pyramid. The nutrition counseling teaches employees how many servings of each they need.
In addition, the company has implemented a “know your numbers” program through which Andrews and others visit each unit or department to conduct blood sugar, cholesterol and body mass screenings. Employees can carry their test results on cards in their wallets.
Through the process, Andrews said, they found several employees who had no idea they had diabetes.
Electric Boat also conducts large health fairs each year, Nardone said. And this year the company announced a raffle and $100,000 in cash prizes as an incentive for employees who get a physical and fill out health risk assessment forms.
But how much will the wellness incentives save Electric Boat in the long run? Nardone said it’s hard to say.
“We do anticipate, over time, the healthier our employees are, the more control we will have over health care costs, but it’s not something that will happen overnight,” he said. And rising health premiums have been a concern.
Electric Boat offers a comprehensive health care package in which it covers 85 percent of costs and employees pay 15 percent, Nardone said. The company realized that to continue offering that employer-employee ratio, it needed to find a way to mitigate the cost over time.
“We could pass the cost to our employees,” he said. “But it’s better to give them some control to control the cost.”
That means helping them become better consumers of health care, which is where the wellness initiatives fit in.
“I think we’re well on our way,” Nardone said. “Based on the level of interest, it’s absolutely the right thing to do. We’ve been getting great feedback from employees.”
