A recent article in LJWorld.com talked about how wellness programs are increasing in popularity, since it’s a way for companies to cope with rising health care costs. Cutting costs by changing insurance companies or changing plan designs have already been tried, as businesses have been doing all they can. But, as the article points out, five years ago companies began to realize that 70 percent of costs having to do with health care are due to preventable conditions. Smoking, Type II Diabetes, obesity — these are all preventable conditions, and they are estimated to cause illnesses that cost the U.S. health care system about $100 billion every year.

According to the article, around 85 percent of United States businesses have wellness programs. Companies are working to make their wellness programs more effective by offering incentives, for example. Employers realize that good wellness programs can help save them money. Not to mention, wellness programs can improve productivity and help cut down on absenteeism.

Spotlighted in the article was the wellness programs put in place by the Kansas Health Policy Authority were designed to promote healthy lifestyles and personal responsibility and therefore control costs. Because of their initiative, the Kansas Health Policy Authority was awarded for their innovative strategies from the Institute for Health and Productivity.

One of the things included in the wellness program was incentives for smokers to quit smoking and for non-smokers to continue being non-smokers. Another part of the plan included an outreach for people who suffer from chronic health conditions.

This wellness program is available to nearly 76,000 people and was expanded this year to include things like health screenings and health coaching. They offered an incentive — a $50 gift card — to participate in a health screening and wound up with over 15,000 people taking them up on that offer. After people participated in the health screening, the hope was that they’d take that information to a health coach in order to get some support behind them.

Another wellness program mentioned in the article is going on at Lawrence Paper Co., a company with 280 employees. An on-site clinic is part of their wellness program, and it can provide things like lab work, shots, wellness checks and prescriptions two days per week. This has helped save employees time and money, and the company has seen their health care costs lowered already.

Start a Wellness Program at Your Business

Start a wellness program at your business — it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Employees get improved health and higher morale, and employers see lower health care costs and higher productivity. Contact Employee Wellness USA today to find out more and to get an evaluation of your company.