Invitation to Participate in
Wellness Works
Obesity Prevention and Control Planning Committee

TO: Dr. Jeff Ritter, Chief Financial Officer FROM: Bertha Simmons, Wellness Program Director

RE: Capella Banking Bureau Obesity Prevention and Control Worksite Program

As you may be aware, Capella Banking Bureau is planning to continue implementing a worksite obesity prevention and control program in September, 2014. The new program will involve planning, building, promoting, and assessing a variety of nutrition and physical activity program components Capella Banking Bureau employees. We are inviting you to be a part of the Planning Committee.

The purpose of this committee is to develop, guide, and oversee the program, including—
• Identifying the interests of company employees
• Motivating employees to participate in the program
• Keeping management excited about the company’s obesity prevention efforts
• Discussing potential program components and deciding what activities to include

“With high obesity rates in the United States, these health care costs can directly affect employer profits.4 It is estimated that employers spend $13 billion annually on the total cost of obesity.3 Approximately 9.1% of all health care costs in the United States are related to obesity and overweight” (CDC, 2011).

“Workplace obesity prevention and control programs can be an effective way for employers to reduce obesity’ (CDC, 2011).

Along with your participation, I am predicting the Wellness Works program at Capella Banking Bureau to become a return of investment (ROI) and to grow from further being a money pit. “Obesity affects more than health care costs, it also has a significant impact on worker productivity because the more chronic medical conditions an employee has, the higher the probability of absenteeism or presenteeism” (CDC, 2011).

Without this program chronic diseases are most likely to increase and jeopardize the working population. Jeopardizing wellness of the working population will open seats of employment complex to fill. Continuing the Wellness Works program the company plays a key role in disseminating healthy behaviors within the workplace. “Additionally, well-designed programs have the potential to extend beyond the worksite and positively influence dependents (spouses and children), and thereby reduce an organization's health care costs” (CDC, 2011). Replacing the Wellness Works program may risk losing a number of employees who have benefited from its effectiveness.

Our Human resource professionals noticed that our wellness program helps reduce health insurance costs, and return on investment (ROI) started appearing frequently in wellness discussions. “When it became obvious that wellness programs could have an impact on workers’ compensation costs, we began to see different departments start to look outside their silos and create integrated strategies” (Associated, 2014).

“Claims adjusters will tell you that poor health conditions such as obesity inherently slow the normal progression of a workers’ compensation claim. A Duke University Medical Center analysis found that obese workers:

• Filed twice the number of workers’ compensation claims
• Had seven times higher medical costs from those claims
• Lost 13 times more days of work from work injury or work illness than did non-obese workers

A study by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) found:

• Workers’ compensation medical claims open for one year cost three times as much when the injured employee is obese.
• Claims that are open for five years are five times more costly when involving an obese claimant.
• Cost differential can be even greater for smaller claims.

Given the strong link between poor health and work comp costs, maintaining a healthy lifestyle should be a high priority for employers” (Associated, 2014).
“One survey of more than 1,000 U.S. employers (most of which had more than 1,000 employees) found that 72 percent provided education or training on lifestyle behaviors to their employees, and 40 percent offered financial incentives for participation in health appraisals or screenings. Department of Labor data show that in 2000, 18 percent of all employees (including part-time) were eligible for wellness programs, and 9 percent were eligible for fitness center programs” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
“Given the large number of companies that have implemented health promotion and disease prevention programs, many for several decades now, it is not surprising that a large amount of information has been reported on the effects of these programs on employee health and productivity, and on the costs and benefits of these programs to the companies that sponsor them. Moreover, many companies and studies have reported that these kinds of programs have had positive effects on employee health and job performance, and have resulted in cost savings for the companies that provide them. The nature and quality of this information vary a great deal, since these programs generally were not designed to be research studies. Many of the available reports are case studies. When more systematic studies are undertaken, they often must address limitations that include selection bias, skewed data, confounding variables, small sample sizes, and lack of control or comparison groups. These limitations in turn make it difficult for studies of worksite programs to attribute a causal relationship between the program and the measured effects and to generalize the findings to other locations, businesses, or workforces” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003). Figure 9.Source of data: Ref. 150 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
“Findings on the return on investment for health promotion and disease management programs were reported for nine employers: Canada & North America Life; Chevron; City of Mesa, AZ; General Mills; General Motors; Johnson & Johnson; Pacific Bell; Procter & Gamble; and Tenneco. These programs provide health education to their employees to promote behaviors that will improve health or prevent disease, and typically include exercise programs, health-risk appraisal, weight control, nutrition information, stress management, disease screening, and smoking cessation. The review found significant return on investment for the programs provided by these nine employers, with the range of benefit-to-cost ratios, ranging from $1.49 to $4.91 in benefits per dollar spent on the program, and a median of $3.14. For instance, at the high end, General Motors realized at one of their sites an annual savings of $105.50 in total health care costs per enrollee for an annual program cost of $27 per enrollee-a ratio of 4.91 of benefits-to-cost ” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
Examinations were performed on “demand-management program“, this program is designed to assist the wellness of employees by increasing the influence of self-care and decreasing the use of medical treatment. The variation in the return on investment in this kind of program ranges from $2.19 to $13 in benefits per dollar spent. Also, in the examination, “three studies of ROI for disease-management programs found a range in benefit-to-cost ratios from $7.33 to $10.38. For multiple category programs that combined elements of these programs, they found a range of $5.47 to $6.47 in benefits per dollar spent” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
CIGNA
The goal of CIGNA's Working Well Program is to keep its 34,000 U.S. employees healthy and at work. The Working Well Program's annual budget is $2.5 million. The program is implemented at all 250 domestic offices. Working well has a broad range of programs for all employees with special emphasis on issues of concern to women who make up 76% of CIGNA's employees (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
The Working Well Moms Program encourages and supports breast-feeding. Over three-quarters of CIGNA women are of childbearing age. Breast feeding duration rates for participants are 72% at 6 months and 36% at 12 months, significantly higher than control groups and U.S. data. This has decreased pharmacy costs - 62% fewer prescriptions for breast-fed children. The program has also contributed to decreased medical costs - a savings of $240,000 in healthcare expenses. In addition, program participants have 74 fewer absences per 100 mothers, a savings of $60,000 in lost time annually (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
The Working Well Triumph Program provides skill training and support for disabled employees to improve their health, adopt healthy lifestyles, and reduce the likelihood of future disability leave. This program has resulted in healthcare costs savings of more than $900 per program participant (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
The Working Well Flu Shots Program provides free immunization inoculations at all significant employee locations. The program is aimed at reducing workplace absenteeism. Program participants have 29% less absenteeism as compared to employees not getting a shot. This produced a savings of $33 per employee participant. The overall return on investment for the program was 3 to 1(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
CIGNA's smoking cessation program, which combines behavioral counseling and pharmacologic treatment, is offered to all CIGNA employees and their benefits-eligible family members who want to quit smoking. The program helped 67 percent of its participants quit smoking after 12 months, a quit rate up to three times higher than comparable smoking cessation programs. CIGNA estimates saving $949 in health care costs for each successful participant, a return on investment of 9.5 to 1(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003).
To contact CIGNA for more detailed information, see: www.Cigna.com.
Becoming a partner of Wellness Works, you will contribute to the wellness of our employees resulting in a high return of investment. “You will also contribute to pointing out typical health promotion and disease prevention programs and provide health education to most or all of our employees.
“Designing this effective program will improve employee health and productivity and produce good returns on investment, you should partnering with an array of health and productivity programs (rather than focus on the "pure" wellness program) and integrate them with health and demand-management or disease-management activities” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003) which begins here with the Capella Banking Bureau staff.
We plan to meet twice a month. The committee will be breaking into smaller teams where much of the work will occur. Getting to know how effective we work together is our main priority. We look forward to viewing your opinion to keep the Wellness Works program alive and active.

Thank you in advance for considering working with us on this important effort. I will be scheduling our first meeting. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at bsimmons@outlook.com. (CDC, CDC: Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).

Bertha Simmons
Well Program Director of
Capella Banking Bureau

References

Associated. (2014, May 27). The Bottom Line: Why you should integrate risk management and workplace wellness. (A. Richter, Editor) Retrieved August 31, 2014, from IB Madison Blogs: http://www.ibmadison.com/Blogger/The-Bottom-Line-By-Associated/May-2014/Why-you-should-integrate-risk-management-and-workplace-wellness/
CDC. (2011). CDC: Center of Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved August 31, 2014, from CDC's LEAN Works! - A Workplace Obesity Prevention Program: http://www.cdc.gov/leanworks/why/index.html
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2003, September). ASPE.hhs.gov: Assisting Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Retrieved August 31, 2014, from Prevention Makes Common "Cents": http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/prevention/index.shtml#BUSINESSES