Last year, Miami Childrens Hospital shifted its wellness focus from participation to accountability and partnered with Interactive Health to offer a new biometric screenings initiative. For the programs first year of implementation, the hospital encouraged employees and spouses to receive a blood draw for metrics across six areas, including blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and tobacco use. If an individual had high blood pressure, their goal for the year would be to lower it. For the inaugural year, the hospital incentivized participation but for the next and those following, only participants who improve their metrics will receive lower premium rates.
The Interactive Health program provides free health coaching to help employees and spouses achieve their wellness goals and also offers a free mid-year check-up for those who want to measure their progress so far. The third-party vendor catered to every hospital worksite, even one with only five employees, and scheduled tests early in the morning or at the beginning of shifts to accommodate fasting. Coaches from the wellness company interpret the health panel based on age and gender and reach out to participants within a day or two of the on-site visit, which builds off of the initiatives momentum.
Of 3,200 eligible employees, the hospital expected participation rates to hover at 70% but was impressed when 92% of workers participated, in addition to 60% of spouses.
"Employees are more engaged in their wellness than ever before. Before they didnt see the importance of it," says Janet Lara-Vital, director of total rewards and wellness at Miami Childrens Hospital.
Interactive Health has found that 56% of participants in their programs have health issues, as many discover risks they werent aware of. For the health care industry, the biggest concerns are pre-diabetes and diabetes, as employees in this sector tend to be very busy and their eating habits often suffer.
Convincing senior leadership and their employees that the initiative was worthwhile and wouldnt violate their privacy was a hard sell," says Lara-Vital. HR leaders also encountered a language barrier so they held meetings in Spanish as well and educated their wellness champions to function as liaisons between departments. They also sent a list of employees who hadnt participated to business leaders and managers, who directly communicated what employees would miss out on if they didnt participate. Some employees mistakenly believed the screening could replace their annual doctor visit so HR had to frame the initiative as collaboration with primary care.
Next year, the program rewards participants who achieve their health goal, which is always lifestyle-related and can be modified through diet and exercise.
Coaches support individuals in designing a health plan that works for them. The vendor directs participants to employer-sponsored benefits and company and community activities to help them meet their goals, selecting what works best for that individual. For example, an employee who cant run due to medical issues can attend an educational course instead of racing in a 5k. Each year, Interactive Health works with the hospital to see what wellness activities or challenges worked well and they design an activity calendar for next year based on engagement levels.
Flash contests, are great examples to spur wellness during a one or two-day contest, such as walking to lunch or organizing stretch breaks.
These are the types of activities that tend to be more visible and meaningful for people," says Joe OBrien, president and CEO of Interactive Health Inc.
Miami Childrens Hospital was able to tailor programs for certain locations to improve general health risks. It brings in a Farmers Market every Wednesday, and has an on-site clinic and wellness center as well as employing an in-house dietician. In a particularly effective move, the hospital has also color-coded its cafeteria food based on nutrition levels. Lara-Vital overheard coworkers advising each other not to eat something coded red, so she knows the biometrics and wellness activities are encouraging employees to improve their personal health.
Now that we have a system to gather aggregate data and see how our [wellness] programs are doing, we can build on programs and improve our plan design, explains Lara-Vital.
In every organization, employers and wellness vendors design programs based on cultural assessment. In a hospital, says OBrien, culture drills down to the floor-level and should be tailored on that micro level.
In a hospital, each floor is different. You have an emergency room, prenatal. Theres a whole different culture by floor and location. We make sure that each floor has specialized communication that theyre used to seeing whether its web or posters or check stuffers," says OBrien.
For example, the prenatal department has a more planned-out daily schedule compared to the chaotic and spontaneous ER environment.
"You need the convenience that allows both groups to participate easily," says OBrien, who adds that it becomes a culture, not just an activity or an event."
Interactive Health has worked with close to 50 hospitals and delivered biometric screenings to over 50,000 associates. In the future, they are looking into delivering this initiative not only to the hospitals own employees, but using their model and resources for community-wide outreach.
