More than 40% of hospitals and health care systems will be on the wellness bandwagon by 2010, a new survey from
At present, a mere 7% have wellness programs in place.
"These survey results reflect a significant opportunity for helping health care workers become healthier and more productive, but unfortunately also illustrate the challenges HR managers face in making wellness programs an integral part of the benefits offered to employees at our nation´s hospitals and physician´s offices," said Laura Smith, vice president of healthcare systems accounts for Meritain Health. "In perhaps no other industry could it be more important to have employees modeling healthy behavior, while at the same time producing significant cost savings for their employers."
Employers report barriers like overall program appeal (30%), cost (27%) and convincing C-suite executives (15%) as reasons why they have not yet gotten wellness initiatives off the ground.