Wellness

Eight years after drugstore chain giant CVS bought PBM Caremark, Rite Aid followed suit yesterday in announcing plans to acquire EnvisionRx, a 14-year-old PBM with estimated 2015 revenue of $5 billion, and 21 million covered lives.

For employers battling absenteeism or looking to reinvent current policies, creating a solid philosophy which includes robust return-to-work and employee wellness programs will be vital in increasing attendance.

Would saving an extra $200 billion in health care costs a year sound nice? No, it’s not another ploy to get rid of the ACA … for once. Annually, between $100 billion and $289 billion is spent on hospital visits due to patients failing to adhere to their prescription medicines

In the next five years, when it comes to managing costs, wellness offerings and family coverage, C-level executives and benefit managers both cite four changes expected in the next five years, but executives and managers each weigh in differently on their importance.

Corporate spending on wellness programs is surging, but motivating employees to use them continues to be a rather expensive struggle. There are lots of reasons for this, but a really unfortunate one is bad timing.

Commentary: Step up your game or your clients may choose to become your competitors, says the head of Pittsburgh Business Group on Health

It may still be too soon to tell how widespread wearable fitness trackers will become in corporate wellness programs but for Phoenix Companies, a life insurance and annuity company based in Hartford, Conn., wearable wellness is anything but a fad.

As calls for the EEOC to issue guidance on wellness programs continue, employees are on board with their employers’ involvement in health and wellness programs.

The University of Washington danced its way into the Guinness Book of World Records this week, also marking a year since the inception of the university’s revolutionary employee engagement program.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came under fire during a U.S. Senate committee hearing on employer-sponsored wellness programs Thursday, with one witness calling on Congress to end the “sorry state of affairs."

The tool, designed to help covered employees find doctors, understand health care finance, and meet health goals. is being piloted JPMorgan Chase and will expand to a select number of U.S. employers in 2015.

As the Affordable Care Act’s Cadillac tax looms, a majority of organizations in the U.S. are looking ahead to ways they can cut down on the costs of providing health care.

Employers are concerned multiemployer plans won’t count toward providing employees with health coverage, and may subject them to penalties. Here’s what they can do.

Researchers are starting to monitor physical activity through FitBit trackers to better predict recovery times following spinal surgeries.

North American employers may take some – but not much – comfort in the knowledge that medical trend rates are a lot worse in other parts of the world.

Several of the proposals outlined in the President’s State of the Union address may change how employers plan their strategies on wages, sick leave and child care, as well as how employees prepare for retirement.

Commentary: Research shows that three quarters of health care costs are related to the lifestyle choices of human beings. Adviser Joseph Appelbaum shares his D.C. firm’s cost-cutting success story.

Stay current with this checklist of 2015 contribution limits for retirement and health care benefit plans.

Congress’ first week was a busy one, as new lawmakers worked to make changes to the Affordable Care Act — changes employers should bear in mind as they develop their benefit plan and ACA compliance strategies in the coming year.

Walgreens and WebMD have announced a new partnership that will create a virtual wellness-coaching program on Walgreens.com.