Wellness

Although it’s unclear when obesity is deemed “severe” enough to constitute an ADA-protected disability, it is now clear that “morbid” obesity” warrants such protection.

More employers are linking wellness incentives to completing lifestyle modification programs or progress made toward meeting acceptable ranges for biometric measures such as blood pressure, body mass index, blood sugar and cholesterol, finds Aon Hewitt.

In a gadget-driven world that has nearly erased any boundary line between work and life, there’s an app for just about anything. The employee benefits landscape is no exception.

With the cost of employer-provided health care benefits at large U.S. employers expected to rise another 7% next year, a new survey by the National Business Group on Health suggests employers are eyeing a variety of cost-control measures but also sharply boosting financial rewards to engage workers in healthy lifestyles.

Getting employees to support health savings accounts depends on the way they’re communicated alongside the concept of a high-deductible health plan, which can be a tricky proposition. But there are solutions at hand.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) poses both a moral and business dilemma for worksite wellness programs, but a leading authority suggests that it can be overcome with careful thought and the right strategy in place.

For decades, health care consumers have been told once you have a problem, then you should go to the doctor. But now, as high-deductible health plans become ever more prevalent, employers are encouraging employees to go to the doctor first - before they get sick - and in turn the employer will often cover the visit at 100%.

As health care costs continue their upward trajectory, employers everywhere are left searching for ways to manage their benefit costs, and many are looking to wellness programs as the solution. In fact, a recent Express Scripts study reveals that 81% of employers surveyed intend to offer a wellness plan in the next two years.

For all employers' focus on curbing obesity statistics through healthy eating and exercise programs, it can be easy to forget that smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. One employer, Nelnet, is remaining vigilant about stamping out smoking among its employee population.

As employers move past the anxiety and drama over the Supreme Court ruling on health care reform, there's no escaping the fact that steep employee medical benefit costs remain as a serious concern - not only in the United States, but all over the world.

"The whole onsite clinic thing has been a buzz the last few years," says Michael Troup, partner at Forsite Benefits.

Do you work sitting on your butt all day? Yeah, me too - and we're not alone.

You've been thinking about introducing a wellness program and finally feel like you've developed a solid business case. You walk in to your manager's office and barely get these words out of your mouth, "I'd like to talk about wellness ... ," when you hear a combination of: "We don't have the money for it ... you have better things to work on ... only the healthy will use it ... ." You meekly head back to your desk and put your wellness presentation up on the shelf. Is this you? If yes, let the "tree of healthy" be your green thumb of wellness success.

Sedentary office workers, including busy HR practitioners, may want to stand up to absorb some provocative news published in the online medical journal BMJ Open: Most Americans could live two years longer on average if they’d spend less than three hours a day sitting.

Most employees don’t think they should be required to participate in wellness programs to qualify for employer-provided health insurance, according to a new survey released by the National Business Group on Health. Moreover, they don’t think employers should charge employees more for health coverage if they don’t meet specific health goals.

When employees of Huntington Ingalls Industries subsidiary AMSEC LLC say they’ve lost a ton of weight, they’re not kidding.

Several leading health care advocacy groups are helping advance the use of outcomes-based incentives in worksite wellness or health management programs that are encouraged by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The National Business Group on Health has honored 66 U.S. employers for their ongoing commitment to promoting healthy work environments and encouraging workers to live healthier lifestyles. The honored employers, including 15 first-time winners, were presented with “2012 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles” awards at the NBGH’s Institute on Innovation in Workforce Well-being Leadership Summit held in Washington, D.C.

As employee medical benefit costs escalate at double-digit levels worldwide, a new survey finds that wellness programs and health promotion strategies are gaining traction.

Once a month, clinical psychologist Dr. Marianne Bowden leaves her office, crosses the street and walks over to Certified Angus Beef, where she strolls the hallways, chatting casually with employees, looking at photos of employees' children and listening to what's going on in their lives. Then, she makes her way to the company's dedicated wellness room where she meets more formally with employees who've booked appointments with her in advance.