Wellness

In 2002, the most expensive health conditions were heart disease, cancer, trauma, mental disorders and pulmonary conditions. These conditions plague employers, and last week, leaders in business met to discuss ways to manage them affectively to not only get a healthier workforce, but a more cost-efficient one.

Employers want more timely access to reporting and more transparency from their wellness vendors, according to a recent survey of 430 employers conducted by OptumHealth.

While there is still much discussion about whether and how incentives really work for engaging employees in wellness programs, most companies still plan on increasing the dollar value of the incentives they offer. That’s according to a survey of 139 employers from Fidelity and the National Business Group on Health released last week to analyze the growth of health-improvement programs in the workplace, which usually entail condition-management services (e.g., managing insulin treatments), lifestyle-management services (e.g., weight-loss advice) and health-risk management services (e.g., onsite flu shots).

It was a sweet moment for John Alexander the day his eight-year-old daughter put her arms around him and said: "Dad! I can reach my arms around you now!" The 41-year-old IT account manager for Sprint had been overweight for years, suffering from high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Two of his brothers had died from heart attacks. Keeping up with his two young daughters had become more difficult. He knew he had to do something.

Avalanches seem to happen randomly, out of the blue. But to experienced skiers and climbers, the warning signs are obvious. Similarly, people with asymptomatic preconditions can appear healthy, but the warning signs of impending chronic conditions are there if you know what to look for.

During carb-laden lunches in the IBM cafeteria over 10 years ago, a master inventor and his colleagues decided they were eating too much. From this Pavlovian inspiration, Mike Paolini submitted a patent for a technology that coordinates an automatic wellness rebate program.

A leading group of U.S. doctors is trying to tackle the costly problem of excessive medical testing, hoping to avoid more government intervention in how they practice.

“Stand up.” The audience stands. “Sit down.” The audience sits. “Now stand up again.” An audience member mutters under his breath, “No way,” while Fikry Isaac, chief medical officer for wellness and prevention at Johnson & Johnson makes his commands to make a point. Wherever your employees are — a meeting, a desk or at a conference, simple movement can go a long way to create a corporate culture where health is truly valued and lived.

After a lengthy debate, Walmart decided that eggs are indeed healthy.

The graying of America and a booming Hispanic population are driving major changes in the structure of the U.S. workforce and the types of jobs that will be available over the next decade, a new government report shows.

On-site clinics utilized in conjunction with a group health plan are becoming an increasingly common method to help employers address the rising cost of health care. The issues in implementing an on-site clinic may seem obvious: Finding a service provider; installing an appropriate facility; and addressing employee access during work hours. However, there are less obvious but equally important compliance concerns that arise when an on-site clinic is implemented. Such clinics maintained on an employer’s…

According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, consumers pay an average monthly fee of $45.30 for access to a fitness center. Employers are starting to tap into that need, and one program specifically has met it - at about half the cost of a typical gym membership.

According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, consumers pay an average monthly fee of $45.30 for access to a fitness center. Employers are starting to tap into that need, and one program specifically has met it - at about half the cost of a typical gym membership.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'social?' In today's connected world, you probably answered social media. Chances are, so did your clients' human resource professionals. Social media is definitely on everyone's radar, but when it comes to a corporate wellness program, you need to tune into another kind of frequency - social culture.

Device manufacturers are pushing the government and health insurers to cover weight-loss surgery, an effort that could give millions more obese Americans access to the treatments.

[IMGCAP(1)] NEW YORK | Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:42am EST (Reuters) - When your health insurance provider denies an experimental treatment or a high-cost drug, how much are you willing to pay for the care you believe you need? Barby Ingle, a former cheerleading and dance coach at Washington University who now lives in a Phoenix suburb, has been forced to face this question. …

The fourth annual study identifying the top U.S. health systems based was released yesterday by Thomson Reuters, which culled data from more than 300 organizations and singled out 15 hospital systems that achieved superior clinical outcomes based on a composite score of eight measures of quality, patient perception of care and efficiency.

I recently read an article about a company wellness program that consisted primarily of a company health fair. At the health fair, an employee who thought he was otherwise healthy took a Prostate-Specific Antigen test and discovered he had elevated PSA levels. He was encouraged to follow up with his doctor, who discovered he had prostate cancer. He was ultimately cured and his doctor said he probably would have died had it not been for…

The number of kids and adults in the United States who are obese has held steady over the last few years, two reports out Tuesday suggest.

Cancer death rates are continuing to fall, dropping by 1.8% per year in men and 1.6% per year in women between 2004 and 2008, according to the American Cancer Society's annual report on cancer statistics released last Wednesday.