Wellness

Staff from the Boston and Glastonbury, Conn., offices of CPA firm CCR will compete to be the first office to “walk” to San Francisco as part of the firm’s new Wellness Trek to San Francisco.

Most wellness programs assume that the first step to changing habits is education. Whether in the form of a wellness website, nurse line, wellness fair, lunch and learn, newsletter or paycheck stuffer, the assumption is always the same: If people only knew what good health habits were and why they should practice them, they would surely make the right choices. If you, too, think that education is an effective behavior change tool, think again.

It's no surprise that American workers have become sedentary as the nature of work has changed significantly over the decades. A recent study outlined in the New York Times concluded that over the last 50 years, American workers are expending an average of 120 to 140 fewer calories a day in physical activity. According to the study, the decline in caloric expenditures supplies a missing puzzle piece in the explanation for the rising rates of obesity.

Wellness programs and solutions providers have been around for a while and are continually evolving based on both successes and failures and the continually changing market landscape. The most recent market impact, of course, is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and it continues to loom large. Many of the national, commercial and local brokers we work with each day are deploying wellness solutions as part of their expansion of services. Brokers are on the front lines when it comes to wellness. Many are making use of social business software capabilities to help employees collaborate and participate.

If you watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," you know a lot goes into building a house. The ABC show often goes beyond standard building practices as they assemble designers, construction crews and volunteers to create a family's dream home. Their blueprint for success is careful planning and coordination from the initial site preparation to the final inspection.

Federal report finds more lives could be saved with increased screening for the nation's second most deadly cancer.

Implementing a wellness plan is much easier said then done if you want to roll out a successful program. There are key elements necessary for success to happen; the most important being how your company defines success.

Implementing a wellness plan is much easier said then done if you want to roll out a successful program. There are key elements necessary for success to happen; the most important being how your company defines success.

One thing young employees can expect as they enter the workforce is that their employers almost certainly will place a greater employer focus on their health and well-being. This focus is not only for lowering claims costs, but aimed at improving absenteeism and quality of life.

Fifth in EBN's year-long BeneFIT Success series When the waistlines of both your employee population and your corporate medical costs are shrinking, people tend to take notice. And many eyes have been watching such a slimming down effect taking shape at the Principal Financial Group year after year.

In May, the Midwest Business Group on Health and health care consultancy The La Penna Group partnered to form the National Worksite Health Center Association.

By incorporating employee health clinics into the business structure of their clients, Matt McQuide and Rick Gantt are able to bring down health care costs while changing the way employers think about health care delivery. Not to mention keep themselves firmly entrenched as the BOR in the process.

Forgetting the golden rule and rewarding wrong people are among the top four reasons Sykes lists for why employee wellness incentives fail.

To significantly lower health care costs, we need to keep people out of the health care system in the first place. We need to keep them healthy. How do we accomplish that seemingly simple concept? In a word, prevention.

For too many employers, poor health and well-being comes at a hefty price in terms of increased health care costs and decreased productivity. But for one California-based company, the path to a more healthy, happy workforce has come at hardly any cost at all.

Since the passage of health care reform, benefit managers must redefine the employment contract as it pertains to reining in rising health care costs. That means enhancing conventional employee wellness programs so that they evolve into high-value workforce well-being initiatives.

I've never met Danna Korn, but after spending just 25 minutes speaking with her, I believe her company - wellness program vendor Sonic Boom, in Carlsbad, Calif. - is aptly named. Recalling from middle school science that a sonic boom is the thunderous sound created from shock waves when an object is moving faster than the speed of sound, Korn's approach to wellness and her views on traditional programs likely will send shock waves through the industry.

Although for the most part still in their infancy, global wellness programs are beginning to catch on. Unlike U.S. wellness initiatives that are driven largely by fighting rising health care costs, in Asia, the motive is a need to compete for top talent, and European multinationals are focused on reducing absenteeism and improving employees' health and safety, according to Towers Watson. Whatever the reason, formulating a global health strategy means balancing a universal mission with local realities.

One of every seven cancer patients spends more than 20% of his income on health care and insurance, according to a new study from federal researchers.

At Rood & Dax Advanced Insurance Services in Sacramento, Laurie Rood and partner Gayle Dax approach client wellness plans by creating a comprehensive culture that uses both technology and personal interaction to foster a healthier, happier workplace. "Especially nowadays when people aren't willing to pay a lot of money for things, we have set a lot of our clients up with the idea that they are creating a wellness culture in which to operate to keep their employees happy and healthy and wanting to come to work," says Dax.