Employers Control Health Care Costs with Wellness Initiatives

While wellness programs have existed for decades, their prevalence has grown significantly over the past 10 years. Nearly 60% of American employers implementing new wellness programs since 2008; 23.7% have started offering them since 2010. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of organizations increased their wellness budgets in the last five years.  

The survey suggests a definite decrease in health care costs when wellness initiatives are offered, according to the 21.6% who have analyzed return on investment. Of the organizations that are analyzing ROI, 83% indicated a positive return. For every dollar spent on wellness initiatives, most organizations see between $1 to $3 decreases in their overall health care costs.   

According to the survey, the most prevalent reasons that organizations provide wellness initiatives are to help workers enjoy better overall physical health (45.6%) and to control health care costs (39.8%). Of the respondents who presently do not have wellness programs but plan to implement them within the next 12 months, 50.7% cite controlling health care costs as their motivation for adding the initiatives.  

“One measure of success for a wellness program is the participation rate,” said senior information/research specialist Julie Stich. “Organizations will not realize benefits unless there is sufficient participation.”  

The survey found that the wellness initiatives with the highest participation rates are: 

• Flu shot programs (49.6%); 
• Health screenings (48.8%); 
• Health risk assessments (48.2%); and  
• Health fairs (44.7%). 

Nearly 90% of the organizations surveyed provide incentives to increase participation in their programs. The incentives that are most often tied to health risk assessments, health screening and fitness programs include: 

• Gift cards and gift certificates (38%); 
• Insurance premium reductions (36.7%); 
• Non-cash incentives – e.g. prizes and raffles (30.9%); and 
• Cash rewards (26.9%). 

Employers are often assisted in developing or managing their workplace wellness programs; more than 85% of the survey participants use an outside vendor such as an employee assistance provider or wellness consultant to implement or assist with the program.