Escalating healthcare costs coupled with a tight labor market have employers scrambling for ways to more aggressively promote disease prevention and healthier lifestyles among employees.
Recent market trends underscore why the climate couldn't be better for hospital-based corporate wellness programs:
- This year, large employers expect healthcare costs to surge 12% - the biggest increase since 1993, according to a recent Towers Perrin survey.
- In 1993, 81% of employers offered at least one form of health promotion - a 25% increase from 1985, according to the federal office of health promotion and disease prevention.
- Last year, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 56% of those members surveyed for a benefits report offered wellness programs, up from 53% in 1998.
With healthcare expenditures eating into more than 50% of corporate profits, hospitals can expect to find a captive employer audience for targeted preventive strategies that reach the least healthy and, therefore, costliest employee segment.
For hospitals that tread into this territory, be prepared to learn an employer's corporate culture inside and out.
For hospitals that are looking to expand their corporate wellness services, make sure that your marketing strategies are sufficiently flexible to address not only multiple high-risk employees but an increasingly diverse workforce and the growing consumer demand for alternative health services.
Home Court Advantage
While hospitals can expect increasing competition from third-party corporate wellness providers, healthcare expertise gives them a home court advantage. Hospitals are well positioned to address chronic diseases and tap into other healthcare community agencies to develop a vast array of employee outreach and health education.
Hospitals also can develop wellness programs that employer health plans are willing to partially cover, particularly in the areas of health risk assessments, nutrition and fitness. Employers, however will need to become more aggressive with these negotiations.
Although employers across the board increasingly recognize the value of health promotion, there is heightened interest for wellness services among industries where employee stress levels are highest, like telecommunications, government, health services, education, finance and insurance, says Angela Camara, SHRM's media affairs specialist.
Wellness offerings that are most popular among employers include health-screening programs, smoking-cessation initiatives, nutrition and fitness efforts, and weight loss programs, according to SHRM's benefits survey.
In addition to these basic offerings, hospitals can maximize on-site health education and outreach by partnering with local community agencies like the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the American Diabetes Association, says Pinky Davis, director of lifestyle enhancement at Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.
With more than 300 corporate clients, OSU's corporate wellness program regularly teams up with local health associations to co-promote various corporate walks and runs for key causes like osteoporosis, diabetes and cancer. "Corporate wellness in the 21st century will depend on the types of relationships and partnerships forged with insurers, providers, employers and community agencies," says Davis.
Beyond the Basics
Employers that are typically open to expanding their wellness programs are large companies with more than 200 employees, says Camara. It's important for employers to recognize that effective health promotion requires more than one-shot events or occasional activities but an ongoing focus.
Communication materials, like newsletter, paycheck stuffers, posters and the intranet, are most effective when they are customized for the corporate culture.
This customization should be derived from what employers identify as their biggest healthcare needs and results from health screenings, says Jackie Bahler, director of the CorpCare program at St. Elizabeth Medical Center's Cathryn Weil Center for Education in Lafayette, Ind. With that in mind, expect to use several communication strategies to effect change in employee lifestyles. The more messages employees receive about preventive health measures, the more likely they are to take action.
When it comes to promoting alternative health services, corporate intranets and newsletters are ideal vehicles, says Chris Meletis, dean of clinical affairs at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM) in Portland, Ore.
While employees are interested in using complementary services like chiropractic care, herbs and vitamins, and massage therapy, they are confused about how to best integrate these treatments into the traditional medical care they already receive.
Hospitals should make available alternative health experts to answer employee questions in convenient settings, like email updates and employee meetings.
This is an area where hospitals with integrated health clinics have a competitive edge by leveraging their expertise in both traditional and alternative healthcare services with corporate audiences.
These services need to be affordable for employers to either use as an add-on to traditional corporate wellness services or for primary wellness offerings, says Meletis. So far, NCNM offers integrated wellness services to three companies that are small- and medium-size employers.
The average costs of the services is $20 per employee.
(SHRM, Angela Camara, 703/535-6043; OSU, Pinky Davis, 614/293-3679; St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Jackie Bahler, Janet Blossom, 765/449-5133; National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Chris Meletis, 503/499-4343, ext. 1571)
Top Wellness Services
Corporate wellness services gained momentum with employers in 1999, according to a recent Society for Human Resource Management study.
The most popular services include:
- 64% of employers offer CPR training;
- 48% offer health-screening programs;
- 31% offer smoking-cessation programs;
- 23% offer an on-site fitness center or health club subsidy; and
- 23% offer weight loss programs
Source: SHRM
Large-Employer Wellness Strategies
Target large employers with year-round, comprehensive wellness programs. Ideal strategies include:
- On-site health screenings and customized nurse-directed, follow-up programs;
- Health contests and challenges that focus on key chronic disease management areas like cholesterol, blood pressure and diet.
- Medical self-care programs that educate employees on being wiser consumers of healthcare services. These programs should help employees distinguish between when to go to a hospital and when to address a health problem at home.
- Complementary health services, particularly chiropractic care, herbs and vitamins and massage therapies.