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Wellness Programs Help Companies Save on Health
Costs
The above title came from the March 11, 2002 issue of the American
Medical News.
This story reports on several studies and programs where corporate
wellness programs are having a positive effect on reducing health care
costs on their employees. "There's a growing body of data indicating
that corporate wellness programs lower medical costs for employees",
said Ron Z. Goetzel, PhD, vice president of consulting and applied
research for the Medstat Group, a health care research firm in Ann Arbor,
Mich.
A survey done by Medstat, published in the January 2002 issue of the
Journal of Occupational Medicine, concluded that medical claims costs for
Johnson & Johnson Inc. employees dropped an average of $225 per year
after the company started its wellness program in 1995.
Additionally, Goetzel reported that a literature review of corporate
wellness studies published in the May/June 2001 issue of the American
Journal of Health Promotion concluded that medical costs dropped for
employees in the wellness program for 28 out of 32 of the corporate
wellness programs reviewed.
The report claims that about 90% of Johnson & Johnson employees
participate in the corporate wellness program. Their program
consists of free health risk assessments and physicals. Additionally
employees can then join free weight management, smoking cessation or
nutrition classes and can use on-site fitness centers. John McKeegan,
a Johnson & Johnson spokesman stated that the savings in reduced
medical claims total about $5 million a year. When you factor in
administrative savings from combining various health services into one
program, McKeegan estimates the savings come to about $8.5 million a year.
The Wellness Councils of America, a coalition representing 3,000
corporate wellness programs, estimated that presently 80% to 90% of large
U.S. corporations offer some sort of wellness program.
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