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As you are likely aware, Obama recently submitted his $3.55 trillion fiscal year 2010 proposal, which includes $634 billion for a reserve fund to overhaul the health care system. Principles outlined in his health care reform proposal involve making health coverage affordable, improving quality and investing in prevention and wellness. Within prevention and wellness, Obama’s plan calls to invest in public health measures proven to reduce cost drivers in our system—such as obesity, sedentary lifestyles and smoking—as well as guarantee access to proven preventive treatments. The proposal earmarks a total of $4.1 billion to provide preventive care and to evaluate the most effective health care treatments. Under his proposal, government efforts to improve health care quality and prevention are well-aligned with employer initiatives and could ultimately shrink costs for everyone, including employers. As a step toward an improved national focus on prevention, two bills will be reintroduced this month in the Senate and House that could have a significant impact on the health and wellness programs employers offer. One is the Health Promotion FIRST (Funding Integrated Research Synthesis and Training) bill, which would provide a better planning and research foundation for health promotion, with impacts in Health and Human Service, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The second is the Healthy Workforce Act, which would provide a tax credit for 50 percent of the cost of a qualified employer health promotion program, up to $200 per employee for the first 200 employees and $100 per employee for remaining employees. For additional details on these bills, I encourage you to visit www.healthpromotionadvocates.org. Both bills have the potential to make a sizable impact on improving the health of employees and beginning to rein in medical care costs. To ensure these bills pass, there are several easy steps you can take, such as signing up to list your organization as an endorser of both pieces of legislation. To do so, go to http://www.healthpromotionadvocates.org/endorser.htm. Another way to get involved is to make a commitment to confirm support of this legislation from the representative from your district and the two senators from your state. These bills, in conjunction with additional pending health care reform, help ensure that prevention becomes a cornerstone of our health care system, rather than an afterthought. And through a national culture of health, we will collectively be able to better manage avoidable illnesses and reduce costs related to poor diet, lack of exercise and smoking, benefitting not only all employers, but also all individuals. Yours in good health,
Inside HealthFitness On March 30, HealthFitness’ President and CEO Gregg O. Lehman co-presented with David Sensibaugh, director, Integrated Health at Eastman Chemical Company at the DMAA Integrated Care Summit in Austin, Texas. The presentation, “Using Incentives to Engage Employees in Health & Productivity Programs: A Case Study,” highlighted a unique approach to employee health called a 21st Century Health Benefit Design and showed how this approach is effectively producing a healthier, more productive workforce at Eastman Chemical Company. This Wednesday, April 8, Lehman will co-present with Curt Cooper, director of employee benefits at American Electric Power, at the Institute for Health and Productivity Management conference held in Orlando, Fla. The presentation, “Incentives That Drive Engagement and Behavior Change,” will show how properly designed and administered incentives can drive employee engagement in healthier lifestyles that result in better health within a particular company culture. For additional details on these successful programs, visit http://www.hfit.com/briefs.cfm to download free issue briefs titled, “HealthFitness guides incentives strategy to spark participation in American Electric Power’s health and wellness initiative” for AEP and “Applying 21st Century Benefit Design: A Culture of Health in Action” on Eastman Chemical Company. Additionally, Chief Medical Officer Jim Reynolds will speak about corporate health management strategies and why they are important in a global economy at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2009 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, April 5, in Chicago.
Losing Sleep over the Economy? New Resources Support Employees with Sleep Loss To help individuals achieve better sleep, HealthFitness recently launched new sleep awareness education resources and coach support to our EMPOWERED™ Health Coaching program. Sleep is one of the “pillars of health,” which serve as the foundation for the EMPOWERED Health Coaching approach. These pillars include sleep/rest, stress management, healthy eating and physical activity. “How rested an individual feels has an impact on many lifestyle behaviors,” Tanja Madsen, HealthFitness’ director of program development, said. “When someone is tired, he or she is more likely to seek foods high in unhealthy fats, sugar and/or salt, and exercise sessions may be skipped because they just don’t have the energy. Our resources are designed to help participants achieve better sleep—so they can achieve better health.” New sleep awareness resources developed by HealthFitness’ Research and Development Team include titles such as Sleep Well, Be Well, How Sleepy Are You? and Working When Your Body Wants to Sleep. These resources address the impact of sleep loss, tips for good sleep, and dealing with shift-work challenges—a common contributor to lack of sleep. HealthFitness coaches have completed training to incorporate this topic into coaching conversations to raise participant awareness and refer more serious sleep-related issues to a health care provider when appropriate. For more information on the sleep resources available to participants enrolled in EMPOWERED Health Coaching, contact your program manager.
Best-in-class Practices and Awards To address accessibility of nutritious foods for its Durham, N.C.-based population, Duke Medicine, a nonprofit institution involved in education, research and health care, took a creative approach to benefit not only its employees but also local farmers. Duke has a large, diverse workforce of 27,500 benefits eligible employees, working multiple shifts to keep its facilities open 24/7. At Duke, health risk assessments showed that most employees did not consume the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables or fiber. It was hypothesized that one element was related to limited access to nutritious foods because of the employees’ shift work. And this limitation was contributing to health risks. HRA data revealed 59 percent of employees were overweight or obese. To give its workforce easy access to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, Duke launched a Farmers Market in 2000. The Duke Farmers Market features produce from local farmers and is open on campus on Fridays in April through July and every other Friday in August and September. Based on the success of the Farmers Market, Duke added a Mobile Farmers Market in 2006 to give more employees the opportunity to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the growing season. With the Mobile Farmers Market, employees sign up with the farmer of their choice and agree to purchase one or more “shares” of their production on a weekly basis throughout the growing season. A share represents enough fruits and vegetables to supply one household. Then, once a week, participants pick up their pre-packaged share at a drive-thru location on campus. The Mobile Market is a year-round offering. In 2008, 326 employees purchased a weekly share of locally grown fresh produce, representing about $82,000 in fresh produce purchases that supported local farmers. In a survey of participants, 91 percent reported they were very satisfied with the program and 88 percent reported the Mobile Market motivated them to eat more fruits and vegetables. “Not only does the Mobile Market program put healthy foods in the hands of employees, but these types of innovative cooperative programs create a strong tie between Duke and the surrounding community,” Jason Horay, ATC, MS, HealthFitness program manager at Duke, said. “Duke is Durham’s largest employer, and its potential for positive influence reaches well beyond the campus and its employee population,” he continued. “When employees buy fresh locally produced foods, they help sustain the local food economy.” Duke has partnered with HealthFitness to deliver innovative employee health solutions since 1988.
How GE Healthcare’s Culture of Health Drives Employee Engagement in Fitness At the GE Healthcare location in Wauwatosa, Wis., managed by HealthFitness, half of the 1,082 employees are active members of the site’s 7,000-square-foot fitness center, including the site CEO, Omar Ishrak. Ishrak regularly conducts team-building events, such as stretch breaks, circuit classes and meditation, with senior-level staff through the fitness center. He also completes personal training with HealthFitness staff several times per week. “Our population at this facility strives for the best in every day,” Lori Cowan, HealthFitness program manager at the Wauwatosa site, said. At this GE Healthcare location, the majority of employees are IT and ultrasound white-collar workers. “They are never afraid to ask for more and continue to amaze me by their dedication to health and fitness.” GE Healthcare’s goal for employee health is to raise awareness of health, fitness and wellness through screenings, lunch and learns, targeted programming and employee outreach. In October 2008, for example, 300 employees participated in screenings for blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index and body fat percentages, total cholesterol and blood lipid profiles. Additionally, 285 employees participated in exercise testing that included a flexibility test, a push-up test, a sit-up test and a step test. In the outcomes report for the screening event, 74 percent of participants reported an increased awareness of their personal health. These employees also said the screening influenced them to make positive changes in their future health. To date, employees at this site are already making strides toward addressing risks identified through the screenings, including their risk for obesity. When HealthFitness launched a four-week weight-loss program at the site called the “Scale Down Challenge,” 20 teams enrolled with 80 participants total. Participants received weekly e-mails with healthy exercise and nutrition articles and tips, recipes, and new exercises to incorporate into their workouts. All participants were also encouraged to exercise in the fitness center—regardless of whether they were members. Twenty-three non-fitness members enrolled in the challenge and were allowed to use the fitness center for free during the duration of the program. Ten of these non-members used this service and six joined the fitness center upon completion of the challenge. Total weight loss achieved by all teams during these four weeks was 407.5 pounds, with an average weight loss for each team of 20.4 pounds. HealthFitness began working with GE Healthcare at its 16,000-square-foot Waukesha, Wis., fitness facility 20 years ago and has managed the company’s Wauwatosa fitness center since it opened in February 2006. HealthFitness also manages the company’s two additional fitness sites located in Milwaukee, Wis., and Barrington, Ill.
Human Resource Executive Magazine Selects AEP’s Program as Best HR Idea for 2009 AEP’s Human Resources staff supported HealthFitness’ wellness coordinators to conduct ride-alongs with employees as part of the company’s health improvement initiative in 2008 to improve productivity and reduce health care costs among its disparate employee population in 11 states. The goals behind the ride-alongs included facilitating a better understanding of the health challenges that different positions within AEP face. Additionally, AEP’s Human Resources and HealthFitness also sought to develop relationships with employees to identify how they could better target health improvement campaigns to specific populations. Read the full article by clicking here.
Walking the Talk of Regular Exercise—Clients Reduce the Costs of Physical Inactivity Only 45 percent of American adults meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recommends that adults accumulate 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on five or more days per week. And an estimated 26 percent of U.S. adults engage in no leisure-time physical activity at all. However, HealthFitness’ Walk This Way® program, a 10,000-steps-a-day walking program that typically lasts 12 weeks, is making a dent in reversing this trend for clients. Walk This Way focuses on helping participants learn how just a few extra steps per day can enhance overall health and well-being. Participants receive a pedometer, personal tracking log and a weekly health tips newsletter. Aggregate client survey results of more than 1,000 Walk This Way participants in 2008, showed 83.5 percent increased their amount of daily activity—and many also lost weight. In 2008, these 1000-plus survey respondents lost a total of 3,749 pounds, with an average weight loss of 10.7 pounds per person. At individual client sites, highlights of Walk This Way results include:
Interested in learning how to offer Walk This Way at your site? Talk with your program manager.
We Can Help Your Program Receive Industry Recognition—Here’s How The Health Project, a private-public organization formed to generate attitudinal and behavioral changes in the American health care system, sponsors the awards. The awards highlight programs that improve health by reducing health risks, reduce medical care costs, and can definitively document effectiveness at these goals. Program categories (programs may be in more than one) include chronic disease, high risk, integrated systems of care and worksite-based. Visit http://www.sph.emory.edu/healthproject/ for additional information or talk with your program manager. The deadline for applications is May 30. Industry Insights Highlights from the conference include:
Buzz from Recent Research Researchers analyzed data from 2205 men who were initially examined at 50 years of age, and then re-evaluated at 60, 70, 77, and 82 years of age. All participants responded to questions regarding leisure-time physical activity as part of a self-administered questionnaire at age 50, and their activity was categorized as low, medium or high activity based on responses. The study found the mortality rate was 27.1, 23.6, and 18.4 per 1000 person years in the groups with low, medium and high physical activity, respectively. Compared to low and medium physical activity, high activity reduced mortality by 32 percent and 22 percent, respectively. During the first five years of follow-up, men who moved from low or medium activity to high activity in midlife still had a higher mortality rate than men who were always highly physically active. After 10 years, however, the mortality in these groups was reduced to the level of men with unchanged high physical activity. Overall, the reduction in mortality seen with increased physical activity was similar to that associated with smoking cessation. Source: Byberg, L. et al. Total Mortality After Changes in Leisure Time Physical Activity in 50-Year-Old Men: 35-Year Follow-up of Population Based Cohort. BMJ 2009 338:b688. Web link: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/338/mar05_2/b688
Cutting Salt Intake Reduces Heart Attacks In the study, researchers estimated the impact of reducing sodium by up to 6,000 milligrams (about 2˝ teaspoons of salt) on heart disease and deaths from heart disease through a computer simulation called the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model. According to the model, if Americans cut about 2˝ teaspoons of salt from their daily diet there would be 1.4 million fewer cases of heart disease and 1.1 million fewer deaths during a 10-year period. Even cutting 3,000 milligrams of sodium or about 1 teaspoon of salt per day could mean 6 percent fewer new cases of heart disease, 8 percent fewer heart attacks and 3 percent fewer deaths, according to the study. It was also suggested that population groups that tend to be more salt-sensitive, such as African-Americans, could benefit even more than the average population by cutting salt intake. Reducing salt intake by 3,000 milligrams per day could mean 10 percent fewer new cases of heart disease, 13 percent fewer heart attacks and 6 percent fewer deaths among African-Americans, say study researchers. The American Heart Association and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that healthy adults eat less than 2,300 milligrams (about 1 teaspoon of salt) of sodium per day. Sources: Bibbins-Domingo, K. et al. Presentation, American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference, 2009. Palm Harbor, Fla.; Reinberg, S. Slight Cut in Salt Intake Would Mean Fewer Heart Attacks, Deaths. HealthDay.com. March 11, 2009. Web link: http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=624932 Where We’ll Be Next
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