Grow Healthy!

How much extra is it costing your company for physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity among employees? A 2005 report in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, gives a revealing overview.

Researchers monitored health charges (claims) of about 8,000 health plan members, aged 40+, for a period of 4 years. Average charges were $4,928 per member. They conducted a survey of these members to determine age and gender, presence of chronic disease, physical inactivity, height and weight (for BMI), smoking, and other lifestyle data. They then compared medical charges of inactive and overweight or obese individuals with health care charges for active, healthy weight persons of a similar age and gender.

Here is what they found:

-Charges increased with inactivity (an extra $726 for low-activity persons, and an extra $1,543 per year for inactive individuals compared to active members).*
-Charges increased with excess weight (an extra $1,245 for overweight persons, and an extra $2,152 per obese person per year compared to healthy weight members).
-Charges were higher for women, increased with age, were higher for people with chronic disease (e.g., heart disease or diabetes), and were higher for former smokers than nonsmokers or current smokers (many ex-smokers quit smoking after they developed chronic health problems).
-Their analysis indicates that 23.5% of all medical care charges (medical costs) were due to inactivity and excess body weight.

*Charges are standardized to 1997 US dollars.

That means that nearly one-fourth of your health care expenses are due to inactivity and overweight and clearly illustrates the need for managing these modifiable health risks if you want health care costs to decrease.

Next, the researchers calculated the cost of inactivity and excess weight for our nation using national averages for the prevalence of inactivity and overweight. On a national basis, they estimate that 27% of all health care costs are due to inactivity and excess body weight (the prevalence of overweight and inactivity is higher in the nation than in the health plan studied). The CDC article concluded by stating, “Our data emphasize the potential importance of primary prevention and effective management of overweight and physical inactivity.”

If you are serious about lowering health care costs in your organization, you need to take an active role in promoting physical activity and healthy eating habits to help employees be fit and maintain a healthy weight.

Reference: Anderson LH, Martinson BC, et al. Health Care Charges Associated with Physical Inactivity, Overweight, and Obesity. Preventing Chronic Disease. October 2005.

August 2008
Letter on Women’s Equality Day and Smoking

As we celebrate the anniversary of women’s right to vote next month on August 26th, Women’s Equality Day, we need to draw attention to the effect of tobacco-related diseases on women.

Lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as a leading killer of women. Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of heart disease, which kills one of three women in the United States. Babies born to women who smoke and babies who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are at greater risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), asthma, and other chronic lung diseases.

It is not by accident that tobacco use has increased to the point of creating an epidemic among American women. Since the 1960s, tobacco advertising has linked women’s liberation with smoking, beginning with “You’ve come a long way, baby,” and now proclaiming that “It’s a woman thing.” The tobacco companies also have developed slick advertising campaigns that glamorize smoking and that connect cigarettes with thinness. The Federal Trade Commission’s annual report on tobacco advertising revealed that advertising and promotional expenditures increased by $2.68 billion (21.5%) between 2002 and 2003, for a grand total annual expenditure of $15.15 billion. This represents an increase of approximately $9 billion since 1998.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a number of publications that explain the risks of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke and the benefits of quitting. These include the 2006 Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, the 2004 Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Smoking, and a number of products based on these reports. CDC also has a community toolkit to help combat the problem of tobacco use among young girls and women, Dispelling the Myths About Smoking.

We may not have the money that the tobacco companies have, but we have hearts that react to the pain and suffering caused by tobacco use. All of us must work together to keep children safe from tobacco use and to help those who want to quit their deadly addiction.

Sincerely,
Michelle L. Taylor
Monarch Health Promotions

By Peter Panepento (adapted)

When Cathy Phelps sits down with her staff members at the Denver Center for Crime Victims for their annual employment reviews, she doesn’t just set goals for their work performance. Instead, Ms. Phelps, the executive director, helps them make plans to improve their lives.

All of the center’s 12 full-time employees are required to create annual self-care plans, in which they outline a series of steps they would like to take to improve their physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual well-being.

The self-care plans have helped many of Ms. Phelps’s employees make significant changes. One of the nonprofit group’s workers lost 35 pounds after embarking on a nutrition and exercise plan; this year, her goal is to complete a triathlon.

But while such goals would seem to have little connection with counseling crime victims, Ms. Phelps says her emphasis on wellness has helped her build a happier, more loyal, and more productive staff. More than half of the employees, she says, have been on the job for more than eight years — a rarity in a field prone to burnout.

The program has also saved money — the Denver Center gets discounts on its workers’-compensation insurance, has hired fewer temporary workers to cover staff absenteeism, and has cut down on recruiting and hiring costs. “I look at it as a management tool. One of the byproducts of it is improved morale,” Ms. Phelps says. “But it’s also about buying what we sell. We work with trauma, which means we’re the folks people leave all of their junk with. We need to be healthy and stable to help them.”

A Variety of Options
The Denver Center’s innovative approach to employee wellness illustrates how a nonprofit organization that promotes good health for its workers can build a happier, more productive staff. Wellness programs often help prevent employees from getting sick, missing work, and burning out from job-related stress. And with health-insurance premiums rising at a rate of more than 10 percent per year for most employers, wellness programs are also a popular and inexpensive way to curb health-care costs.
But many nonprofit employers do not run large-scale wellness programs — mainly because they believe the programs are costly and time consuming. What’s more, say nonprofit managers and human-resources experts, many of those who do sponsor such programs don’t believe their employees are fully taking advantage of them.

A variety of low-cost options, however, can help time- and cash-strapped organizations promote good health for their employees. “It’s pretty typical that wellness programs don’t happen because of money and because of time,” says Mary Hansbrough, wellness manager at the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, in Tucson. “But you can do things. Even if it’s just a few people who take advantage, it starts to build.”

Most American employers — about 7 out of 10 — believe that they have a responsibility to promote wellness among their workers, but far fewer do anything about it, according to a survey last year of 354 U.S. companies and nonprofit organizations by the American Management Association.

Fewer than half of the survey respondents said they offer educational programs on topics such as exercise and fitness (47 percent), smoking cessation (41 percent), weight management (34 percent), stress management (33 percent), or nutrition (25 percent).

While the study doesn’t specifically chart nonprofit organizations’ participation in wellness programs, many nonprofit managers say such programs are less prevalent at charities than in the business world.

Tailored Programs
Since starting its wellness program for employees three years ago, the College of Wooster, in Ohio, has also found another positive result: improved employee morale.

Rising costs pushed the college to make some big changes to its health-insurance program three years ago, says Timothy Tegtmeier, the institution’s treasurer. Along with switching to a self-insurance program, in which the college pays for employees’ medical treatment itself and sets its own premiums based on estimated care costs, the 1,800-student liberal-arts college also took steps to help its workers improve their fitness and nutrition. It contracted a local YMCA branch to provide a staff member to coordinate a wellness program that includes employee health screenings, personalized fitness plans, and nutrition advice. Wooster pays the YMCA $45,000 per year for the program, but Mr. Tegtmeier says the college saves more than twice that amount through lower health-insurance premiums.

The new health-insurance program — and its corresponding emphasis on wellness — has helped the College of Wooster decrease weekly medical claims by 2 percent in its current fiscal year, compared with one year ago. It has also helped improve the outlook of some of the college’s employees. Jimmy Meyer, assistant editor of Wooster’s alumni magazine, says she has been taking part in lunchtime aerobics and yoga classes and is in better shape now than she has been at any other time in her life. By staying fit, the 56-year-old says she is more productive and happy.

“It’s really improved my health. It’s improved my outlook,” Ms. Meyer says. “The day goes much faster on the days I work out. I’m more alert in the afternoons.”

But charities don’t have to have college and university resources to sponsor effective wellness programs. Ms. Hansbrough, of the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, has found success by offering an array of small-scale wellness activities to employees.

Since the organization’s staff is not housed in a single building, Ms. Hansbrough has tailored her program to work for employees in far-flung offices and clinics that stretch into four counties. Employees have the option of getting together over lunch to learn about reducing stress, losing weight, and establishing an exercise regimen. They can get tips on improving their health through an online newsletter, at office meetings, and via bulletin-board items. They will soon have the opportunity to take walks on well-marked trails around the organization’s larger offices.

The scattered locales have made disseminating wellness information a challenge, Ms. Hansbrough says. “The trick is to feed them bits, but more frequently,” she says. “We try to give people something that they can have in their hands that they can revisit.”
Small-scale, low-cost, easy-to-access programs have had success for other nonprofit organizations as well. Babson, for example, offers an array of such efforts, says Mr. Aubuchon. It has tried to find recreational programs that are tailored to fit the tastes of its employees, he says — and about half of Babson’s 600 workers participate in at least one program. For example, some employees are attracted to activities such as an after-work volleyball team. Others might be more apt to take lunchtime walks or gather before work to skate.

By offering as many venues as possible to encourage employees to exercise and improve their health habits, organizations multiply their odds of having those programs connect with a larger number of employees, say nonprofit managers.

“No one individual program is particularly effective in terms of promoting a healthy organization,” Mr. Aubuchon says. “But it’s a number of things — it’s the multitude of programs that gets the best results, because different people have different interests.”

We’re so pressured with responsibilities—work, personal life, community activities—that we often get tied up in physical and mental knots just trying to get through an average day.

Richard Cotton, MA, chief exercise physiologist with myexerciseplan.com in Carlsbad, CA, and a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, suggests the terrific stress-busters below. They take only a minute or two each, can be done almost anywhere and don’t need fancy equipment:

Stress-Buster #1:
Stand up. Put your fists on your lower back at the beltline, with your elbows pointing back.
Keep your legs fairly straight and arch your shoulders back.
Press your fists lightly into your lower back and your head will go back.
Blow out. As you do, imagine you are blowing out the stress of the day. “We tend to hold stress in our lower back,” Mr. Cotton says.

Stress-Buster #2
Sit in a chair.
Inhale as you push your heels down into the floor. Push your back into the seatback of the chair.
Hold that tension for a moment, then relax and exhale.
Inhale again and squeeze the thigh muscles tight. Hold, then relax and exhale.
Place your palms together in front of you. Inhale as you push them in, then relax and exhale.
Breathe in as you tighten your abdominal muscles, pushing your lower back into the chair.
Blow out as you release the muscles and relax.
If you have time, you can continue this exercise with other muscle groups.

Stress-Buster #3
Place your fingertips on your chin.
Inhale as you push your chin in and tilt your head forward.
Exhale as you release your chin and relax your muscles. Mr. Cotton recommends this as a good stretch for the neck that helps release tension.

Employers struggling with the ever-increasing costs for healthcare are wisely turning to worksite wellness programs in search of a solution. For convenience, many employers are looking to their health insurance carrier to provide the appropriate wellness program. However, the convenience of a health insurance provided program may not outweigh the risks. That decision could come back to haunt them.

At issue is an insurance carrier’s ability to use information gathered during a wellness program as justification for increasing an employer’s rates at renewal. Since no laws prevent an insurance company from using voluntarily provided information for rating purposes, employers should be cautious about the information they provide.

Employers should be particularly concerned with how their insurance company uses data collected during a Health Risk Assessment (HRA).

Health Risk Assessments

Health Risk Assessments are sophisticated survey tools designed to identify preventable health risks on both an individual and a group level.

Individual participants who complete the survey receive a custom health profile that outlines specific health risks and makes recommendations for modifying high-risk behaviors. This information can serve as a catalyst for individual change, but more often than not it takes incentives and customized, individual and/or group-based intervention to encourage people to modify these high-risk behaviors.

Data gathered from individual participants’ HRAs is compiled into aggregate or group-level, health risk profile. This information then provides benchmarks for ongoing measurement, assesses wellness program effectiveness, and forecasts future healthcare costs. HRA data also serves as a roadmap for intervention on both an individual and a group level.

By way of example, assume that a company’s group-level risk profile reveals that few employees exercise on a regular basis. Using this information, an independent (non-insurance) wellness vendor could customize an effective workout that does not require a gym membership.

To further enhance results the wellness vendor might also provide a group-based seminar about starting and maintaining an exercise program. By offering an incentive for exercising and/or attending the seminar the level of participation should increase, thereby increasing the overall effectiveness of the program.

Often a wellness vendor will assign a health “coach” to each individual to assist them in setting and maintaining their goals. The health coach also increases the effectiveness of the program.

Insurance carriers, however, take a different and varying approach to providing a wellness program. Many health insurance carriers offer a limited number of individual level interventions including; Employee Assistance Programs, online health information, toll free “nurse lines” to assist with self-diagnosis, discounted gym memberships, discounted access to complimentary and alternative medicine and advertising incentives that reward people for tracking activities.

Most insurance companies, however, fail to offer simple and effective programs that could have a greater impact on improving member health. For example, there are highly effective online nutrition programs that can be offered for pennies per eligible member per month. Instead insurance carriers are opting to increase claims cost, and ultimately premiums, by covering visits to a Registered Dietician.

Though most health insurance carriers actively encourage members to complete an HRA, few insurance carriers share the group-level risk profile with the employer and even fewer provide group-based, onsite wellness programs. How is an employer using an insurance company sponsored wellness program able to objectively determine the best way to assist their employees without this crucial information?

So, why do insurance carriers encourage HRA completion among their members? Insurance carriers generally contend that collecting HRA data allows them to more quickly identify candidates for Disease Management (DM) services.

Health Risk Assessments are not completed at initial enrollment and therefore it is highly unlikely that many, if any, candidates for DM will first be identified through HRA data analysis. Instead, most will be identified when they incur claims related to that disease. For example, candidates for a diabetes management program are easily identified when they purchase insulin, test strips or any other diabetes-related products.

Health Risk Assessments are backed by years of research and can be highly predictive of future healthcare costs. As the cornerstone of most worksite wellness programs the value of an HRA is not at issue. Instead, the issues surround the use and control of HRA data.

Without laws to prevent an insurance carrier from using voluntarily provided information for rating purposes employers would be well served to confirm in writing exactly how HRA data will be used. At minimum employers should confirm that HRA data will not be used for rating their individual company or for rating the insurance carriers overall block of business, because that also indirectly impacts an employers rate.

To eliminate any possible conflict of interest, many employers are avoiding insurance company sponsored wellness programs and are opting to utilize the services of independent wellness vendors instead. This decision easily prevents wellness data from being used against an employer by an insurance company.

Employers should remember that Health Risk Assessment’s are tools designed to measure risk, plan interventions and measure results. Health Risk Assessments do not improve employee health; it is the programming that results from the assessment that makes the difference.

Written by John Bates who is the President of Infinite Wellness Solutions, located in Winston Salem, NC. His company is a leading, national provider of online employee health and wellness programs. His company has the distinction of being one of the first independent wellness brokerage firms in the country.

From the hot, sultry days of summer to the bone-chilling days of winter, your body needs water to maintain its normal temperature.

Staying well-hydrated is important no matter what the weather. Extreme temperatures act more quickly to dehydrate the body, making it important to drink water-based beverages even though you may not feel like it. Try to drink eight 8-ounce glasses every day, with increased amounts for added activity. If you spend lots of time outside, your need will increase.

Beverages that best meet hydration needs include water, juices, milk or caffeine-free coffee or tea.

Carrying a water bottle makes it easy to remember to drink. Alternating water and coffee in your mug is another way to meet your needs.

Bottled Water
Bottled water, in many cases, is no better than the water in your tap.

Bottled water is convenient and that makes it nice for people who have trouble remembering
to consume the recommended eight to 10 glasses of water they need each day.

When it comes to nutrition, some bottled water may not have the fluoride that is found in tap
water. For most people, water is the best source of fluoride so relying on bottled water
may compromise this intake.

Check the label for added fluoride or try filling an empty bottle with tap water so both the
convenience and fluoride are still there.

Water, with a side of…
Bottled waters now contain everything from more oxygen to vitamins. But are those additions necessary?

Eating a variety of foods makes it easy to consume enough vitamins; more vitamins won’t improve athletic performance, unless you were vitamin-deficient to begin with.

If you prefer flavored water over plain, check the label for calories per serving and added sugars.
If you don’t want to spend extra money on bottled water, try adding a lemon, lime, orange slices or a small amount of fruit juice to enhance the flavor of tap water.

Eat Your Water?
Water does far more for your body than just satisfy your thirst. Almost every body cell, tissue and organ needs water to function. In fact, water is the nutrient your body needs in the greatest amount.

While drinks supply a good portion of your water needs, solid foods also provide a surprising
amount.

For example (number in parentheses is the percentage of water by weight):
Lettuce (95%)
Watermelon (91%)
Broccoli (89%)
Grapefruit (89%)
Carrot (88%)
Apple (86%)
Yogurt (85%)
Rice, cooked (70%)
Cheddar Cheese (37%)

The Dietary Reference Intakes from the Institute of Medicine advise an Adequate Intake level of 3.7 liters (125 ounces) of total water daily for males ages 19 and over. For females 19 and older, it’s 2.7 liters (91 ounces) daily.

Keep your body functioning normally and avoid dehydration by eating healthfully and by drinking your recommended amounts of water daily.

Source: www.wellnessproposals.com

According to The American Legacy Foundation, despite increased awareness about the dangers of smoking in recent years, 46 million adult Americans still smoke. This widespread use of tobacco is not only having expected long-term effects on the health of smokers but also more immediate effects on America’s children.

Passive exposure to secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), puts young people at risk for serious health consequences, including low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma and ear infections. While the health consequences are devastating, the foundation’s report also details the significant economic costs of treating children with smoking-related illnesses.

The foundation found that, in 2001, tobacco’s effects on children included:

• Nearly 300,000 pediatric asthma cases costing the nation more than $236 million
• More than 99,000 cases of ear infections costing the nation nearly $49 million
• More than 26,000 low birth weight births costing the nation more than $300 million
• 263 cases of sudden infant death syndrome

"Smokers know that their addiction is harmful, but they predict that their smoking will hurt only themselves, and they think that will happen years down the road," said the foundation’s President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. PH. "This research shows us that tobacco isn’t just killing years down the road. It is killing today, and its silent, innocent victims are children."

The foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) outlined three immediate steps smokers can take for their children’s health:

· Make your home smoke free

· Keep your car smoke free

· Stop smoking for your children

"Parents need to stop smoking for their children - not only are children who live in smoke-filled environments more likely to get sick but they are also more likely to smoke as an adult than their peers," said Dana Best, MD, MPH, FAAP, AAP Committee on Environmental Health. "An important first step to help parents quit smoking is learning about the smoking cessation resources in their community. The more parents know about the process of quitting the more likely parents are to succeed."

A small reduction in tobacco smoke exposure would spare thousands of children from devastating health problems. In this report the foundation found that if states were to reduce children’s exposure to secondhand smoke by one percentage point, the national outlook would be:

• 2,263 fewer low birth weight births and an associated health care cost savings of nearly $27 million
• 21 fewer smoking-attributable sudden infant death syndrome deaths
• 19,077 fewer cases of asthma and an associated savings of more than $15 million
• 6,755 fewer ear infections cases with savings of more than $3 million

If you need help quitting please call your local QuitLine and you can visit Monarch Health Promotions to learn more about smoking and respiratory related illness.

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