PPAI In Action: Drummer Shares Insight From Wellness Incentives Forum


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All the time, it's the only way I get things done. Sometimes, I try not to but sometimes I can't help it. Never, I just can't do more than one thing at a time.

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PPAI In Action: Drummer Shares Insight From Wellness Incentives Forum

Issue: 2009dec

America's view of healthcare should take a more proactive approach geared toward wellness and prevention, something current healthcare legislation supports by providing opportunities for employers to use incentives to reward employees for healthy behavior.

This was one of several points emphasized by Sen. Tom Harkin last week at a Washington, D.C.-based wellness incentives forum. PPAI lobbyist Robert Drummer attended the event, during which Harkin said, "We don't have a healthcare system--we have a sick care system."

Harkin praised companies who took initiative on wellness incentives and said he hopes to provide tax credits for such programs.

"Harkin's transformative approach focuses on personal responsibility, government responsibility, corporate responsibility and community responsibility," says Drummer. "In addition to the business community, he wants public education (k-12) to '...put recess back into the curriculum' as well as offer healthy food choices in the cafeterias and in the vending machines."

Drummer also took note of best practices shared by guest panelists at the forum. Panelists were Shannon Campagna, vice president of federal government relations for Safeway, Inc.; Beth Rusert, vice president of communications and public affairs for Maritz; and Tonya Vyhlidal, director of wellness, safety and life enhancement for Lincoln Industries.

Highlights from panelists' presentations provided insight into the following ideas:

1. Rising healthcare costs are unsustainable. For example, Safeway--since 2005, when it instituted its on-site fitness centers, health screenings and healthy food discounts in the cafeteria--saw healthcare costs flatline, whereas competitors' costs continued to climb at about 10 percent each year.

2. Good health is good business. Healthy workers are more productive and miss fewer workdays. For example, 18-60 percent of job impairment (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, hypertension) makes up the total cost of healthcare. Productivity losses related to personal and family health problems cost U.S. employers on average $225.8 billion, or $1,685 per employee, per year.

3. Wellness/incentive programs are a "win-win" for employers and employees. For example, Lincoln Industries reported a 27 percent increase in job performance by their employees that participated in its program. The company also saw its participation in the program go from 40 percent in 2007 to 80 percent in 2009. The program focuses on research/data, communications (i.e., promotional products), and services (fitness centers, gym memberships, on-site nurse, etc.). The communications help employees "think about wellness, then do something about it."

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