Employers across the country are making headlines with the methods they are employing to reduce health care costs and improve the health and productivity of their employees.
- Tobacco-free hiring policies will apply at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, Ohio, when it opens later this year, according to a January 6, 2012 article in USA Today. Likewise, the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania begins its nicotine-free hiring next month. The article also reports that Idaho's Central District Health Department voted last month to stop hiring smokers.
- In November, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Bon Secours Richmond Health System will no longer hire employees who test positive for nicotine during pre-employment screenings.
- The Cleveland Clinic takes wellness very seriously as reported by Ezra Klein’s WONKBLOG in the Washington Post on October 16, 2011. Having instituted wellness initiatives as far back as 2005, the clinic now tracks its employees’ blood pressure, lipids, blood sugar, weight and smoking habits. Employees with abnormal results are required to take steps to get their health issues under control or lose insurance rebates.
- Similarly, the Dallas Business Journal reported on September 22, 2011 that starting on January 1 of this year Baylor Health Care System won’t hire anyone who uses nicotine.
- Even the government is looking at wellness incentives as a way to save money. In April 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported that Arizona’s governor is proposing a $50 fee on smokers and on obese enrollees in the state's Medicaid program.
With a health crisis looming, both in terms of money spent on health care—premiums have risen 131 percent since 2001 according to the Kaiser Foundation—and in the increasing health issues facing Americans—if Americans do nothing to improve their health, it is projected that by 2023 there will be a 42 percent increase in cases of the seven chronic diseases and a whopping $4.2 trillion in treatment costs and lost economic output—what is an employer to do?
Many employers that roll out wellness programs provide incentives for participation, such as gift cards or cash prizes. While this may still be the case in the coming years, you may also see more employers moving forward with a stick approach. I expect that in an effort to save money on escalating insurance costs, many companies will tie health insurance premiums and rebates to participation in personal health assessments, screenings by doctors, maintaining a healthy weight, keeping pre-existing medical conditions under control and steering clear of nicotine products.
The Cleveland Clinic is a prime example of how well this approach can work. Since 2005, their workforce has lost a collective 250,000 pounds, blood pressure has been reduced, smoking has declined from 15.4 to 6.8 percent of employees, and health care costs are down.
Has your company instituted penalties for unhealthy workers? If so, what have you done and what are the results? If you have not yet taken these steps, are you considering do so?
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