HINDSIGHT IN ADVANCE
Rising health care benefits costs are a major concern for everyone. Your investment in a Corporate Wellness Program is to help control increases in your health care costs with a Return on Investment. For your employees that may have a HRA or a HSA, they will use their dollars wisely and effectively addressing the two leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer. Only preventative medicine has the potential of limiting your company's future health care expenditures.

More than 60 percent of health care costs are related to heart disease alone. That means that most employees in the United States have at least one of six major risk factors for CAD (Coronary Artery Disease) - family history, high blood cholesterol, cigarette smoking, diabetes and stress. The impact of CAD on employers is enormous. The annual cost of CAD exceeds those of any other category of illness.

As much as 30-60% of all cancers in the United States are related to lifestyle and modifiable risk factors. These cancers and associated cost can be prevented with early identification, screening and intervention for those at risk.

New technological advances allow us to detect developing heart disease as much as 10 years before you are at risk for a heart attack or need expensive and invasive risk factor modification coupled with targeted solutions makes it possible to dramatically limit the costs associated with heart disease.

CONTROLLING YOUR HEALTH COSTS
Your company's health care costs are a direct result of the presence of health risk factors among your employees. Many, if not all, of these risk factors can be modified. The key is to identify which risk factors are present and then to treat them with effective strategies.
You will:

    • Reduce healthcare costs and medical claims
    • Reduce workers' compensation costs
    • Improve employee health practices and behavior
    • Improve employee productivity
    • Reduce absenteeism
    • Reduce turnover
    • Reduce employee stress and anxiety related to cardiovascular disease

Recognizing the extent of this problem many businesses have initiated health promotion programs that encourage employees to control their blood pressure, adopt heart-healthy diets, teach relaxation techniques and stop smoking, among other activities. Nationally, more than two-thirds of worksites with 50 or more employees have at least one health promotion activity. Their reasons for sponsoring programs include health care cost containment, improved employee health, increased productivity, enhanced company image, and improved employee morale. Most employers offering these programs believe that the benefits outweigh any costs involved. But measuring the true effectiveness of a wellness program in relation to a reduction in heart attacks and cancer among an employee population, which is where the major cost of health care and loss of productivity are felt for employers, can now be measured.