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Home Sick – How families and health impact your bottom line

Scott Foster — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:45:13 +0000

I have been trying to get my dad to see his doctor more and live healthier for more than 20 years but he didn’t wasn’t very receptive (perhaps as deserved revenge for me not listening to him as much as I should have growing up). Dad would say, “I only need to go to the doctor when I get sick and I never get sick.” Does that sound familiar to you?

The good news is that my dad is fine today. He sees his physician regularly and lives a pretty healthy lifestyle. The challenge for his company is that in the past 5 years, he has accumulated more than $400,000 in cardiac expenses alone. Also, as much as he might like to retire and spend time with his grandsons he can’t because of monthly prescription cost of over $1,200.

I failed to help my dad understand the difference between sick care and health care (prevention). How about you? Do you have an opportunity to take advantage of that difference?

My challenge for you is to choose prevention now. With 95% of your current health care dollars going towards sick care you can make great strides reducing major health costs and conditions, like my dads, for just a few hundred bucks. Make no mistake, if you do not choose prevention now then your health care will become sick care.

Scott Foster is President of Wellco, based in Michigan. Wellco works with companies who want to measurably improve dangerous and costly health conditions. Wellco specializes in health ROI systems, health risk appraisals, wellness programs, speaking, and consulting. Wellco is the developer of the award-winning HealthHammer, the first and only Zero Trend Appraisal system. For more information, visit www.wellcocorp.com or call 248-549-4247.

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HVAC Company Reverses the Flow of Health Costs by 34%

Scott Foster — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:21:19 +0000

Ordinarily, companies can expect 2010 medical costs to increase by 7 percent, according to a recent report by Health Affairs. Not so at AJ Danboise – a Farmington Hills plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical company that reduced overall medical costs by 34% over 3-years with Wellco. Read the full story.

Hockey Legend’s Death Brings Awareness

Scott Foster — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:51:46 +0000

Retired Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks tough guy Bob Probert died recently after an apparent heart attack while boating with his family. He was just 45 years old. Does it feel like heart disease victims are becoming younger and you’re getting older?

The devastation of losing a loved one unexpectedly has become more frequent and difficult. However, preventing heart disease in the first place is often the easy part.

The problem is how to decide what programs to adopt and emphasize. What will result in real improvements? In short, what works?

Here are 5 proven strategies, when used together, are nearly certain to help.

Know Your Numbers
When it comes to health, looks tell surprisingly little. We have never finished a single day of Wellco HealthHammer testing without identifying “walking time bombs,” many of whom are of normal weight, have healthy lifestyles and see your physician regularly. It is vital that you have an annual checkup with their personal physician and that you know, rather than guess, your personal risk factors, such as blood pressure, total cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol.

Once you know you’re not as healthy as you think you are, you will begin to prioritize prevention. The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported a 65% reduction in heart disease through blood pressure control, cholesterol reduction, increased activity, and no cigarette smoking. Other studies show that heart disease, the number one danger and cost, is nearly completely eliminated for men and women without risk factors at age 50. Risk factors are eliminated through healthy habits and regular physician visits to address potential problems.

Stay Current
The top five chronic and costly diseases (i.e., heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes) are caused by less than ten modifiable risk factors and cause more than two-thirds of all deaths each year. The diagnosis and treatment guidelines for those risk factors such as high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, and diabetes change regularly, due to ongoing advances in medicine. Ask your health care provider how your numbers compare to the most recent recommendations.

Promote what you already have
Emphasizing and covering preventive services will greatly improve the utilization of many important preventive services such as tobacco cessation and cancer screenings. Emphasize the importance of the any preventive programs you offer (e.g., Nurse advice line, EAP, health coaching, self-care). Next, consider covering recommended preventive services from the free, Purchaser’s Guide to Clinical Preventive Services.

Cover 100 percent of prevention
Employee co-pays and deductibles have risen by about $600 each over the past 10 years. They have become discouraged and cannot afford continued increases any more than you can as an organization. Employees should never be discouraged from preventive care that has been proven to prevent dangerous and costly conditions. Respected recommendations like those made in the Purchaser’s Guide, periodic physician examinations, and health behavior change programs are the foundation for long-term health cost containment and can save lives. Employers should fund 100 percent of first-dollar coverage through medical benefits or reimbursed under a health savings account. In other words, the employee should not pay anything even if they have not met their deductible.

Make it too good to pass up
Consider bringing some of the most effective services onsite as part of your corporate wellness program. For example, a Zero Trend Appraisal or a strong Health Risk Appraisal will jumpstart engagement into resources that your employees didn’t think they needed beforehand. Provide a convenient conference room for them to participate during work hours. Arrange on-time, private appointments. Communicate that the programs are completely confidential and 100% company-paid. Consider an incentive such as a company t-shirt, raffle ticket, or gift card as an extra bonus to boost participation.

Bouncing back from a health care crisis takes time. However, if you’ve discovered what strategies work best then you’re likely to prevent the crisis in the first place.

Wellness Benefit, Value and Engagement

Scott Foster — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:57:49 +0000

How does a leading internet services firm firm evaluate wellness and employee impact? Hear it yourself from Brad Frederick, CEO of Media Genesis.

ROI Standard and Value

Scott Foster — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:48:43 +0000

Benefit firms understand the need for health cost effectiveness for their clients. In this short video, Steve Rosser, Vice President of Benefits & Financial Services for Johnston Lewis Associates, shares his impression of the HealthHammer Zero Trend Appraisal system.

Health Care Strategies Summit Unites Experts

Scott Foster — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:37:11 +0000

The Health Care Strategies Summit recently provided straightforward solutions to the most difficult health care problems faced by businesses today through presentation and panel discussion from the following leading physician, health system executive and wellness expert.

Scott Foster, President, Wellco
Tom Brisse, Senior Vice President and Hospital Director, William Beaumont Hospital Troy
Earlexia Norwood, MD – Physician-in-Charge of the Henry Ford Medical Center-Troy & Northern Region Division Head of Family Medicine for Henry Ford Health System
Moderated by Mark Wilson, Attorney, MillerCanfield

The One Thing to Save Health Care

Scott Foster — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:25:35 +0000

Remember the movie “City Slickers?” During one of the better scenes, Curly (Jack Palance) tells Mitch (Billy Crystal) that life is about “one thing,” but you have to find out just what that thing is for yourself. Mitch spends the rest of the movie looking for his “one thing” and ends up much better as a result.

Are you hearing about “one thing” that is going to save the health care system? Health reform promises lower costs, new health plans advertise better rates, complementary medicine assures new treatments and wellness programs offer better solutions. Unfortunately, health care doesn’t work quite like Hollywood. Health care businesses and professionals seem to pop up every day and offer to save the health care world. Effective, long-term health care success is going to depend on integrating the strongest health care resources, not on a single industry or provider. After all doesn’t the system in health care system imply standardizing and integrating resources for optimal, reproducible outcomes?

Be very wary of resources that stand-alone and promise results. The best results are not achieved by health systems, health plans, third party administrators or wellness firms. The best results are achieved by all of these important resources working together. Before opening your wallets you should look at resources that you are already paying for that need to emphasized (e.g., preventive physician exams, health education, smoking cessation, EAP, etc.) Afterwards, they can fill in the gaps with programs that are proven to make a difference such as preventive screening, disease management and healthy lifestyle awareness.

So don’t throw up your hands and give up on the health care system. Instead, use the proper combinations of your best existing, and new resources. You may not save the world, but you will move closer to more effective health care.

Scott Foster is President of Wellco, based in Michigan. Wellco works with organizations who want to measurably improve health costs and risks. Wellco specializes in health ROI systems, health risk appraisals, corporate wellness programs, speaking, and consulting. Wellco is the developer of the award-winning HealthHammer, the first and only Zero Trend Appraisal system.

Study Identifies Avoidable Health Spending

Scott Foster — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:20:52 +0000

A recent study found Heart disease is the most expensive illness in the US at nearly $150 billion annually. Heart disease and other preventable conditions are responsible for significantly driving up health costs. The study was performed by Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Other costly condition opportunities include mood disorders (depression and bi-polar), back surgery and prenatal care.

Preventable illness makes up about 70% of the US health care bill (New England Journal of Medicine) yet less than 5% of health dollars are spent on prevention (American Journal of Health Promotion). Businesses can turn the tables and reduce costs by providing preventive health benefits, corporate wellness programs and employee assistance programs to identify conditions before becoming even more costly and dangerous.

New Interview with Nation’s Leading ROI Expert, Dr. Ron Goetzel

Scott Foster — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:12:10 +0000

In this new WellnessROI – Superstars of Wellness interview, Wellco’s Scott Foster interviews Ron Goetzel, Ph.D., Director, Emory University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies and Vice President of Consulting and Applied Research, Thomson Reuters. Dr. Goetzel describes the latest evidence, most important advice and top strategies to achieve ROI with your employee health and wellness. You won’t want to miss this FREE expert interview and can find it by following this link.

Companies Criticize Employees For Benefit Costs & Want Help

Scott Foster — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:07:13 +0000

Poor Employee health behavior is the biggest concern regarding health benefits and affordability according to 2/3 of employers in a recent survey by the National Business Group on Health and Towers Watson. The next biggest concerns, by 41% of companies, are poor utilization of preventive services, expensive catastrophic care and end-of-life treatment.

Fifty-eight percent of the employers are combating lackluster employee engagement with wellness programs, including health risk appraisals, health coaches and incentives for healthy behaviors.

Twenty-three percent plan to shift additional costs to employees or increase deductibles to combat the continued average projected health cost increase of about 7%.

This study reflects the growing opportunities between companies and their workforce to work together towards improved health status and costs. Employees will be much more engaged in corporate wellness and prevention if you communicate how much they are valued in your company, how much their benefits cost and that their health benefits come from the same pot of money as their salary.?

Scott Foster is President and ROI Expert of Wellco, based in Michigan. Wellco works with organizations who want to measurably improve health costs and risks. Wellco specializes in health ROI systems, health risk appraisals, corporate wellness programs, speaking, and consulting. Wellco is the developer of the award-winning HealthHammer, the first and only Zero Trend Appraisal system.