Employers: helping your employees understand their health risks is good for them - good for you

May 20, 4:48 PMSan Jose Fitness ExaminerAmy Rabinovitz

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Photo: Krisna Hanks

The following article on corporate wellness programs and health risk assessments is written and contributed by Krisna Hanks, Director, Wellness for the Health Trust, one of Silicon Valley's rich resources for wellness. 

In recognition of National Employee Health and Fitness Day this is one of several articles in San Jose Fitness promoting fitness in the workplace. 

Research has proven that health assessment programs are effective in reducing employee health care costs and absenteeism. These health initiatives along with other worksite wellness programs are widely available and reasonably cost-effective.

This exciting practice is most successful when the employer begins such a program with a solid understanding of their employees’ overall wellness needs, and then aligning the programs or interventions to best fit the employee’s needs and interests.

A tool called a “Health Risk Assessment”  (HRA) can be very valuable in gathering this data. Employees complete the “HRA,” essentially a 30 minute health questionnaire; the data is then aggregated adhering to all HIPAA privacy regulations. This aggregated report is reviewed by the employer and only demonstrates the collective results so no individual private health information is released. Often this is done by a third party source to doubly insure the privacy of personal health information.

Still, getting employees to “take the questionnaire” can often be a challenge, unless an employer provides some type of incentive. At The Health Trust, a Silicon Valley nonprofit foundation focused on wellness, we devised a unique incentive structure to get employees to take the test and also take action based on their results.

First we made clear that employees understood this was not a tool to find out personal information that would be revealed to their employer or any outside source. Then, we offered employees a cash reward for the completion of the HRA.
The third step was to offer an additional reward if the employee participated in a one-on-one coaching session about how to evaluate and maximize what his or her personal evaluation showed.

With this type of incentive structure our organization exhibited a 75% participation rate, much above the norm of 10 to 20% stated by the Alliance for Wellness ROI, Inc. an intercompany cooperative, formed to standardize the terminology and measurement of Return on Investment of Wellness Programs.

Just a few months into the program, we are already seeing the results. As one employee reported,

...[learning that my cholesterol levels were considered high]...." was a real shock. I met with the wellness coach and she walked me through some ways to lower it, specifically by watching what kinds of foods I was eating; and increasing foods with “good cholesterol”. I started closely monitoring my food choices and I got my blood tested about a month ago (5 months after the original HRA). My physician reviewed the results said my cholesterol had dropped 30 points. I truly attribute it to the awareness brought on by the HRA."

At The Health Trust, we are thrilled with stories like this, and with employers who are working with us to provide a healthy and safe environment for their employees. We believe “knowing your numbers” or rather “knowing your risks” is an important first step on the road to wellness.

We hope all Silicon Valley companies will look for opportunities to allow us to work with them and their employees, in making Silicon Valley a healthier place to work and live.

Krisna Hanks, MS, MBA
Director, Wellness|
Health Trust
www.healthtrust.org

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