91% of Employers Feel Wellness Program Can Reduce Health Care Costs
According to a 2008 national survey by Harris Interactive, 91 percent of employers “believed they could reduce their health care costs by influencing employees to adopt healthier lifestyles,” wrote two Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) experts in the July 10, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Michelle Mello, a professor of law and public health in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and colleague Meredith B. Rosenthal, an HSPH associate professor of health economics and health policy, spelled out the legal parameters of employer-sponsored wellness programs as they stand today.
According to surveys cited by Mello and Rosenthal, 19 percent of employers with 500 or more employees offered wellness programs as of 2006. Almost 40 percent said they planned to offer monetary rewards for healthy behaviors within two years.
Read more from the Harvard report at this link.
What is keeping you from implementing a corporate wellness program today?