Counting on Pedometers for Workplace Wellness

The first pedometer illustrations by Leonardo da Vinci.

The first pedometer illustrations were done in the 15th century by Leonardo da Vinci.

With all the chatter these days about whiz-bang innovations in employee wellness — mobile apps, body sensors, social media, and such — overshadowed is the lowly pedometer program. But why? I’d venture to guess that most employers running robust wellness programs, and even smaller employers just getting started, are offering some sort of pedometer-based program.

What are we to make of these programs, in which employees — usually in teams — wear a pedometer for several weeks and record the total number of steps they take each day? Are they little more than the minor league of more hi-tech solutions? Continue reading →

If Wellness Doesn’t Reduce Health Costs, Why Do It?

[The following is adapted from a comment I wrote in an online dialog with Al Lewis, author of Why Nobody Believes the Numbers: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction in Population Health Management. The original comment appeared in the Yahoo Wellness Managers Group -- the granddaddy of online communities for employee wellness managers.]

The most optimistic thing I can say about employee wellness return-on-investment (ROI) is that it may be possible. But, as I illustrated in my previous post, it’s certainly not common or likely. The question is: Does this matter? Continue reading →

Wellness ROI: Where Always Equals Rarely

In 2010, Harvard economist Katherine Baicker and co-authors, in a study published in Health Affairs, declared, ”medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs.” The conclusion was parroted in the press and emerged as the battle cry of wellness program managers and the closing pitch for wellness vendors. Medical costs fall as a result of wellness programs? We almost have to wonder what data Baicker et al were looking at when they drew this conclusion, as the statement does not seem to be supported by their own findings. Continue reading →

Wellness ROI: A Dollar Spent is Not $3.27 Earned

The 2010 study touting $3.27 saved for every dollar spent on wellness was anointed the gold standard of employee wellness return-on-investment studies, almost as soon as it was published in Health Affairs. There’s been a scarcity of ROI research since then, as if the matter has been settled. In an article published on CFO.com as recently as January 3, 2013, one of the most frequently cited ROI researchers, Larry Chapman, alluded to Continue reading →

What Does Oregon Medicaid Have To Do With Employee Wellness?

Medicaid expansion, a core component of the Affordable Care Act, will continue to be in the news for some time. Often cited in the medicaid expansion debate is a recent study of Medicaid’s impact on health care and well-being. The study should be of great interest to employee wellness professionals — for more reasons than Continue reading →

Health Risk Assessments: The Baby and the Bath Water

When considering your health risk appraisal, be cautious before throwing out the baby with the bath water.The ShapeUp employer survey found that employers are increasingly skeptical about health risk assessments. An evocative infographic summarizing the survey results shows that, if employers’ wellness budgets were cut in half, HRAs would be programs they’d be most likely to cut. Three times as many respondents would eliminate their HRAs, for example, compared to those that would eliminate health coaching. Approximately 50% of respondents “do not believe in HRA.”

But some of the survey respondents’ comments — as well as much of the employee wellness literature — reveals that employers Continue reading →

Are Health Risk Assessments Effective?

Are health risk assessments effective? Three systematic reviews have sought to answer this question.

Technology Assessment: HRA

Technology Assessment: HRA (click to access the pdf)

One of the most rigorous and most recent analyses, Health Risk Assessment: Technology Report, conducted by McMaster University Evidence-based Practice Center for Agency for the Healthcare Research and Quality, examined 118 studies of health outcomes associated with HRAs. The report concluded:

Many HRA programs demonstrated improvements on intermediate health outcomes such as blood pressure, cholesterol, physical activity, or fat intake. However, only one article considered Continue reading →