According to the Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey, released earlier this month, “organizations that offer health benefits to their employees are looking for more information and analysis regarding their plans.” Corporate wellness is not a new concept by any means, but over the years employers have not generally quantified Return on Investment (ROI) of their programs in a vigorous way.
Survey findings:
72% desire better reporting/evaluation of the ROI of their health and wellness program
76% want a better understanding of how their benefit plan affects health outcomes, productivity and absenteeism
62% want a better understanding of their claims data
68% want a better understanding of connections between claims and utilization of programs.
The majority of employers want to better understand programs and how well their investments in worker health are paying off in terms of improved health, engagement and productivity and decreased insurance costs, absenteeism and presenteeism. This requires the right information and analysis of corporate wellness initiatives over time.
Chronic Disease Disconnect
The survey also shows “that plan sponsors and plan members are not making the link regarding their plans and the prevalence of chronic disease in the workplace.”
While plan sponsors estimate that about one-quarter (26% on average) of their workforce has a chronic condition, more than half (56%) of plan members indicate they have such a condition. Such a gap between perception and reality raises questions about the ability of traditional plan designs to support best health outcomes—as well as a meaningful return on investment for employers.
Vivametrica’s WhatsMyRisk? toolkit allows employers to make data-driven and evidence-informed decisions. With our analytics, specific chronic disease risks can be determined both individually, and across the organization. This risk assessment can be observed over time and evaluated pre- and post-program to be used as a measure of organizational health and wellness program effectiveness. This tool also eliminates the guesswork from plan sponsor estimation of disease levels and is more reflective of reality. Smart investments can be made towards interventions for conditions that have the most prevalent risk in each work unit.
Current chronic disease risk measurements that Vivametrica can help organizations with are:
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Cardiac Disease
- Lung Disease
- Arthritis
Vivametrica’s algorithms can also help organizations with the following risk measurements:
- Mental Health/Depression
- Back Pain
- Aerobic Fitness (VO2Max )
Organizational Health & Wellness
The survey also reports low overall participation in organizational wellness programs. Employees need simple and measurable tools to engage in wellness. Using our calculators, individuals as well as groups are able to see how changes in behaviour such as increased physical activity or weight loss produce real decrease in risks for chronic disease, back pain and depression. These tools provide a source of motivation, tracking, and instant feedback for healthy lifestyle change and program evaluation.
Health Risk Appraisals
“When offered a list of seven possible new health benefits, plan members were most likely to select onsite health risk screenings (45%)”. Individuals as well as corporations want to know what their current health risks are. Knowing the risks is the first step in effective disease prevention, intervention and plan design. Vivametrica offers solutions to many of the findings in the Sanofi survey. Both individual and organizational wellness can be improved with our analytics.
