Posted by Worksite Wellness | Posted in worksite wellness programs | Posted on 27-12-2008
Small and large organizations carry a significant proportion of the provision of health care for families in this country by providing medical insurance for their workers. With the escalating increase in medical cost many organizations are attempting to slow the increase of medical insurance premiums by providing innovative cost control programs. Greater emphasis is being put on primary prevention to keep workers healthy and secondary prevention to identify and treat health conditions before they can become serious.
At some workplaces, workers are being encouraged to take greater responsibility for their health related behaviors through risk rated incentive packages. Linking wellness to employee benefits of gain sharing and co-payment cost reductions will provide new opportunities requiring efforts of collaboration between the human resource managers and the Worksite Wellness Program specialists. These two sets of professionals may also work together for the ongoing evaluation of cost effective Worksite Wellness Programs.
In conjunction with the above programs most large organizations also have a nurse or physician on staff to dispense onsite medical and preventive care. Some programs have also found it cost effective to provide their own physical therapy programming to assist injured and infirm workers in regaining optimal functioning. A comprehensive selection of health related employee services and benefits would include the following:
• Free or low cost health screenings provided on site by organization clinical personnel or through outside contractors:
Serum cholesterol
Colorectal cancer screening
Blood pressure check
Mammography
Vision and hearing testing
Diabetes
• Referral procedures (e.g., Hypertension, Cholesterol, Cancer)
• Provision of first aid and emergency care
• Disease control and prevention programs
• Child and infirm adult care services
• Financial and Pre-Retirement planning
• Ongoing learning/educational opportunities
• Coordination of organization picnics and outings
• Parent-child work visitation programs
• Workers compensation/rehabilitation