2018 MACE Annual Conference presentation from Mary Lawyer of Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
This presentation will cover well-being improvement and discuss how to make the healthier choice the easier choice.
9. WHAT IF FOOD PRICES HAD RISEN AT THE
SAME RATE AS MEDICAL INFLATION?
Source: American Institute for Preventive Medicine, 2013
(https://healthylife.com/blog/?p=568)
10. Health insurance not just for
catastrophic care anymore
Breakdown of U.S. Health Care Costs
Government administrative expenses, private insurers’ profits, research expenses, the cost of equipment and software, and the cost of public-health activities excluded; Source: Office of
the Actuary and National Health Expenditure Data Fact Sheet, US Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, US Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS); McKinsey analysis
11. AVERAGE FAMILY PREMIUM FOR
EMPLOYER PROVIDED COVERAGE
Copyright, 2016-17 David P. Lind Benchmark
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. ESTIMAT
ES FOR
203
0
Sources: Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: The State of Obesity 2016. United States Census
Bureau.
19. FACTORS IMPACTING OUR HEALTH
Sources: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2105 Issue Brief
25. COMMUNITY
Community
garden
Complete streets
Nicotine-free public
spaces
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe physical
activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings Volunteer
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Lunchroom
design
Walking school bus
Generational
learning
WORKSITE
Healthy food
availability
Encourage stairwell
use
Wellness
committee
illustrative only
More than 100
evidence-based
interventions
30. COMMUNITY
Healthy
concessions
policy
Complete streets
policy
Nicotine-free public
spaces
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe physical
activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings Volunteer
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Non-food
fundraisers
Ensure physical
activity is not used for
or withheld as a
punishment
Generational
learning
WORKSITE
Healthy
vending policy
Bike racks
Nicotine-free
campus
illustrative only
Healthy vending
policy
31.
32. Source: The Imagining Livability Design Collection by AARPLivable Communities (aarp.org/livable) and the Walkable and Livable
Communities Institute (walklive.org)
33. COMMUNITY
Healthy
concessions
policy
Complete streets
policy
Nicotine-free public
spaces
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe physical
activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings Volunteer
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Non-food
fundraisers
Ensure physical
activity is not used for
or withheld as a
punishment
Generational
learning
WORKSITE
Healthy
vending policy
Encourage stairwell
use
Nicotine-free
campus
illustrative only
Non-food
fundraisers
Non-food
fundraisers
37. COMMUNITY
Healthy
concessions
policy
Complete streets
policy
Nicotine-free public
spaces
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe physical
activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings Volunteer
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Non-food
fundraisers
Ensure physical
activity is not used for
or withheld as a
punishment
Generational
learning
WORKSITE
Healthy
vending policy
Encourage stairwell
use
Wellness
committee
illustrative only
Complete
streets policy
38. Source: The Imagining Livability Design Collection by AARPLivable Communities (aarp.org/livable) and the Walkable and Livable
Communities Institute (walklive.org)
39. Source: The Imagining Livability Design Collection by AARPLivable Communities (aarp.org/livable) and the Walkable and Livable
Communities Institute (walklive.org)
43. COMMUNITY
Healthy
concessions
policy
Complete streets
policy
Nicotine-free public
spaces
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe physical
activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings Volunteer
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Non-food
fundraisers
Ensure physical
activity is not used for
or withheld as a
punishment
Generational
learning
WORKSITE
Healthy
vending policy
Bike racks
Nicotine-free
campus
illustrative only
Bike racks
46. COMMUNITY
Healthy
concessions
policy
Complete streets
policy
Nicotine-free public
spaces
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe
physical activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings Volunteer
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Non-food
fundraisers
Ensure physical
activity is not used
for or withheld as a
punishment
Generational
learning
WORKSITE
Healthy
vending policy
Bike Racks
Nicotine-free public
spaces
illustrative only
Nicotine-free
campus
47.
48. Tobacco and Nicotine Prevention and Cessation; and
Elimination of Secondhand Smoke
49.
50. COMMUNITY
Healthy
concessions
policy
Complete streets
policy
Promote
volunteering
HEALTH CARE
End formula
giveaways
Prescribe physical
activity
Patient referral
ORGANIZATION/INSTITUTION
Non-food
fundraisers
Walking meetings
Promote
volunteering
RETAIL FOOD
Healthy menu
offerings
Bike racks Outdoor dining
SCHOOL
Non-food
fundraisers
Ensure physical
activity is not used for
or withheld as a
punishment
Promote
volunteering
WORKSITE
Healthy
vending policy
Bike Racks
Employee wellness
committee
illustrative only
Employee
Wellness
Committee
60. MARY LAWYER
lawyermk@wellmark.com
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association.Source: The Imagining Livability Design Collection by AARPLivable Communities (aarp.org/livable) and the Walkable and Livable
Communities Institute (walklive.org)
Notas do Editor
The program we are talking about today is Healthy HometownSM Powered By Wellmark.
Did you know your Zip code could impact your health more than your genetic code? When it comes to your overall health – Zip code may be more important than genetic code.
Just think about your normal day. Is processed food easier to fit into your hectic schedule than a healthy meal? How often are you on your phone or tablet? Do you drive to the store rather than walk? Our day-to-day activities and where we live impact our overall health.
Think about your community. Is it set up where it’s easier to drive through and grab processed fast food than a healthy meal?
Let’s look back in time 30 years ago to 1988. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been tracking the obesity trends among U.S. adults for quite some time and 1988 was the first year the CDC started pointing out noticeable obesity trends. To be considered Obese, ones Body Mass Index (BMI) would be 30 or above. As a rule of thumb for someone who is 5’9” that would be just slightly over 200 pounds.
(IOWA) At the time, 10-14% of Iowans were obese.
(SOUTH DAKOTA) At the time, 10-14% of South Dakotans were obese.
In nearly 30 years, we have jumped approximately 20 percentage points in obesity among adults, double the rate where we started. The whole color scale has changed!
***Transition to Healthy Hometown Speaker***
This was just a brief glimpse of how we have managed to let ourselves get to a point where 30-35% of Iowans and 25-29% of South Dakotans are obese. We have to do something to start moving this trend in the other direction.
It’s not just about our pant size but all of the other health conditions obesity can lead to. I’d like to turn it over now to Wellmark to expand upon this further and introduce an exciting new program to help Iowans make the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice.
Just for background, the data source is BRFSS, they changed their methodology in 2011, three main changes were made 1)sampling cell phones in addition to land lines 2)new weighting methodology 3) new exclusion criteria for outlying heights, weights and BMIs also excluded pregnant women. CDC would not recommend comparing 1988 to current year because of this change. However, we went back to the data for Iowa and the rates right before and after the change in methodology, they are as follows for Iowa
2010 -29.1%
2011 – 29%
2012 – 30.4%
2013 – 31.3%
2014 – 30.9%
2015 – 32.1%
2016 – 32.0%
Because the difference between 2010 and 2011 is not significant and the major increase is from 2011 on under the same methodology we remain comfortable making this comparison. However, it is suggested we add the following verbiage:
Data prior to 2011 is not directly comparable to previous years of BRFSS data because of changes in the weighting methodology and the addition of the cell phone sampling frame. The BRFSS 2011 data should be considered a baseline year for data, as it reflects combined landline and cell phone data and changes in weighting methodology.
The data for South Dakota is as follows:
2010 – 27.7%
2011 – 28.1%
2012 – 28.1%
2013 – 29.9%
2014 – 29.8%
2015 – 30.4%
2016 – 29.6%
We will add the following to the slide:
Data prior to 2011 is not directly comparable to previous years of BRFSS
When you add overweight Americans to the mix (BMI of 25 or more) 2 out of 3 of us are overweight or obese.
These are some somber facts about obesity and what is arguably an epidemic rate of increase. There is also a compelling case for the root cause – our environment and our behaviors have changed over time.
Source: CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Study
Those are some somber facts about obesity and what is arguably an epidemic rate of increase. It also makes a compelling case for the root cause – our environment and our behaviors have changed over time. The impact of this is alarming. Experts indicate that obesity is a significant driver of over 30, and some say up to 50, chronic diseases.
Chronic disease is defined as a condition that lasts more than three months and cannot be prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, they are impossible to reverse.
I’m sure that everybody in this room has either directly or indirectly (through a loved one) been impacted by the diseases you see listed here. Let’s see a show of hands. We obviously have personal reasons to care about this problem as evidenced by how many of us have been touched in some way by these diseases. But, there are also economic reasons we should care.
Source: Various research papers combined that add up to 30-50 diseases.
At Wellmark, we know 58% of what is paid out in health insurance claims is for the health care of individuals with 1 to 3 chronic diseases.
1 in 4 adults have two or more chronic health conditions and 7 in 10 deaths in America each year are a result of chronic diseases.
You can see where the increase in obesity and the relationship of obesity to chronic disease is a costly problem.
I look at the top-five most costly health conditions we see at Wellmark and all are in some way related to obesity. They include:
# 1 Bone Injuries and Joint Disorders – added weight is hard on joints and bones
#2 Cancer – in 2018, 17,630 new cancer diagnoses in Iowa – obesity is related to many forms of cancer including esophageal, pancreatic, colon and rectum, breast, endometrial, kidney, thyroid and gallbladder. Include uterine corpus, liver, stomach, brain, multiple myeloma, ovary.
3 Heart Conditions – The heavier we are the harder the heart has to work resulting in abnormal heart rhythm, heart attack or heart failure. It is also personal1 in 2 deaths in America are due to heart disease and cancer.
4 Digestive Disorders – Obesity contributes to acid related disorders and the drugs to treat these disorders are costly.
5. Back Pain – Once again added weight puts added burden on the back and spine.
1 in 4 adults have two or more chronic health conditions source (Ward BW, Schiller JS, Goodman RA. Multiple chronic conditions among US adults: a 2012 update. Prev Chronic Dis. 2014; 11:130389. DOI:http//dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd11.130389)
and 7 in 10 deaths in America each year are a result of chronic diseases source (https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm)
Another issue has been medical inflation. If prices for everyday goods had risen at the same rate as medical inflation since the 1930’s, the cost of a dozen oranges would be $125.08. Toilet paper would cost you $28.05 per roll. A pound of coffee would be $74.40 and one pound of butter would be $108.32
It would be pretty sobering to go to the grocery store and pay these prices to feed our families. It’s just as sobering to get our health care and insurance bills.
Updated Data per the American Institute for Preventive Medicine, 2013 (previous data was from 2008)
https://healthylife.com/blog/?p=568
Dozen oranges -- $125.08
Roll of toilet tissue -- $28.05
Pound of Coffee -- $74.40
Pound of Butter -- $108.32
Another factor is the fact that insurance was originally designed to cover catastrophic loss only or 1/3 of the cost of care today.
Expectations have increased and health insurance now covers far more services than initially intended. Now insurance coverage is made up of lifestyle induced conditions, mandates, discretional and end of life costs.
Additionally, the way health insurance compensates doctors, hospitals or dentists hasn’t changed much. It is still predominately a pay fee for service that is paid by health insurance. This insulates consumers from the cost of care and thus the need/ability to make informed decisions about care and lifestyle impacts on health.
This rise in obesity and chronic disease coupled with rapidly rising costs and the evolution of health insurance over time have been hard on the cost of benefits for employers.
David Lind has been benchmarking the benefits that employers offer their employees for the past 16 years – including the cost of those benefits. Here you have the cost of health coverage for a family of 4 and how that premium has changed in just the past 16 years. While this might be the first time you are seeing this information put together in this way, it likely is not new information to you.
With one simple look you know that the increase in the slope of these lines cannot continue. The impact on companies is significant, and the impact on employees can be extremely painful and difficult. We need to figure out how to change the trajectory of these trend lines.
Some of you may be thinking the insurance company is taking a lot of profit too. At Wellmark almost 86 cents of every insurance dollar paid to us goes to pay for health care services. It really is the use of services that is driving health insurance premiums.
We know reducing disease levels would make a substantial difference in decreasing utilization and keeping costs for health care services lower
Source: Wellmark
Top-Five Costly Conditions – Bone Injuries and Joint Disorders (Source of Top 5 and associated costs are from Wellmark 2017 data)
Obesity is a common factor that contributes to the most costly conditions among Wellmark’s members. The top 5 most costly conditions.
# 1 Bone Injuries and Joint Disorders – Nationally the average cost for a knee replacement is
$22,600 and hip is $22,300 annually based on 3-5 year annual amounts for Iowa book of business by CPT, ETG and diagnosis codes provided by ACS..
From 2017 data.
#2 Cancer – in 2018 17,630 new cancer diagnoses in Iowa (Source https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2018/cancer-facts-and-figures-2018.pdf)– obesity is related to many forms of cancer including esophageal, pancreatic, colon and rectum, breast, endometrial, kidney, thyroid and gallbladder. Include uterine corpus, liver, stomach, brain, multiple myeloma, ovary. Costs vary by type of cancer but as an example the average cost to treat pancreatic cancer is $118,500 annually based on 3-5 year annual amounts for Iowa book of business by CPT, ETG and diagnosis codes provided by ACS.
3 Heart Conditions – The heavier we are the harder the heart has to work resulting in abnormal heart rhythm, heart attack or heart failure. The average cost for bypass surgery is $53,900 annually based on 3-5 year annual amounts for Iowa book of business by CPT, ETG and diagnosis codes provided by ACS. – Heart disease and cancer make up 45.3% of deaths. (Health, United States, 2016, Table 19 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus16.pdf#019)
4 Digestive Disorders – Obesity contributes to acid related disorders and the drugs to treat
these disorders are costly.
5. Back Pain – the average cost of a herniated disc surgery is $16,200 annually based on 3-5 year annual amounts for Iowa book of business by CPT, ETG and diagnosis codes provided by ACS.
If we don’t act it is anticipated this will get worse quickly.
It is estimated that by 2030 – just 12 years from now – 1 in 8 IOWANS/SOUTH DAKOTANS will be diabetic. As of 2010, it was 1 in 12.
1 in 4 will be Hypertensive
And 1 in 4 will have heart disease. In 2010, it was 1 in 15.
When was the last time you got together with your family or friends? Think about how these statistics could infiltrate your own family or friends and impact those you care about most.
You can also see this is expensive. The average costs of these chronic diseases are high but we also know if an individual has more than one or all three of these, the average costs can double or even triple.
data from Slide comes from F as in Fat, from HealthyAmericans.org.
There is good news, the Center for Disease Control indicates we control 60% of the factors that influence our overall health - our behaviors and environment.
Organizations and communities can set up environments to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Policy and built environment changes encouraging healthy eating, physical activity and social connectivity can have a big impact toward enhancing sustainable changes encouraging better health
Wellmark provides tools and assistance to help you do just that through the Healthy Hometown program.
Wellmark has designed HH to help communities and organizations change environments and impact social behaviors through nudges to make the healthy choice the easy choice. It’s called Healthy Hometown.
Healthy Hometown is a packaging of items available in the public domain that have proven to be effective in terms of creating healthier communities and individuals. We have packaged these items to make it easy for you to decipher and implement action that has shown to have sustainable impact through built environment and policy change.
The Tactics come from research on what has worked or is evidence based and have been gathered from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, Urban Land Institute, etc. and packaged into a toolkit that is easily accessible and useable for Iowa Communities. We basically tried to take the work out of having to search for effective solutions.
There are over 100 tactics organized by WHERE (community, school, worksite, grocery store, restaurant) they can be implemented and WHAT (eat well, move more, feel better) the impact will be. Communities and organizations can chose to do one thing or select and implement multiple items.
Healthy Hometown can help your community change environments and impact social behaviors through nudges to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Healthy Hometown is available to all Iowa / South Dakota communities and organizations at no cost. The only cost is the will to do the work.
So, if you want your community and worksites to have better access to healthy foods, the ability to walk or bike where you need to go and stronger social connections? Healthy Hometown may be for you.
Healthy Hometown provides proven tactics that can be used in your community so you and your neighbors can eat well, move more and feel better.
There are two approaches to Healthy Hometown.
OPTION 1 - The first is a self-directed approach that is available for a worksite, school or a community. This self-directed approach is an online assessment for each of these 3 entities – with 20 – 30 simple questions. There is a separate assessment for worksites, for schools, and for communities.
These are not difficult questions and the self-assessment takes very little time to complete.
Once the assessment is complete, the submitter will receive a report outlining evidence based tactics that can be implemented in the worksite, school or community. Not only does it tell you the WHAT – but also provides you with reputable resources and information for HOW to do it.
Examples include:
Communities - maybe you look at opportunities for place-making to encourage social gathering in the community
Worksites - Organize groups for physical activity, such as running groups, or volleyball/basketball/soccer intermural teams, or change up your vending options to offer healthy choices.
Schools - Start a Walking School Bus, or maybe plant/grow a School Garden.
You can find the self-assessment on the Healthiest State Initiative’s website.
OPTION 2 – provides expert assistance and tools
Wellmark staff will work with your community to help determine what outcomes you want and help you identify the proven tactics that help achieve those outcomes.
The self-assessment is an online tool with a series of questions for a community, worksite or school to help identify what they are currently doing and what else they can do to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Let’s say you are the City Manager taking the self-assessment, you would have 17 questions to answer.
Or maybe you are the HR Director taking the self-assessment for your workplace. There are 23 worksite questions to answer.
If you are answering the school related questions, you will be answering 30 of them.
Based on your answers to the online self-assessment, a customized report will be generated that offers web-based tools/actions that you can deploy at your own pace to help enhance the health and well-being of your community.
For Communities,
maybe you look at opportunities for place-making to encourage social gathering in the community
For Worksites
Organize groups for physical activity, such as running groups, or volleyball/basketball/soccer intermural teams, or
Change up your vending options to offer healthy choices.
For Schools
Start a Walking School Bus, or
Maybe plant/grow a School Garden.
The Tactics come from research on what has worked or is evidence based and have been gathered from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, Urban Land Institute, etc. and packaged into a toolkit that is easily accessible and useable for Iowa / South Dakota Communities. We basically tried to take the work out of having to search for effective solutions.
There are over 100 tactics organized by WHERE they can be implemented and WHAT the impact will be. The chart gives one example of the over 100 tactics that fit into each category. Communities and worksites can chose to do one thing or select and implement multiple items.
Remember the changes to the environment that were mentioned in the video?
What can we do in worksites to address these trends?
Improved dietary habits – making recurrent healthy food choices
Healthy vending or snack drawer options are available
Break room
It doesn’t matter whether you have a fully-functioning cafeteria or simply a break room with a vending machine or snack drawer, there are lots of things that can be done to help make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Vending: If you have vendors that provide food for employees, work with them to see what types of healthy options might be available. When organizing the food in the machine, make sure the healthier options are at eye-level for most people, and place the less healthy options lower. If possible, price the healthy options competitively (if not cheaper) than the less healthy options. Same principles can apply even if you have a snack box.
Break room: Try a fresh fruit bowl once a week.
Consider a policy that requires only healthy foods be served at meetings.
Increase access to and consumption of healthy foods
Onsite gardens/edible orchards and/or farmers markets and/or CSA arrangements
Make it easier to access fresh produce by designating space on your grounds for an onsite garden.
Another option might be to support a CSA, or community supported agriculture. CSA farmers produce fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, fiber or related products directly for local community members. Community members become shareholders by paying in advance for farm products. In this way, customers share the risks of production with the farmer. The farm then supplies members with shares of farm-raised food items on a regular basis throughout the growing season and sometimes into the winter, depending on the farm and its products.
How about what has happened to our physical activity over time?
South Dakota
Increased physical activity and active transportation (walking and biking)
Bike parking facilitates are available
Provide a space (other than a restroom stall) for employees to change clothes
Active commuting means getting to work by means other than driving your car. For some people, that might not be avoidable. But for many, all that may be needed is the right encouragement.
Evidence has shown that the best approach to get more employees to actively commute to work is to implement multiple strategies at the same time. For example, you could:
Make sure adequate bike parking is available
Provide incentives for people who walk, ride their bike, or take the bus to work.
If possible, provide a space (other than a cramped restroom stall) where people can change their clothes.
Increase physical activity levels
Walking groups during breaks/over lunch
Promote employer-sponsored Intramural/team sports (e.g. softball, basketball, dodge ball)
Converting a conference room to a workout area; offer group classes like yoga, Pilates, etc.
A common barrier that many people have to sustaining regular physical activity has to do with motivation. One way to address this barrier is to organize and support opportunities where employees can be more active together.
This can be done a number of ways, from setting up buddy systems or walking groups during breaks or lunch to provide friendship and support. For those who like team sports or activities, considering organizing employer-sponsored activities like basketball, volleyball, or dodgeball.
Another strategy for nudging employees to Move More is enhance access to places to be more active. This could be as elaborate as providing a walking path at your worksite for employees to walk on, or as simple as posting signs of different walking routes employees can easily and safely complete during designated break times.
What about smoking?
Tobacco and Nicotine Prevention and Cessation; and Elimination of Secondhand Smoke
Implement nicotine-free policies
Promote quitting resources like Quitline Iowa
As an employer, it greatly benefits you to help your staff quit using tobacco. Despite declines in tobacco use over the past decade it remains as the #1 preventable cause of death and disease in the US, accounting for 1 in 5 causes of death.
Spirit Lake implemented a Nicotine Public Spaces policy for public parks and the library a few years ago.
When you change a policy around tobacco use, the best thing to do is to help your employees prepare for it by promoting resources to help them quit. An effective (and free) resource you can promote is Quitline Iowa (1-800-QUIT-NOW). Counselors work with each individual to develop a quit plan and then aid them through the first weeks of quitting. For more information, visit the Web site at www.quitlineiowa.org or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). They even offer free nicotine replacement products like the patch or gum.
Over the last 15 years, one third of workers report not being engaged at work
Source: Gallup Business Journal, 2016
Improved social connectedness
Support individual participation in community volunteer opportunities
Offer flexible scheduling
A great way for both an employer and an employee to feel more connected to the community they live or work in is to promote volunteerism.
Several studies have shown employer-supported volunteering can actually lead to improved employee engagement, job satisfaction and retention.
Building a strong culture of volunteerism at your workplace is also a good way to recruit and attract new employees, particularly from a younger generation of employees who are looking to work at places that give back to the community.
A good place to start is by developing a policy that defines your company’s stance volunteering and defines the circumstances when volunteering is considered work time or personal time.
Increase/sustain support for health promotion efforts
Have an active wellness committee or work group
Offer rewards for healthy behaviors
Regardless of the size and scope of the worksite wellbeing efforts you are planning, obtaining support from worksite management and leaders is a critical first step. Without that, any efforts you try to undertake won’t get very far.
Once management is on board, one more champions on staff should be identified to help organize the efforts. Employee representation and participation in the wellness program’s decision making process is important for success. It leads to higher levels of commitment to and satisfaction with the workplace health program and ensures that your employee’s needs are reflected.
Option 2 – provides expert assistance and tools
Wellmark staff will work with your community to help determine what outcomes you want and help you identify the proven tactics that help achieve those outcomes.
We hope you will want your organization to be healthy and your community to be a Healthy Hometown that is a Thriving Hometown with Improved Quality of Life, Strong Local Pride, and a Vital Economy.
The Healthiest State Initiative will provide encouragement and offer annual AWARDS and acknowledgement for those communities taking on this work.
For those communities that want a broader approach, Wellmark could facilitate a discussion on what outcomes the community is seeking and how success will be defined and measured.
Based on what outcomes the community wants to achieve, we will help community leaders identify what toolkit proven tactics the community may want to implement to help positively impact the health of community members.
Maybe you want to:
have a positive impact on Body Mass Index of residents.
or increase fruit and vegetable consumption
or increase pedestrian counts
To help you achieve the outcome you have selected, we would assist in identifying the proven tactics from the toolkit your community may want to consider implementing.
After determining what the community wants to implement, the Wellmark Consultant will assist in developing a detailed action plan. This will include the steps on how each item will get implemented, along with timeframes and the accountable community organization or individual.
It is then up to the community to implement the plan with coaching and expert assistance from us as needed.
