3 key elements of a successful wellness program
There are many aspects to creating a successful wellness program, but none are more important than these four factors--assessing and screening consumers, helping consumers make behavior changes, engaging consumers and measuring results, reported Employee Benefit News.
Without those four elements, wellness programs won't be able to improve employees' health while helping lower overall healthcare costs. It also can lead to a sustainable improvement in population health. Three of the four factors are described below:
1. Assessing and screening consumers: Although wellness programs usually request that consumers disclose health risks, they rarely validate each participant's "readiness to change." This is viral information that helps insurers deliver more tailored programs, including what type of education consumers require. One key to fruitful wellness programs lies in the ability to tailor awards and incentives for each company's culture, FierceHealthPayer previously reported.
2. Engaging consumers: To build a successful wellness program, consumers must be engaged through different methods, including an online portal, health coaching and text messaging. Engagement is so important because although employers and insurers use wellness programs to help lower healthcare costs, participation and engagement rates are still lacking. To engage consumers immediately, wellness programs can, for example, offer individual feedback after consumers complete the initial health assessment, EBN noted. Wellness programs also should include some form of mobile interaction because it helps insurers reach consumers faster.
3. Measuring and evaluating success: Strong wellness programs must collect more information than just participation and retention rates. They also must measure whether consumers' behaviors change and should consider tracking workplace productivity, including absenteeism and presenteeism. Such evaluation helps improve the programs in the future.
To learn more:
- read the Employee Benefit News article
Related Articles:
Tailor wellness programs to company's culture
How to create compelling incentives for wellness programs
Wellness programs lack participation due to privacy, convenience concerns
How to engage consumers for better outcomes
Comments