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Businesses have long embraced workplace wellness programs to improve worker health and reduce overall medical expenses, but a new study could lead employers to rethink these efforts.
The study, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, examined the experience of 33,000 workers at BJ's Wholesale Club, a retailer, for more than a year and a half.
Although workers enrolled in the wellness program reported having learned to do more exercise and monitor their weight, the research did not reveal any significant differences in results, such as lowering blood pressure or blood glucose and other health measures. And he did not find any significant reduction in workers' health care costs.
"These results could moderate expectations regarding the return on investment that wellness programs can generate in the short term," conclude the study's authors, Dr. Zirui Song, a health policy researcher at Harvard Medical. School, and Katherine Baicker, Dean of the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.
Most employers – 82% of companies with more than 200 workers – offer a wellness program like smoking cessation or weight management, according to the last survey of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Companies often encourage participation in these programs by suspending some sort of financial carrot, ranging from a gift card if you follow your steps to a significant discount on what you pay for your health insurance.
"Well-being is a multi-billion dollar industry for which the evidence base for these programs is really inadequate," said Dr. Baicker.
Some programs have raised concerns about the privacy of employees and the use of health data by third parties, such as vendors who sell these plans for workplaces. Lawsuits have been filed, forcing employers to refrain from offering incentives to achieve specific goals.
To date, almost all studies have been observational and have largely concluded that the programs allow employers to realize savings. But this study randomly assigned employees to a wellness program and compared their results to those of employees who were not engaged in such efforts.
Employers looking for a quick reduction in their health care spending will be disappointed, said Dr. Baicker.
But there were some encouraging notes among those who adopted healthier behaviors. "We saw this first step needed," she said. And these changes could eventually lead to better overall health and reduced medical costs.
"This is not the final verdict on workplace wellness programs," Dr Song warned, calling the research "still young field". The authors now analyze three years of data from the welfare program to determine if there are longer term strategies. effects.
BJ's wholesale club forwarded all questions to the researchers.
Brian Marcotte, Executive Director of the National Business Group for Health, represents large employers who provide insurance coverage to their workers.
More recent programs provide a variety of techniques to reduce stress or help employees better manage their finances, tools to increase worker productivity, he said.
In contrast to previous policies on welfare programs, employers are now less likely to dictate what their staff should do to provide workers with a range of programs to meet their individual needs. "It's really hard to engage a person on their physical health" if that person is depressed or goes into debt a lot, said Mr. Marcotte.
But well-being has also raised fears that employers put pressure on workers to participate in these programs and that the private health data collected could be inappropriately shared with employers.
AARP, the consumer advocacy group for older Americans, sued the federal government in 2016, arguing that the rules governing programs violated anti-discrimination laws designed to protect workers' medical information. The group has been successful and the government has not yet enacted new rules governing these programs.
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