Medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs. Absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent.[1]
A University of Michigan study demonstrated that workplace wellness programs have long-term health and cost-saving benefits, saving one company $4.8 million in employee health and lost work time costs over nine years.[2]
Research by Duke University found that the cost to employers of obesity among full-time employees was $73.1 billion a year.[3]
Many companies (such as Caterpillar, 3M, and Home Depot) have instituted multifaceted programs to improve the health of their employees and have shown savings both in terms of health care costs and worker productivity.
As a person's BMI increases, so do the number of sick days, medical claims and health care costs.[4]
According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, obesity is costing U.S. businesses more than $13 billion annually in health insurance claims, paid sick leave and disability, and life insurance.[5]
Since 2001, wages have risen 19%, inflation has risen 17%, but premiums for family health care coverage have increased 78%.[6] [7]
Each year, an estimated 39 million work days are lost to obesity-related illnesses.[8]
Depression is estimated to cause 200 million lost workdays each year at a cost to employers of $17 to $44 billion.[9]
Hypertension complications are a major cause of preventable absenteeism, reduced productivity and disability, making it one of the most expensive health conditions for employers.[10]
Prevention has a proven track record of saving money. A recent economic analysis based on a literature review of community-level prevention efforts found an expected return of 5.6:1 after 5 years.[11] That means an investment of $10 per person nationally would result in $16 billion in savings in 5 years. There are numerous specific examples of successful prevention efforts. For example, every dollar invested in prevention in communities has demonstrated the following returns:
- Child safety seats: $41.52 in direct medical costs and other costs to society [12]
- Tobacco control: $50 in total personal health care spending [13]
- Walking and biking trails: $2.60 in direct medical costs of physical inactivity [14]
Prevention within clinical institutions has a similar track record of returns for every dollar invested:
- Hospital initiatives (hand-washing promotion, education of staff) to prevent the spread of infection: $6.00 in hospital medical costs [15]
- Needlestick reduction programs: $6.20 in medical and associated costs [16]
- The 7-Vaccine routine childhood immunization schedule: $16.50 in direct medical costs and other costs to society [17]
Businesses pay more than a third of national expenditures on health (currently $2.2 trillion). Given that the majority of those expenditures go toward preventable chronic disease, the stakes and potential savings are enormous. Business can be part of the solution by supporting prevention broadly and instituting workplace wellness initiatives, which have a substantial track record of return-on-investment:
- $3.48 average return-on-investment for every dollar invested [18]
- $5.93 average cost-benefit ratio [19]
- 26% average reduction in health care costs [20]
- 28% average reduction in sick leave absenteeism [21]
- 30% average reduction in worker's compensation and disability management claims cost [22]
[1] https://www.bcidaho.com/_assets/Employer/2010-Harvard-Wellness-Program-Meta-Study-Health-Affairs.pdf Baicker, K., Cutler, D., & Song, Z. (2010, January). Workplace Wellness Programs Can Generate Savings. Health Affairs, 29(2), doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626
[2] http://pebp.state.nv.us/LiveWellBeWell/Journal%20Article--Impact%20of%20The%20Prevention%20Pla%20on%20Employee%20Health%20Risk%20Reduction.pdf Loeppke, R., Edington , D., & Beg, S. (2010). Impact of the Prevention Plan on Employee. Population Health Management, 13(5), doi:10.1089/pop.2010.0027
[3] Finkelstein, E., DiBonaventura, M., Burgess, S., & Hale, B. (2010, October). The Costs of Obesity in the Workplace. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 52(10), 971-976. doi:10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181f274d2 http://journals.lww.com/joem/Abstract/2010/10000/The_Costs_of_Obesity_in_the_Workplace.4.aspx
[4] The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Stroke Association, and the American Heart Association. A Nation at Risk: Obesity in the United States, A Statistical Sourcebook (55-0594). Dallas, TX: American Heart Association, 2005. http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/1114880987205NationAtRisk.pdf
[5] Finkelstein , E., Fiebelkorn, C., & Wang , G. (2005, September). The costs of obesity among full-time employees. American Journal of Health Promotion, 20(1), 45-51. http://healthpromotionjournal.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AJHP&Product_Code=JV20I145&Category_Code
[6] Himmelstein DU, Warren E, Thorne D, Woolhandler S. MarketWatch: illness and injury as contributors to bankruptcy. Health Aff. 2005;25(2):W5-63-W5-73.
[7] Kaiser Family Foundation. Health insurance premiums rise 6.1 percent in 2007, less rapidly than in recent years but still faster than wages and inflation [press release]. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation; September 11, 2007. http://www.kff.org/insurance/ehbs091107nr.cfm. Accessed January 28, 2010.
[8] Thorpe KE, Florence CS, Howard DH, Joski P. The impact of obesity on rising medical spending. Health Aff. 2004;W4:480-6.
[9] Leopold RS. A year in the life of a million American workers. New York, New York: MetLife Disability Group; 2001.
[10] Goetzel RZ, Hawkins K, Ozminkowski RJ, Wang S. Top 10 physical conditions and related medical costs to employers. J Occup Environ Med. 2003;45:5-14.
[11] Prevention Institute, Trust for America's Health, Urban Institute, New York Academy of Medicine, The California Endowment, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Prevention for a Healthier America: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities; 2008. http://preventioninstitute.org/component/jlibrary/article/id-75/127.html
[12] Children's Safety Network. (2005). Child Safety Seats: How large are the benefits and who should pay? Newton, MA.
[13] Lightwood JM, Dinno A, Glantz SA (2008). Effect of the California Tobacco Control Program on Personal Health Care Expenditures. PLoS Med 5(8): e178. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050178. Retrieved from http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050178
[14] Guijing Wang, Caroline A. Macera, Barbara Scudder-Soucie, Tom Schmid, Michael Pratt, David Buchner, & Gregory Heath (2004). Cost Analysis of the Built Environment: The case of bike and pedestrian trails in Lincoln, Neb. American Journal of Public Health, 94(4), 549-553.
[15] Macartney et. al. (2000). Nosocomial Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections: The Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit of Infection Control. Pediatrics, 106(3), 520-526.
[16] Hatcher, I. B.(2002). Reducing sharps injuries among health care workers: a sharps container quality improvement project. Jt. Comm. J. Qual. Improv. 28(7), 410-414.
[17] Fangjun Zhou, Jeanne Santoli, Mark L. Messonnier, Hussain R. Yusuf, Abigail Shefer, Susan Y. Chu, Lance Rodewald, & Rafael Harpaz (2005). Economic Evaluation of the 7-Vaccine Routine Childhood Immunization Schedule in the United States, 2001. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 159(12).
[18] Goetzel RZ, Ozminkowski RJ. The health and cost benefits of work site health-promotion programs. Annu Rev Public Health. 2008;29:303-323.
[19] Chapman L. Meta-evaluation of worksite health promotion economic return studies. Art of Health Promotion Newsletter. 2003:6(6).
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
