Wellness Programs A to Z

The corporations with the most cost-efficient heath programs are the ones that streamline the services employees receive for both their physical and mental health.

As a long-term goal, having your general health plan, worker assistance program (EAP) and health promotion program communicating regularly with one another about employees’ treatments is the single best way to reduce redundant or contradictory treatments, eliminate unnecessary claims and increase the quality of the plans for which you pay.

Let’s look at the relationship between your health promotion program and your EAP to illustrate the importance of attacking healthcare costs cross a broad front.

You can start a wellness program with a health risk appraisal and then, if appropriate, roll out a use of tobacco cessation program or a weight loss program.

But ultimately you want to make sure that your wellness vendor works along with your EAP vendor.

Here’s why –  It’s very common for an employee to contact the EAP because the person feels depressed about his or her weight. What you want is for the EAP provider to treat the employee’s depression and behavioral issues, plus you want the EAP to refer the employee to the health promotion program to deal with the root cause of the problem – obesity.

The same thing accompanies the relationship your health promotion program and your workers’ comp vendor, STD and LTD vendors, rehab individuals , and/or disease managers. You want all them talking to – and sharing data with – each other. When they’re not, it’s costing you money.

In general, the companys who achieve the greatest cost savings through their health promotion programs are the ones who overlap wellness with behavioral and occupational health issues.