With health-care costs rising at an alarming rate, the timing has never been better for creative solutions to help stem the tide. One such solution is implementing a formalized University of Nebraska workplace wellness program at UNMC.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents Saturday (Aug. 9) approved UNMC as a pilot site for Simply Well, a program piloted by The Nebraska Medical Center’s Center for Occupational Health.
Great promise
James Canedy, M.D., associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at UNMC and one of the founders of Simply Well, says the interactive program is already showing great promise in reducing health-care costs for The Nebraska Medical Center, which implemented it in 2001.
Simply Well strives to improve the health and productivity of employees by identifying people at risk for injury or disease, and evaluating modifiable health-care costs. Simply Well emphasizes self-care, increased health and wellness education and continuous personal monitoring.
Eight Omaha companies with 100 or more employees already participate in the program, said Cindy Hanssen, coordinator for the Simply Well program at The Nebraska Medical Center. The program has yielded significant cost savings for UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, she said. It also has helped employees who participate in The Nebraska Medical Center’s program to decrease their risk factors by an average of 10 percent.
Voluntary program
The voluntary program consists of an analysis of health insurance data and workforce demographics to better identify those health-care costs that may be modified; individual health risk appraisals including health factor screenings; individualized and group information programs; and targeted education and disease management promotion.
Using aggregate data, with no individual identifiers, companies receive a wellness blueprint tailored to its population. The blueprint could include reward programs, an adjustment to the benefit’s package, self-care books, wellness and disease management classes and prevention programs.
Improving employee’s health
“Simply Well gives university employees the opportunity to become healthier, while also helping us control health insurance increases,” said Donald Leuenberger, vice chancellor for business and finance at UNMC. “Employees can participate in the program with the absolute assurance that their confidentiality will be protected.”
UNMC employees will participate in the voluntary program through June 2004. If successful, university-wide implementation may be considered.
Program components
The wellness program provides such components as:
- Health screenings (Personal Wellness Profile questionnaire, blood work, blood pressure, flexibility, height, weight)
- Confidential report mailed to participant’s home address to educate the employee about his lifestyle and medical risk factors, as well as identify possible lifestyle changes.
- With authorization, results can be forwarded to a physician
- Follow-up information and educational classes
- Free self-care guides for new participants
- Access to a nurse phone-line.
Focusing on health care, not sickness care
Simply Well’s mission is to treat the right patient with the right intervention at the right time. “If you go to the ER with a cold, that’s the wrong place to be,” Dr. Canedy said.
Employees can help reduce unnecessary health-care costs if they understand the health-care system and focus more on “health care” and not “sickness care,” Leuenberger said. “With Simply Well, employees are vested in their own care and are given the tools to measure, achieve and maintain their health. In doing so, everyone wins.”