Larry Chapman’s Blog

Results-Driven Worksite Wellness

Strengthening your efforts against Diabetes

Tuesday, January 4th, 2022

Sourse: USPSTF and JAMA

What is this about?

This edition of Connections newsletter provides two recent very important articles/studies on our need to address prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes in our working population.  In June, 2021 an original investigation article was published in JAMA entitled “Trends in Prevalence of Diabetes and Control of Risk Factors in Diabetes Among US Adults, 1999-2018”. Some of its highlighted findings are identified below.  The following August, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a new recommendation on the need to screen for prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes more aggressively, particularly in working populations.  Both these documents are combined into one as the download in this edition of Connections.

Some of the main findings reported in the article on “Trends” included the following:

  • Diabetes accounts for approximately 24% of all U.S. health care expenditures.
  • Diabetes was defined by self-report of diabetes diagnosis, fasting plasma glucose level of 126 mg/dL or more, or hemoglobin A1c (HbA) level of 6.5% or more.
  • Three risk factor control goals were: individualized HbA(A1c) targets, blood pressure less than 130/80 mm Hg, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level less than 100 mg/dL.
  • The prevalence of diabetes among the U.S. population increased from 9.5% in 1999 to 14.3% in 2017 – one of the highest rates of increase in the world.
  • Only 1 in 5 of those with diabetes met all 3 risk factor control goals (fasting glucose, BP and HbA(A1c))

Some of the main findings reported in the “USPSTF” article included the following:

  • An estimated 13% of all US adults (18 years or older) have diabetes, and 34.5% meet the criteria for prediabetes.
  • The USPSTF recommends screening for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in adults aged 35 to 70 years who have overweight or obesity conditions.

Why is this important?

These two documents are important because they highlight the very substantial morbidity and economic burden that diabetes represents to our adult population.  In addition, diabetes as a disease process and as it progresses, exacts a huge personal toll on an individuals’ activity levels, food choices and co-morbidities, let alone its documented role as a major risk factor for COVID complications and premature death. With 2020’s almost 10% increase in national health care spending its probably time to get more serious about diabetes.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, skim the document for the major issues and findings they present.
  • Next, identify where and when this information can be used to educate employees and managers.
  • Next, determine where diabetes should be addressed, such as adding blood sugar level and the HbA (A1c) to your preventive screening battery of tests. (If you haven’t already!)
  • Next, determine how you might emphasize the three key risk factors (HbA(A1c), BP and LDL) in various areas in your program.
  • Next, consider diabetes as a special claims analysis metric bundle for your long term health plan management strategy.
  • Finally, review your progress as you approach the next budget period and map out some new initiatives to address diabetes and prediabetes.

In summary, these two documents provide a number of important informational insights about the importance and practicality of targeting and preventing diabetes as an important clinical problem of our employee populations. It seems like it is time to get more serious about diabetes in our workplace wellness efforts.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Humana Wellness Program Evaluation Study- “GO365”

Tuesday, June 1st, 2021

Source: Humana , Louisville, KY

What is this about?

This edition of ‘Connections newsletter’ provides the results of a new large-scale multi-employer case study of the “Go365” wellness program with more than 135,000 fully insured employees of small and large businesses. The case study examines engagement levels, participant claims costs trends, health satisfaction levels, self-reported productivity levels, employer loyalty, preventive service use, happiness level and selective health care utilization changes over a period of 4 years. The authors divided the experimental population into small employers (2-99 EEs) and large employers (>100EEs). In a key finding, the Go365 Fully Insured Outcomes Study revealed that as participating associates became more engaged in the wellness program, their claims experience were more likely to improve, in addition to their health perception and healthcare utilization. 5 levels of engagement in the wellness program were tracked for all participants during a 4 year period.  This included Blue, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels based on the amount of preventive screening and key wellness behaviors completed.

Some of the main findings reported in the study are as follows:

  • The more program participation the lower their health care costs. (All groups)
  • High-engaged members (Platinum/Gold Status) experienced an average of 24 percent lower claims costs, compared to low-engaged members (Blue/Bronze Status).
  • Over the course of the analysis period, high-engaged small group members saved an average of $58 in healthcare claims per member per month (PMPM), relative to low-engaged members.
  • In large groups, high-engaged members saved an average of $118 in healthcare claims PMPM, relative to low-engaged members. ($1,416 per participant per year savings)
  • High-engaged small group members had 6 percent more preventive care physician visits and 33 percent fewer emergency room visits, compared to low-engaged members.
  • High-engaged large group members had 2 percent more preventive care physician visits and lowered emergency room visits by 32 percent, compared to low-engaged members.
  • High-engaged employees rated their overall health satisfaction as good to excellent, 5 percent more than low-engaged employees.

Why is this important?

This document is important because it reports on one of the largest, multi-employer evaluations of employee wellness program outcomes yet completed.  The report provides a number of useful insights on the higher order results of a very large number of fully insured employees over a 4 year period.  This study provides fairly strong evidence that employee wellness programs can significantly impact on health care costs, utilization and health perceptions. The information in this document can be used to leverage additional wellness programming activities for employees.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the document for the major issues it addresses.
  • Next, visit the link identified in the report for more information on the study.
  • Next, identify where this information can be used with your employees and management.
  • Next, using a “snipping tool” to copy selected graphics and table information that you want to use and mount them into PPT slides.
  • Next, be sure to cite the source of the study. (Humana)
  • Then, share the information with your intended audience(s).

In summary, this document provides a number of important informational insights about what Humana’s GO365 Wellness Program accomplished during a 4 year period with more than 135,000 fully-insured participants from multiple small and large employers.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Employer Survey on 2021 Wellness Programming Trends

Thursday, March 18th, 2021

Source: SentryHealth, Louisville, KY

What is this about?

This edition of ‘Connections newsletter’ provides a PDF file of a 24-page report of a survey of U.S. employers about their current and future plans for health and wellness activity that was released in February 2021.  Unfortunately, the authors don’t tell you their sample size or “N”, or when the survey was performed, but there are a number of important early patterns and insights presented in the report. Employers who were surveyed were primarily 100 – 999 employees in size and primarily mid-west in terms of location. A wide range of industries are reflected in the data.

Some of these insights are as follows:

  • 84% offer a wellness program.
  • 62% of those do it to “improve overall well-being.”
  • 25% of those do it to “lower health care costs.”
  • 14% don’t offer a program and 56% of those don’t believe employees will participate, 31% cited the expense involved and 31% said that it is too hard to manage.
  • 28% reported greater than 70% participation.
  • 78% use incentives to increase employee participation.
  • 58% of those use premium reductions and 41% of those use gift cards.
  • Percent of employees affected by COVID-19: 86% mental health, 75%+ physical health and 49% financial health.
  • Top 2021 concerns: 31% addressing COVID-19 concerns, 29% lowering health care costs, and 21% increasing employee participation.
  • Top 2021 and beyond wellness activities in order of their occurrence:
    • 80% EAP
    • 73% stress and anxiety
    • 64% well-being program
    • 53% financial wellness
    • 51% eHealth portals
    • 49% onsite vaccines
    • 47% depression
    • 45% fitness challenges
    • 44% smoking cessation
    • 42% standing desks
    • 40% disease management
    • 37% health coaching
    • 35% weight loss
    • 31% injury prevention
    • 21% onsite activities
    • 14% fitness trackers

Why is this important?

This document is important because it provides several important comparison insights about what other employers are now doing for employee wellness.  This allows wellness professionals to give current comparisons of what other employers are doing in the employee wellness area. The information in this document can be used to leverage additional wellness activities for employees.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the document for the major issues it addresses.
  • Next, identify where this information can be used with employees and management.
  • Next, using a “snipping tool” to remove those graphics and information that you want to use and mount them into PPT slides.
  • Next, be sure to cite the source.
  • Then, share the information with your intended audience(s).

In summary, this document provides a number of useful informational insights about what other employers are currently doing about wellness in 2021 and what they will likely be doing in the near future.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Graphics on Status of COVID-19 Pandemic

Thursday, March 4th, 2021

Source: Stanford University, Department of Medicine from Multiple Sources

What is this about?

This edition of Connections provides a PDF file full of graphics that can be mined for images for use in briefings about the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Compiled by the staff of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, it covers a large range of issues about the pandemic with a heavier emphasis on California.  Because of its largely graphic nature, it provides an excellent source of data and images for briefings and reports on the status of the pandemic.

A limited list of some of the graphic data presented in this documents are as follows:

  • Vaccine dose status: national and international
  • Vaccination rates: by state
  • Vaccination status: by state
  • Vaccination eligibility age: by state
  • Case rates: global
  • Death rates: national
  • Excess deaths: national
  • Variant prevalence: national
  • Hospitalizations: global and U.S.
  • Reopening activities: national and California
  • Testing results: national and California
  • Modeling forecasts: national and California

Why is this important?

This document is important because it provides extensive data about the COVID-19 pandemic that is easy to lift and use and is current.  The document also offers a thorough range of topics that can be used to construct briefings for individuals and/or groups on the status of the pandemic.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the document for the content it addresses.
  • Next, identify which tables and graphs would be useful for each individual/group to be briefed.
  • Next, using a “snipping tool” to remove those graphics that you want to use and mount them into PPT slides.
  • Next, be sure to cite the source.
  • Then, share the information with your intended audience(s).

In summary, this document provides a wide range of information on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic that can be easily lifted to craft your own presentation for managers and/or employees.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Proposed relaxing of HIPAA Privacy Rules

Saturday, January 16th, 2021

Source: DHHS

What is this about?

This edition of Connections provides an advanced copy of the proposed changes to the current rules implementing the privacy and confidentiality provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to be introduced in early 2021.  The document is called “Proposed Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support, and Remove Barriers to, Coordinated Care and Individual Engagement.” HIPAA privacy rules apply to all employers that provide medically-oriented wellness programs to their employees and family members. The detailed rationale for the changes follow the draft “notice of proposed rule-making” section in the downloadable document found below.

The specific proposed changes that are relevant to employer wellness programming include:

  • Strengthens the patient’s rights to access their own medical information.
  • Shortens to no more than 15 days the permitted response time of covered entities to patient requests.
  • Reduces the identity verification requirements for requests.
  • Provides for the patient to establish sharing protocols among various covered entities.
  • Requiring covered entities to respond to patient requests made through other providers.
  • Amending and limiting the charges associated with patient requests for their medical information.
  • Clarifying and expanding the permitted sharing procedures for care coordination and case management purposes.
  • Clarifying and expanding the range of abilities of covered entities to share Protected Health Information (PHI) with social services agencies, community-based organizations, home and community-based service (HCBS) providers, and other similar third parties.
  • Providing for a “good faith” override of regulatory limitations on a case-by-case basis.
  • Authorizing disclosure of PHI to “avoid a health or safety threat.”

Why is this important?

This document is important because it describes the areas and situations where HIPAA privacy regulations are being relaxed to expedite coordinated care and improved care management. These changes make it easier for care coordination to take place and for improvements in continuity of care to take place between covered entities. This is particularly relevant in issues that deal with COVID-19 infection and provider care management.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the main section to get a sense of the scope and purpose of proposed changes.
  • Next, identify how and when this information should be presented to senior managers.
  • Next, discuss the resulting final rules with your wellness vendors to aid in their program integration efforts.
  • Next, determine how this information should be provided to employees and their family members.
  • Then, using this information revise Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) content to reflect the relaxed requirements.
  • Then, revisit this information periodically to make sure there are no major impediments to care coordination.

In summary, this proposed set of rules will relax many of the HIPAA requirements and will likely be published in a few months and then will be in effect shortly afterward.  These changes should improve the quality and continuity of care employees and their family members receive and improve employee satisfaction with wellness programming.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Organizational Costs of Unhealthy Habits

Tuesday, December 15th, 2020

Source: Avidon Health

What is this about?

This edition of Connections provides a recently released special report that uses authoritative sources to document the usual additional health and productivity costs associated with unhealthy lifestyle choices. Using a variety of peer-reviewed articles, the authors have constructed a very useful framework for educating senior management and all employees on the employer’s financial burden associated with their employees’ unhealthy habits. The data is presented in per employee per year costs for both additional health plan costs as well as lost productivity costs.  This kind of data is what allows us to create better funded and better-designed wellness and well-being programs in U.S. workplaces.

Some of the specific annual findings per employee are presented in the table below:

The Specific Health Habit or Risk Factor Health Plan Cost Productivity Losses
Excess stress $413 $301
Smoking or tobacco use $2,000 $1,807
physical inactivity $1,429 $482
Depression $2,184 $649
Hypertension $2,000 $392
Obesity $11,481 $16,840
Poor sleep habits and insomnia $1,400 $3,156
Binge drinking and alcoholism $89 $581
Up to Total Annual Costs* $20,996 $24,208

 

* = Total annual cost is up to $44,204 per employee per year.

Why is this important?

This document is important for five major reasons.  First, this report collates a large number of peer review article findings into a credible framework for business decision-makers, allowing them to better understand the economic issues in employee wellness.  Second, the report allows each employer to estimate the specific economic implications of their own pattern of employee health risks and habits.  Third, it provides a key component of the business rationale for employers to consider wellness and well-being programs as strategically imperative business activities. Fourth, this data can be used to help reduce these costs for employers, Fifth, this data is crucial to the future funding and tasking of employee wellness and well-being programs.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the report to get a sense of the methodology and major findings.
  • Next, identify how this information should be presented to senior and mid-level managers.
  • Next, determine how this information should be provided to employees and their family members.
  • Then, using this information provides an estimate of these health and productivity costs for your own workforce based on assumptions about the prevalence of each of these risks or habits in your workforce.
  • Then, carry out the presentation of the data to both managers and employees.
  • Then, revisit this information periodically to help everyone remember what is at stake.

In summary, this recent authoritative report provides an excellent and useful summary of the economic costs associated with 8 specific and highly prevalent set of health risk and health habits that are often addressed and moderated by employee wellness and well-being programs.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Reducing Unnecessary Primary Care Use: Less is Really More

Tuesday, December 1st, 2020

Source: JAMA Internal Medicine

What is this about?

This edition of Connections provides a recently published article that gives us a practical and systematic methodology and set of recommendations to reduce low value or “unnecessary” adult primary care use.  The article contains a test of more than 409 specific recommendations representing 178 unique opportunities to make primary care more clinically efficient and to reduce the level of risk associated with medical care utilization. Many of these specific suggestions (also called “deintensification”) originated in the “Less is More” initiative of the Archives of Internal Medicine( now JAMA Internal Medicine), the National Physician’s Alliance’s Promoting Good Stewardship in Clinical Practice project, the American College of Physician’s High Value Care Initiative and the Choosing Wisely campaign of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. Ideal targets for deintensification are ones in which a potential for immediate or long-term harm (eg, from polypharmacy, toxic effects, procedure complications, and unnecessary further workup) exceeds potential benefits. A supplemental publication with all the detail for implementation can be purchased on the JAMA website for $30.

Some of the specific recommendations include:

  • Elimination of population-based screening for Vitamin D deficiency
  • Avoiding concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines
  • Avoiding imaging for low back pain
  • Over-treatment of diabetes type 2 condition
  • Limit screening in patients with less than 10 years of expected life
  • Clinicians should not screen for cardiac disease in asymptomatic, low-risk adults with resting or stress ECG, stress echocardiography, or stress myocardial perfusion imaging.

Why is this important?

This document is important for five major reasons.  First, this study report provides employee wellness professionals with a methodology for health plan monitoring and reducing the level of unnecessary primary care use by employees and their family members.  Second, the article and its supplement provide a listing of 37 specific clinical situations that can be used to educate employees and their family members on how to avoid unnecessary primary care use and the associated iatrogenic risk. Third, given the growing COVID-19 use of health and hospital services, these insights can further reduce unrelated use of medical care to help prevent over-use of clinical services.  Fourth, the authoritative and clear nature of these recommendations can be used to help reduce passive attitudes among health care consumers about their role in the health care process. Fifth, this information is a key element of health care literacy and helps to reverse the decades long decline in national health care literacy levels in our population.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the article to get a sense of the methodology and major findings.
  • Next, order the Supplement from JAMA.
  • Next, identify the 37 specific clinical recommendations and decide how they will be used with your population.
  • Next, determine how your health plan(s) can use this information with your population.
  • Then, plan your evaluation of the intervention you are proposing.
  • Then, carry out the programming and the evaluation plan and report back to senior management on the findings from your use of the methodology.
  • Finally, propose additional consumer education activities for the next program cycle.

In summary, this recent authoritative article and methodology from 4 key physician organizations provide a very useful framework and methodology for reducing unnecessary primary care use in working populations.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

A Lifetime of Resilience: Cigna 2020 U.S. Report

Tuesday, November 10th, 2020

Source: Cigna

What is this about?

This edition of Connections provides a recently released, very useful, 80-page report on the level of resilience among U.S children and youth, their parents and the U.S. workforce.  The effects of COVID-19 on the resilience of both populations are included and the report uses a survey methodology to establish a baseline measure called the Cigna Resilience Index.  A large amount of data is provided on multiple aspects of resilience of children and youth and working adults based on a sample size of N=16,500+ using the 17 question Children and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) and the 17 question Adult Resilience Measure (ARM) developed by the Resilience Research Center.

These instruments allow differentiation among low, moderate and high resilience as defined below:

Low resilience: Individuals with low resilience have trouble staying focused on their strengths, and generally lack the support they need to cope with unexpected stress. People with low resilience not only perceive few opportunities and are less optimistic about the future but also they don’t enjoy the psychological, social, economic and institutional resources that make success possible.

Moderate resilience: Individuals who are moderately resilient have some of the skills they need to cope but occasionally doubt their ability to overcome challenges as challenges increase in intensity. The sources of support they enjoy are available but tend to be inconsistent or fragile. People who are moderately resilient can cope well under some circumstances but become stressed as situations change and they need new personal skills and social supports.

High resilience: Individuals with high resilience show a robust constellation of personal qualities that let them flexibly take on stressful situations as they arise. They also have in place the social and institutional supports they need to deal with bad times, or the ability to find new resources when the situation demands a different set of supports.

Why is this important?

This document is important for three major reasons.  First, this report provides employee wellness professionals with a reproducible methodology for measuring the level of resilience of both family and working populations which represents an important current need for virtually all employers. Second, the report provides comparison data on the level of resilience for both family and working populations, expanding considerably our population health management capability and third, based on recent insights into the diminished health of American workers (See Connections newsletter #180), addresses directly the mental health and mental well-being of our employee workforce.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and skim the report to get a sense of the methodology and major findings.
  • Next, develop a set of possible programming activities that address these issues.
  • Next, determine how appropriate the proposed methodology for measuring resilience would be for use with your population.
  • Then, determine which mental health and mental well-being target the program should address and the companion interventions you are recommending.
  • Then, plan your evaluation of the interventions you are proposing.
  • Then, carry out the programming and the evaluation plan and report back to senior management on the findings from your use of the survey methodology.
  • Finally, propose additional resilience-building activities for the next program cycle.

In summary, this recent comprehensive report and methodology from Cigna provide a useful formative and comparative methodology for addressing resilience in working populations. For a number of reasons, it is important for working Americans in this pandemic era and for the future of our efforts to enhance the resilience of employees and their family members.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Infographic on Mental Health Issues from COVID-19

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020

Source: National Institute of Health Care Management (NIHCM)

What is this about?

This edition of Connections provides a very useful summary infographic on the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of American workers.  It comes from a think tank funded primarily by the Blues. (NIHCM) The data insights provided in this infographic give tangible evidence for addressing more of the mental health and mental well-being needs of our working populations and can be used to make a stronger case for expansion of employer wellness efforts. This infographic also provides a number of practical suggestions on how our employee wellness programming can be modified to better address these growing needs.

Why is this important?

The significantly increasing mental health needs of our working population due to COVID really needs to be addressed by our wellness programming efforts.  This means that mental health and mental well-being related issues, such as:  depression, discouragement, emotional burnout, chronic excess stress, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, fitful sleep or sleeplessness, fatigue, lowered resilience and presenteeism have been intensifying since early Spring of this year and our wellness efforts now need to more completely address these issues.  We need to adjust our behavioral and psychological targeting of our programming and design more interventions that are effective in minimizing these problems for employees and their family members.

The ability to address more of these mental health and mental well-being issues is important for four distinct reasons.  First, these mental health and mental well-being issues can act to significantly reduce employee productivity if they are not addressed.  Second, these issues can lead to more serious diseases and conditions including accidents that have both severe human and economic consequences for employers.  Some of the ways mental health and mental well-being issues show up include suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, homicide, homelessness, domestic violence, loneliness, sexual addictions, withdrawal from social life, family dysfunction and abuse. The third reason it’s important is that these mental issues, if left unaddressed are likely to seriously undermine our efforts to find an acceptable “new normal” for business and organizational operations that is sustainable in post-COVID work environments.  Finally, the fourth reason I believe this is important is that these types of issues may well act to obviate personal concern for many of the other related wellness issues, such as, nutrition choices, weight gain, sedentarism, sleep disruptions, apathy, use of preventive sevices and receiving social support.  I am afraid if we are not careful in addressing these mental health and mental well-being issues now we may find ourselves facing even higher percentages of unmotivated and apathetic employees about their personal health and well-being.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, download and read the infographic document to get a sense of the magnitude of the recent deterioration of mental health and well-being status and the recommended steps employers can take.
  • Explore with your health plan(s) wellness staff what services or help they can provide.
  • Next, develop a set of possible program targets and interventions to address these needs.
  • Next, determine who should receive the infographic along with a set of your recommendations for modifying your employee wellness program in this or the next planning/programming cycle.
  • Then, determine which mental health and mental well-being targets the program should address and the companion interventions you are recommending.
  • Then, don’t do too much but what you do, do well!
  • Then, plan your evaluation for how you are going to measure the mental health and mental well-being effects of these wellness interventions.
  • Then, carry out the evaluation plan and report back to senior management on the amount of programming activity conducted, number of participants and any survey or collateral data sources you have planned to use.
  • Finally, propose additional activities for the next program cycle.

In summary, this infographic document provides an overview of the emerging mental health and mental well-being needs of U.S. employees associated with COVID-19 along with a variety of useful suggestions for programming. For a number of important reasons, it is probably best that we begin to systematically address these targets and corresponding interventions with our employees and their family members.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.

Wellness Programming after COVID-19

Friday, October 30th, 2020

What is this about?

The document in this edition of Connections is the latest Solution Set and addresses options and alternatives for how wellness professionals might modify their programs after COVID-19.  A summary of current research on COVID-19 is provided along with an overall assessment of the “big picture.” A concluding excerpt is reproduced below.

“I believe we still need to be careful as individuals who may have significant susceptibilities to the disease, but we certainly don’t have to follow the wholesale and widespread distancing and work disruption that is in place in selected states. We also need to be sensitive to the short term and long term morbidity, pain, suffering, and health care use associated with COVID-19 infection, but I believe that it does not rate the extreme “lockdown” actions caused by a fear of specific disease-caused premature mortality.4  I also believe that future historians will essentially say that the weak and those in poor health were the first victims of the virus, but after they died, few were really at-risk for unexpected premature mortality and therefore the virus had largely run its most critical clinical course which should have led quickly to diminished “lockdown” practices.  I believe they may ultimately say that COVID-19 was somewhat of an over-reaction on the part of governmental authorities driven by fear and influenced by a largely national political calculus.”

A series of recommendations for how employee wellness programming should change are provided along with an emerging view of the overall health significance of the pandemic.

Why is this important?

This document represents the most complete summary of the probable overall significance of the pandemic and how it will likely change how workplace wellness programs are conducted in the months and years ahead.  Helpful suggestions are provided about how to navigate the transition from pandemic to post-pandemic to help wellness professionals navigate the challenge of adjustment to the post-COVID-19 “new normal.” Links are also provided to the source documentation.

What can you do with this document?

  • First, skim through the document to get a sense of what it is recommending.
  • Next, determine if the source documentation can be used in educating employees about the long-term implications of the pandemic.
  • Next, determine which of the recommendations you should adopt.
  • Next, share with the staff. volunteers and management, the major points and find out how they view the recommendations you have selected to implement.
  • Next, as you put your work plan and budget together for the next year of programming consider which recommendations will be addressed and plan accordingly.

In summary, we believe that the intensive acute stage of this current COVID-19 pandemic will be over soon leaving some residual changes and modifications to be made to employee wellness programming efforts.  The challenge moving forward will be to transition smoothly from the current disrupted state of programming to the “new normal” state which will require some thoughtful planning and more flexible programming.

(Everyone can now download this document)

Click here to download this document

If you have any problem downloading the document go to our website and submit a comment.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know if you found it to be helpful.