Why is this important?

This 29-page article includes a great deal of state-specific information about the health status, health risks, life expectancy, premature mortality, and disability burden for a very large number of causes and risk factors.  This represents an excellent reference source for examining health status and health risk issues for your own employee/dependent populations.  These represent excellent comparison points for your own group health assessment data and biometric screening data.

This study, involving examination of national data on 333 causes and 84 risk factors, demonstrates that health in the United States has generally improved from 1990 to 2016, although the drivers of mortality and morbidity have changed in some states, with specific risk factors such as drug use disorders, high body mass index (BMI), and alcohol use disorders associated with adverse outcomes have increased. In 5 states, the probability of death between ages 20 and 55 years has increased more than 10% between 1990 and 2016. There is much more that can be done to improve the health of Americans.

What can you do with this resource?

Here’s what you could do with this article:

• Abstract the highlights of the data for your state(s) and summarize this information for senior management.
• Provide a summary of the highlights for your states to the benefits and HR staff.
• Use the information to make a case for more funding for wellness or a shift in the distribution of wellness program funds.
• Use the information to shift the behavioral targets for your wellness program.
• Compare the disability measures in this major study with the disability experience of your workforce.
• Compare trends in health risk factors and the associated disease burden they are associated with by state.

What was the most important thing I learned from this resource?

The most important thing I learned from this study is…. states vary tremendously in the relative health and disease burdens they have and this information should be considered in evaluating employee wellness program performance.

In summary, this is a visually creative and valuable compendium of state-specific risk factors, population health status measures and disease burden statistics that should be considered in evaluating the health of employee and spousal populations.