Prevention Matters

Kathie Ruffatto, Partnership’s Program Associate for Worksite Health, co-presented with Bill Sells ,Vice President, Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association at the YMCA State Wide Pioneering Healthier Communities Conference today. The YMCA State Wide Pioneering Healthier Communities Initiative was launched in 2008 at local and state levels in six states and in 32 communities. This year Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have been selected to join the movement to create healthier communities through policy, systems and environmental change strategies.

Participants from each state were able to attend various break-out sessions on different topics. The focus of Kathie and Bill’s break out session was how employers and employees can increase their health through worksite wellness policies. Bill Sells discussed the importance of physical activity both in the workplace and the community and how the workplace can influence one another. He emphasized that creating a culture of health amongst the nation’s youth should be top priority for policymakers.

Kathie followed Bill’s presentation by highlighting the significance of good nutrition in workplaces and underscored the important role CEOs and top management play in creating environments conducive to good health. With new Leading by Example publications, Kathie was able to give specific examples of successful nutrition policies from the featured companies.

The presentations spurred a lively discussion on the importance of worksite wellness and how they could help support businesses within their communities. Questions ranged from transportation to program and/or policy implementation. All of these communities are or will begin to take great strides in removing barriers so that their citizens can be healthy. They are taking an important first step in understanding what it takes to create a culture of health.

Today, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius released a report highlighting the health insurance premium and out-of-pocket savings families and businesses can receive under the “Affordable Care Act” in 2014. Between 1999-2009 premiums more than doubled by rising over $7,500 for families that get their health insurance through an employer.

The report outlines several of the provisions the “Affordable Care Act” has and will implement. Provisions already in progress include new resources for states to improve their review of proposed health insurance premium rate increases and the eligibility for small businesses to receive tax credits that covers up to 35 percent of insurance costs of their employees.

The provisions for families that will be implemented disclose the importance of State-based Health Insurance Exchanges to middle-class families and tax credits that reduce cost sharing. Small businesses will also experience significant cost savings. By 2014, small businesses on average could save up to $350 per family policy and will be eligible for tax credits up to 50 percent of premiums. All businesses will likely see lower premiums of $2,000 per family by 2019.

Partnership for Prevention’s new Leading by Example The Value of Worksite Health Promotion to Small and Medium Sized Employers publication provides real examples of successful worksite health promotion programs for small to medium sized employers. The employers highlighted in this publication have taken the initiative to reduce health care costs by increasing the health of their employees. The publication can be downloaded at http://prevent.org/Initiatives/Leading-by-Example.aspx.

For more information please visit:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/01/20110128a.html

Worksite wellness programs can be successful if implemented and executed correctly, a new study suggests. The study identifies six pillars that create a successful, strategically integrated wellness program regardless of an organizations size that include topics like multilevel leadership, alignment, and communication. The study examined 10 organizations across a variety of industries whose wellness programs have systemically achieved measurable results.

Worksite wellness programs have a history of being effective at increasing employee health while decreasing health care cost. Since 1995, Johnson & Johnson’s employee wellness program has cumulatively saved the company $250 million on health care, and from 2002-2008 the return was $2.71 for every dollar the company spent. Other organizations have had similar results with their worksite wellness programs. MD Anderson Cancer Center within the last 6 years was able to decrease lost works days by 80%, and the software firm SAS Institute was able to lower voluntary attrition to just 4% with their worksite wellness program.

Partnership for Prevention also recognizes the importance of worksite wellness programs with our Leading by Example initiative. The initiative includes publications designed to increase CEOs and CFOs understanding of the importance of worksite wellness programs by highlighting companies with exemplary comprehensive worksite wellness programs. Two new publications each featuring 16 companies will be released in the upcoming months.

For more information on the study please click here.


Katherine Ruffatto
Worksite Health Program Associate

Investment analyst and financial journalist Liz Peek has pointed to Partnership for Prevention and its "Leading by Example" initiative as an example of how corporations can "pitch in with gusto to solve America's big problems."

"... Corporations should start providing answers to our country's healthcare crisis," Peek said in a July 22 column entitled "Memo to Corporate America: Wake Up!"

"Companies like Caterpillar and Deere are part of an initiative called Partnership for Prevention, which works to promote employee wellness," she wrote. "These efforts are smart, produce excellent public relations, strong employee ties and simultaneously support the bottom line."

Safeway CEO Stephen Burd says well-designed health-care reform, utilizing market-based solutions, "can ultimately reduce our nation's health-care bill by 40%."

In an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, Burd says Safeway implemented such a plan for its workers in 2005. Since then, he says "we have kept our per capita health-care costs flat (that includes both the employee and the employer portion), while most American companies' costs have increased 38% over the same four years."

"The key to achieving these savings is health-care plans that reward healthy behavior," he says. Burd is a member of Partnership for Prevention's "Leading by Example" initiative.

Three companies that are members of Partnership for Prevention’s "Leading by Example" initiative were among the businesses honored at a White House ceremony for their commitment to aggressive workplace health programs.

Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon, Safeway CEO Steve Burd and Pitney Bowes CEO Murray Martin were among a handful of executives praised by President Obama for reining in skyrocketing health care costs through programs designed to make their workforces healthier.

Obama saluted the firms for encouraging their employees to exercise, lose weight and quit smoking—and for offering innovations such as physician house calls aimed at keeping patients out of the emergency room. “All this [is] designed to save taxpayers money, save businesses money and ultimately make the American people healthier and happier [and] make sure we’re getting a bigger bang for our health care dollars,” the president said.

Through the Leading by Example initiative, CEOs who have incorporated new, successful approaches to employee health and productivity share their experiences and knowledge with other CEOs.

The Partnership for Prevention website has more information on programs and initiativces at the three employers.