Faced with rising employee health care expenses, employers areshifting away from full health plans toward high-deductible,lower-cost coverages. But costs continue to rise, and many need newsolutions.

Now, larger employers are making a second shift—toward wellnessprograms. They’re successfully managing costs by encouraginghealthier lifestyles.

By contrast, fewer small and midsize companies are implementingwellness programs. Many simply lack the resources to investigateand apply appropriate options.

As trusted advisers to employer groups, agents are uniquelypositioned to help benefit managers explore wellness programs.

Good programs tend to focus on two vital objectives: preventingnew problems by promoting healthy habits, and controlling chronicconditions.

At one large Midwestern company, employees and their familieshave access to an onsite medical clinic, where care is offeredeight hours every work day. Services include free one-on-one healthcoaching, online nutrition programs and preventive services, suchas physical exams, wellness screenings and routine lab work. Theclinic also provides primary and urgent care and fills commonprescriptions.

Simpler programs provide over-the-phone health coaching,informational newsletters and educational presentations.

Implementing a wellness program is a good investment.Consider:

• Each $1 invested in a comprehensive wellness program savesabout $3 in health care costs, according to the Wellness Council ofAmerica.
• Medical costs drop by about $3.27 for every dollar spent oncorporate wellness programs, and absenteeism costs fall by $2.73for each dollar invested, according to an analysis of 36 studies byHarvard University researchers.
• Employers who offer wellness programs can slow health care costincreases by 15 percent, according to a Highmark BCBS studypublished in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Independent providers can help employers develop a wellnessprogram for their employee population. You can find vendorinformation in online service directories, including those from theSociety for Human Resource Management and the Wellness Council ofAmerica.

Many program providers—including Health Advocate,www.healthadvocate.com—seek relationships with agents who offertheir services to employers and are compensated for referrals. Withits recent acquisition of WellCall, Health Advocate now offersbroker-focused wellness solutions for smaller groups.

“Emphasizing wellness offers employers of all sizes the chanceto not only improve employee well-being, but also increaseon-the-job productivity and reduce costs,” says Abbie Leibowitz,executive vice president, chief medical officer and co-founder ofHealth Advocate.

Developing a wellness program doesn’t have to include all thebells and whistles. Start simply.

“Even the most basic elements can have a great impact,especially in helping companies begin to create ‘wellnesscommunities’ in their workplace,” says Grace Brothers, vicepresident of benefits for CNO Financial Group.

Brothers advises all employers to consider:

• Offering onsite health education. Organizations can partnerwith local resource providers to host lunch-and-learn sessions,offer group weight-management classes onsite, etc.
• Starting a walking program—an easy, affordable way to getemployees active during the workday.
• Hosting wellness fairs with biometric health screenings.
• Partnering with fitness centers for discountedmemberships.

Also consider offering participation incentives. Wellnessprograms succeed only when employees take part. To driveparticipation, companies can offer incentives such as cash and/orgift cards, raffles and prize drawings, reduced health premiumsand/or co-pays, and health savings account deposits.

Some companies go a step further, making employee participationa requirement for health plan enrollment.

Employers of all sizes can benefit from a robust wellnessprogram. Such a program can also boost agents consultative value byadding wellness expertise to your group practice.