In the midst of questions about the effectiveness of wellness programs, one advocate for such programs says the results of a recent survey show that wellness initiatives greatly reduce the risk that a person's chronic condition will go undiagnosed.

The group, HealthMine, a consumer health engagement company, polled 750 people enrolled in wellness programs and found that 28 percent of participants had been diagnosed with a chronic condition in the past two years. Almost half of those (46 percent) had received their diagnosis through the wellness program, suggesting that they may have gone much longer without treatment had the program not been available.

HealthMine described the findings as particularly salient with regards to some of the most pressing American health concerns, noting that a third of those who suffer from diabetes are unaware of it. The solution, suggests HealthMine, is to expand the availability of wellness programs as well as to increase the number of health tests that allow people to better understand their health vulnerabilities.