Workplace Wellness Programs Statistics And Probability

This Article RAND Health Quarterly, 2015; 5(2):7AbstractThis article leverages existing data on wellness programs to explore patterns of wellness program availability, employers' use of incentives, and program participation and utilization among employees. Researchers used two sets of data for this project: The first included data from the 2012 RAND Employer Survey, which used a nationally representative sample of U.S. Employers that had detailed information on wellness program offerings, program uptake, incentive use, and employer characteristics. These data were used to answer questions on program availability, configuration, uptake, and incentive use. The second dataset included health care claims and wellness program information for a large employer. These data were analyzed to predict program participation and changes in utilization and health. The findings underscore the increasing prevalence of worksite wellness programs.

About four-fifths of all U.S. Employers with more than 1,000 employees are estimated to offer such programs.

For those larger employers, program offerings cover a range of screening activities, interventions to encourage healthy lifestyles, and support for employees with manifest chronic conditions. Smaller employers, especially those with fewer than 100 employees, appear more reserved in their implementation of wellness programs. The use of financial incentives appears to increase employee participation in wellness programs, but only modestly. Employee participation in lifestyle management aspects of workplace wellness programs does not reduce healthcare utilization or cost regardless of whether we focus on higher-risk employees or those who are more engaged in the program.For more information, seeRAND RR-724-DOL at. Related Topics:.,.,.Full Text. Workplace health and wellness programs are becoming a common employee benefit in the United States.

Most recently, the RAND Workplace Wellness Programs Study found about half of employers with at least 50 employees, and more than 90 percent of those with more than 50,000 employees, offered a wellness program in 2012 (Mattke et al., 2013). In addition, a 2011 Aon Hewitt employer survey found that nearly 47 percent of employers without a wellness program planned to add one in the next three to five years (Aon Hewitt, 2012).Wellness programs commonly screen employees—and, at times, dependents—for health risks through health risk assessment (HRA) surveys and biometric screening. These programs also provide interventions to address health risks and manifest disease, as well as promote healthy lifestyles.

Wellness program popularity is mainly driven by employers' expectations that these programs will improve employee health and well-being, lower medical costs, and increase productivity.As part of the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Section 1201, and sponsored by the Departments of Labor and of Health and Human Services, RAND recently completed a report to Congress on employer-sponsored wellness programs. That report assesses the current status of wellness programs offered by employers in the United States; evaluates the impact of programs on utilization, employee health care costs, health behaviors, and outcomes; and identifies best practices in program implementation. As the largest study on workplace wellness programs, it comprises a review of extant scientific and trade literature, a national survey of employers from the public and private sectors, statistical analyses using health care claims and wellness program data from a sample of employers, and case studies of the wellness programs offered by five heterogeneous employers. While the report fulfilled the requirements of the ACA, the data collected for this and other RAND projects provide a unique opportunity to address additional research questions.The Office of Policy and Research (OPR) of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) within the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) contracted with RAND to conduct an analysis of existing data on wellness programs.

This article describes the results of that analysis. The goals of the project were to leverage existing data to explore patterns of wellness program availability, use of incentives among employers, and program participation and utilization among employees.We used two sets of data for this project. First, we used the 2012 RAND Employer Survey data set (Mattke et al., 2013), which used a nationally representative sample of U.S. Employers that had detailed information on wellness program offerings, program uptake, incentive use, and employer characteristics. We used these data to answer questions on program availability, configuration, uptake, and incentive use. Second, we utilized the health care claims and wellness program data for a large employer. We analyzed these data to predict program participation and changes in utilization and health (for more details, see Mattke et al., 2013).

Analysis of Employer Survey DataThe 2012 RAND Employer Survey solicited detailed information on workplace wellness programs, including the use of incentives, barriers to adopting a wellness program, reasons for discontinuing a wellness program, program evaluation, and program costs. The sampling frame was a stratified random sample of 3,000 public- and private-sector businesses employing at least 50 people, drawn from the 2011 Dun and Bradstreet Employer Data (Hoovers, undated). The response rate was 19 percent, resulting in a final sample of 589 employers.We focused on two main research questions:. Which employer characteristics predict program availability, program configuration, and incentive use?.

Workplace Health Statistics

Are there typical program configurations—such as the combination of certain screening and health management interventions—and how are these configurations related to employee participation?We also conducted analyses to determine whether framing incentives as rewards or penalties affected program participation rates. The analyses are based on descriptive statistics and logistic regression models that adjust for employer characteristics; all statistical analyses were weighted to make the sample nationally representative.

Corporate Wellness Statistics 2019

Which Employer Characteristics Predict Program Availability and Use of Incentives?In our sample, 69 percent of employers offered a wellness program; of those that offered a program, 75 percent offered incentives to encourage program uptake.Employer size was the most important predictor of whether the employer offered a program and how the program was configured. We estimated that about a third of the smallest employers (50 to 100 employees) had a wellness program, compared with about four-fifths of the larger employers (more than 1,000 employees), after adjusting for employer characteristics. Similarly, about 60 percent of the smallest employers and 90 percent of other employers used incentives, mostly monetary ones, to promote program uptake.Smaller employers without a wellness program tended to cite lack of financial resources and lack of cost-effectiveness as reasons, whereas larger employers were more likely to cite lack of employee interest. Thus, cost concerns appear to explain the different decisions of smaller employers. This finding has important policy implications related to resources for smaller firms to provide wellness programs, since about 36 percent of Americans work for employers with fewer than 100 employees.

Workplace Wellness Program Statistics

How Are Wellness Programs Configured?We used cluster analysis to determine five common combinations, or “program configurations,” within wellness programs, with most employers opting for a program with a limited range of services (Table 1). These five configuration categories reflect the services offered in a wellness program within the three main service categories: (1) screening to detect health risks, (2) lifestyle management to reduce health risks and encourage healthy lifestyles, and (3) disease management to support individuals with manifest chronic conditions.