A solution for workplace wellness
The landscape of health care is changing fast. How can companies like yours find an advantage in one of today’s leading challenges, rising health costs?
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is here to help. We know that educating your employees with workplace wellness programs can boost the health of your employees and of your company.
Half of all health care costs can be attributed to unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Companies with corporate wellness and care management programs will find financial advantages under the new health care reform laws.
More and more businesses believe it’s a strategy that makes sense. In 2010, 75 percent of large employers offered wellness and care management programs as a way to improve employee health and slow down rising costs.1
It’s all about prevention. Especially since chronic health problems like diabetes and heart disease contribute to about 75 percent of health care costs. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has corporate wellness programs that can address those health issues and produce real results. We can help you lower absenteeism, increase productivity and reduce health care costs. These tools have proved to help people get healthy. Here are some encouraging results:
- 59 percent of members who enter our program quit smoking.
- 90 percent get better at managing diabetes.
- 86 percent see improvements in their personal health.
“By implementing this Healthy Blue IncentivesSM program, it's making our workforce a lot healthier. It’s really amazing,” said Kyle Baldwin, vice president of finance and administration at Arvco Container. “We’ve had a number of people who are quitting smoking, losing weight, reducing their blood pressure… it’s really become a motivating factor for people.”
We provide the tools for a healthy workplace
Whether you’ve created a workplace wellness program before or are starting for the first time, we have a great tool kit that makes it easy. Worksite wellness step by step (PDF)
Our tool kit will help you:
- Get support for your program from the highest levels of your company.
- Put together a diverse wellness team and make sure they get off to a strong start.
- Collect information about your company and the interests of your employees.
- Create a workplace wellness plan with a timeline, team responsibilities and other benchmarks to keep your program on track.
- Identify campaigns that will meet the most critical needs of your company.
- Assess your company to find areas like vending machines and break rooms that can be changed to create a workplace that supports good health choices.
- Evaluate your campaigns to see what works. That way, you’ll be able to make changes to keep you on track.
Building success with support
But creating a workplace wellness program is just one part of the plan. We also give your employees the support they need with resources like:
- A 24/7 nurse phone line to give your employees access to expert care so they can manage health problems whenever they arise.
- Wellness coaching that helps your employees set health goals and motivates them to get healthy and stay healthy.
- Worksite health screenings to test cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure and weight management along with advice on how to manage them.
- Wellness classes to inspire healthy behavior changes in areas like back care, diabetes, fitness, nutrition, smoking cessation and stress management.
- Chronic condition management to help employees with chronic conditions learn how to better self-manage their condition and take control of their health.
- With all of these tools available, it’s easy to see why Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a smart choice for businesses looking for an edge.
Need help putting together your corporate wellness program?
We have the experience and resources you’ll need to create a workplace wellness plan that’s an investment in the future of your company and the future health of your employees. Contact us today.
1Data for companies with over 1,000 employees; Mercer Employer Surveys 2006, 2009; Towers Watson Employer Reports 2010; Oliver Wyman Analysis
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