Employee Wellness Plans : Employee Wellness Program Screening And Employee Wellness Program Intervention Programs

Health screenings are important programs to identify chronic disease in their early stages. Once identified, wellness behavior modification programs can help prevent a disease from progressing. Working with local hospitals and other corporations, you can get information on offering assessment and behavior modification programs that could better your employees’ health and save your corporation money in absenteeism, treatment for disease complications, and reduced productiveness. Below are some ideas to assist you in getting started.

Based upon your Employee Needs & Interest Survey and the demographics of your workplace, consider offering periodic screenings to find specific health risks such as:

• Blood Pressure (BP) Checks to identify workers with pre-hypertension or hypertension (high blood pressure),
• Cholesterol Screenings for total, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol) and/or Triglycerides
• Blood Sugar Screenings fasting or non-fasting to screen for possible diabetes,
• Body composition, such as body mass index (BMI) or body fat measures
• Bone density for potential risk of osteoporosis,
• Cancer screenings such as, skin examinations, mammograms, or PSA screenings,
• Vision checks for glaucoma, or visual acuity
• Other health screenings depending on your worker population and needs

Your local hospital, employer physician practice, or health department may provide assistance. However, if you have employees you may want to concentrate on programs that will keep them healthy rather than screening for early identification of chronic disease. The focus of your wellness program might be healthy lifestyle practices to decrease risk and prevent disease.

In addition to the health screenings, consider offering a Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment to all employees. The Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment will help to identify factors that may lead to additional risks, such as smoking history, stress levels, perception of health, family history, job satisfaction, support systems, and mental health. Often the assessment results are included on the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, which supports a more inclusive snap shot of health risks. The summary results offer the significant information to plan appropriate interventions.

Employee Health Promotion Program Interventions

The key to the performance of screenings and Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) is the interventions or follow-up programs. The data collected during the screenings increases awareness and frequently motivates employees to consider making healthier changes. It’s the follow up interventions that provide the important backing and assistance needed for employees to actually make and maintain those changes. The interventions are able to include individual follow-up and ongoing counseling, individual or group health coaching on the risk factors, behavior modification programs, and/or corporation backing. Examples include:

• Strategies to lower Blood Pressure
• Managing diabetes
• Taking care of your heart
• Healthy eating
• Weight loss strategies
• Growing physical activity
• Tobacco Cessation

Of course, this is for individual information only. Any follow-up interventions planned by the corporation would be based on interest expressed by the employee.

Based on the results and your Employee Health Promotion Program Committee goals you can plan the best strategies for your business and employees. Consider the area resources available to support services, such as health associations, hospitals, medical providers, and/or public health agencies.