Fielding School of Public Health- Health Forum on “Workplace Wellness Program.”
| by Zita Dixon |
Dr. Jonathan Fielding moderated the October 30th Health Forum panel discussion on “Workplace Wellness Programs”. Dr. Fielding paid homage to the late UCLA FSPH Professor Toni Yancey and her “Instant Recess” research legacy (See: Dr. Toni Yancey's TED Talk on "What’s Good for the Waistline is Good for the Bottom Line") and FSPH’s commitment to keeping this important work and dialogue alive with forums such as these. Thanks to the FSPH’s Health Forum, we had a platform to hear best practices on workplace wellness from esteemed panelists Dr. Joel Hyatt, Assistant Regional Medical Director for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Ms. Tammie Brailsford, RN, executive VP and COO for Memorial Health Services, and Dr. Kent Bradley, CMO and Senior VP of Safeway Inc.
Dr. Joel Hyatt shared Kaiser Permanente’s best practices and highlighted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) components that support workforce health programs through incentives and penalties. Kaiser Permanente currently has initiatives like the online health assessment and workforce health webpage with resources that have shown positive results in higher productivity and reduced absenteeism. Dr. Hyatt also outlined the ACA financial support and guidelines for wellness programs that use participatory and/or health contingent incentives and penalties. Kaiser Permanente strives to be the healthiest workforce in the county and plans on achieving this goal by using intrinsic incentives, peer pressure, and collective incentives to get there.
Ms. Tammie Brailsford,RN shared MemorialCare Health System's "The Good Life" program and explained the importance of invested executive leadership and a data driven program linked to healthcare benefits plans in order to have a successful (and accountable) workplace wellness program. MemorialCare focuses on incorporating on-site workplace programs that include a daily “Instant Recess,” coaching support, and medication management for employees with chronic disease. They saw HUGE changes in their employees’ health outcomes and healthcare spending with these initiatives (i.e. 84% retention rate with program participants, a jump from 37% to 90% compliance with medication, and significant reductions in BMI). Employees who participated and stayed with this program viewed the relationship with their coach as the number one motivating factor to sticking with the program. As Ms. Brailsford puts it, “it’s saving money and, most importantly, saving lives.”
Dr. Kent Bradley explained Safeway's health and wellness initiatives and its commitment to being proactive community partner. Safeway invests in their outcome driven employee wellness program because it improves worker productivity (i.e. decrease in workers compensation and disability claims) and increases recruitment and retention of talented staff. This collective body-mind-spirit wellness program provides free meditation classes, exercise classes, peer health ambassador education campaigns, online affinity support groups through Safeway Jumpstart, subsidies for gym memberships, and subsidized healthy food options in the cafeteria. Safeway’s wellness program produced positive results: 80% employee participation, 2% decreases in employee cholesterol levels, and 2% reductions in health plan costs. Safeway also incorporates volunteerism within the wellness programming because it sees the link between community engagement and individual wellness as a way to both help employee morale and be socially responsible. Dr. Bradley ended his presentation with a clear message, workplace wellness programs are just “the right thing to do.”
Click on this link to watch the videos.