2010
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626
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Abstract: Amid soaring health spending, there is growing interest in workplace disease prevention and wellness programs to improve health and lower costs. In a critical meta-analysis of the literature on costs and savings associated with such programs, we found that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent. Although further exploration of the mechanisms at work and broader applicability of the findings is needed, t… Show more

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Cited by 819 publications
(659 citation statements)
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“…However, a recent meta-analysis of other employer wellness programs reported an average annual cost of $144 per employee. 15 The literature on program-related cost savings indicates that a 5 % increase in medication adherence, as we observed in this study, results in a 1 % reduction in spending on health care services for Medicare patients, 16 and a 0.6 % reduction in hospitalizations and emergency department visits within a commercially insured population with diabetes. 2 A complete ROI analysis is beyond the scope of this paper, but the ultimate benefit of the DHP will greatly depend on the baseline health status of the employees with diabetes and their health care utilization.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 61%
“…However, a recent meta-analysis of other employer wellness programs reported an average annual cost of $144 per employee. 15 The literature on program-related cost savings indicates that a 5 % increase in medication adherence, as we observed in this study, results in a 1 % reduction in spending on health care services for Medicare patients, 16 and a 0.6 % reduction in hospitalizations and emergency department visits within a commercially insured population with diabetes. 2 A complete ROI analysis is beyond the scope of this paper, but the ultimate benefit of the DHP will greatly depend on the baseline health status of the employees with diabetes and their health care utilization.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 61%
“…30 Wellness programs are also attractive to employers, as they have the potential to improve productivity and reduce healthcare costs. 14,[18][19][20]31,32 Likely due to these perceived benefits, the number of employers offering wellness programs has increased from 27% in 2006 to over 75% in 2013. 7,8 Though the popularity of wellness programs has increased in recent years, results from evaluations of their impact on employee behavior and healthcare costs have been mixed.…”
Section: Understanding the Relationship Between Incentive Design Andmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…[18][19][20] Two related reasons for programs' mixed effects on health behavior and economic outcomes are low participation rates and employee perceptions. Participation rates for workplace wellness programs tend to be below 50% of eligible employees, 21,22 which may be at the root of small or insignificant changes in health behavior.…”
Section: Is More Always Better When It Comes To Workplace Wellness Prmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…[5][6][7] Several studies have concluded that health promotion programs in the workplace can improve employee health and reduce the health expenditure of employers. [8][9][10] In North America, 76% of companies have some kind of health promotion program. In Latin America, this figure reaches 43%.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%