Workplace wellness programs might not be effective

Workplace wellness programs might not be effective


An employee’s expectation when joining a workplace wellness program is pretty simple. In fact, it almost goes without saying. It’s going to improve your health. But not so fast.

A study out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign throws a monkey wrench into the assumptions underlying these popular programs. Researchers found a wellness program at the university did not improve patient biometrics, reduce medical diagnoses or cut the number of times they went to medical appointments. This was true at 12- and 24-month intervals.

Wellness programs typically offer a variety of benefits that can include exercise activities, support to quit smoking or lose weight, financial incentives for medical screenings and annual health risk assessments.

One thing the researchers did find was an increase in the number of employees reporting they had a primary care physician at the end of the study. Workers in the program also tended to have a better interest in health assessment factors such as body mass index, cholesterol levels, blood pressure and blood glucose. But the actual measurements did not always match their rosy beliefs about their health.

Employee wellness programs have become especially popular since the passage in 2010 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. That’s because one goal of the ACA was to support new ways of delivering medical care, with a focus on prevention.

This study only examined one program, so feel free to take the results with a grain of salt. But the study shows the need to measure the effectiveness of wellness programs the same way scientists do any other health intervention. Carefully.

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