After five years of helping Sentara Healthcare employees get healthier, Optima Health is still saving money for our parent company -- $4 million to be exact. For every dollar invested in the “Mission: Health” program, Sentara has saved $2.70. Healthcare costs were expected to reach $23 million in 2011; instead they were $21 million.  “Regardless of the impending changes in healthcare, the reality is that we ...

If your employees are not as bright-eyed as you would like every day it’s probably not because they have been out late hitting the night spots. It’s because they’re stressed out about their jobs. A new Consumer Reports study said almost 60 percent of subscribers surveyed had trouble falling or staying asleep or woke up feeling tired at least three times a week. The top reason cited (47 percent) for getting ...

You may have read articles detailing the complex algorithms used to determine the benefits of an employee wellness program, but unless you have an advanced math degree from MIT, you probably will not replicate those efforts to equate the financial benefit for your own company.Experts say for every $1 you spend on wellness, you will save $3 to $4 in healthcare costs. That sounds great, but from a functional ...

Certainly you’ve heard of paint-by-number, and if you’ve ever assembled a piece of furniture or a child’s toy, you know that requires following a numbered schematic. But what do numbers have to do with improving health? Quite a lot, actually. It’s called “predictive analysis,” and health insurers and clinicians use special software to identify certain populations of people by various qualifications to deter ...

(Fourth and final in a series. Offering employee incentives is one of the most important components in creating a successful employee wellness program in your company. Sentara Healthcare’s wellness plan, while partnering with Optima Health, is an incentive-based plan that both improves employee health and saves money for the company.) While many companies have had wellness pro­grams in place for years, ofte ...

Organizing your agenda, preparing meaningful topics, and practicing how you will deliver your notes are all important elements to leading office meetings. When it comes to presenting to a large or small group, we sometimes forget that what we don’t say is just as important as what we do say. Nonverbal communication is critical to being an effective presenter. Remember the old phrase “Silence is Golden?” Wel ...

(Third in a series. A personal health improvement plan that includes recommended health coaching classes to address specific health needs is yet another secret to a successful employee wellness program. Last week’s post discussed the importance of building a great communications strategy. Today’s post explores what health coaching can do for your company.) By Guest Blogger: Terrina Thomas, Director of Healt ...

Laughter has been documented to provide many benefits, including stress reduction. Since the workplace is one of the more stressful areas of life, humor is often interjected as a stress-reliever, morale booster and team builder. But it’s important to use humor cautiously, because it can also be offensive to others. Inappropriate humor can spark lawsuits and alienate people, leading to more stress instead of ...

(Second in a series: Last week’s post talked about the importance of using personal health assessments to begin a successful program.) As with most endeavors in business and in life, communication is key if employers are to deploy an effective wellness program. The real question is, what does effective communication look like in a wellness program? There are many ways to structure an effective communication ...

(First in a series) Every employer who begins a workplace wellness program wants to help employees with their health and reduce healthcare costs. Most plans include some combination of exercise, nutrition, stress management and smoking cessation. So what makes a wellness plan successful? There are a number of things that set apart a winning program. A few of those include incorporating personal health profi ...