Changing habits includes creating a culture of health

To create value in our health care system, we first need to create a culture of health.

Although the health care community is taking steps to improve the coordination and efficiency of healthcare delivery, true health care value will be achieved only when combined with effective health promotion that creates better health.

Workplace wellness studies have been conducted since the late 1980s examining the relationship between employee health risk and health care value. Key findings included these:

• Cost followed risk.

• The greatest reductions in average health care costs occurred in employees who moved from high-risk to low-risk status, and the largest increase in costs occurred in employees who moved from low-risk to high-risk health status.

• The road to health care value must include the measures that bring better health to individuals and ultimately lead to lower medical costs.

Why target metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is the term used to describe a group of metabolic risk factors that raise a person’s risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and other health problems.

The five metabolic risk factors described by the term metabolic syndrome include a large waistline, high blood triglyceride levels, a low HDL (“good”) cholesterol level, high blood pressure, and a high fasting blood sugar.

The risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke increases with the number of metabolic risk factors. People with metabolic syndrome

• have a risk of developing diabetes that is 2.5-3.5 times higher than average risk

• have a risk of developing heart disease or stroke that is 1.5-2.2 times higher than average risk

The risk of having metabolic syndrome is closely linked to being overweight or obese and a lack of physical activity.

According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, metabolic syndrome may soon overtake smoking as the leading risk factor for heart disease.

The risks associated with metabolic syndrome present a well-defined example of the impact that risk reduction can have on the value of an organization’s health care benefit investment.

In studies of workplace health promotion, measures that successfully eliminate the biometric, metabolic risks of the metabolic syndrome produce commensurate reductions in health care, pharmacy ,and short-term disability costs.

Better health at lower cost means greater value

Worksite health promotion programs hold great potential to mitigate the rising risk for poor health and increased health care costs experienced by individual employees and employee populations with metabolic syndrome.

Yet, despite the potential impact on the value of the health care benefit investment, measures specifically targeting the metabolic syndrome continue to be largely under-utilized in the workplace.

Programs that help employees achieve aggressive lifestyle modifications have been effective in improvement of the employees’ health risks, including those metabolic risks that make up the metabolic syndrome.

Focused programming for employees with metabolic syndrome in reducing metabolic risks holds great potential as a high value health benefit investment—for improved health and vitality with improved cost outcomes.