Wellness

The Integrated Benefits Institute, a workforce health and productivity organization, issued a report saying retailers need to make some big changes to reduce the high cost of ill health and absence in the industry.

El Camino Hospital in California's Silicon Valley adopted a corporate health plan built around social sharing and gamification, to dramatic effect.

Council members agreed on a first reading of legislation to tax city workers who smoke and funnel the cash into a wellness fund open to all covered city workers.

There seems to be no getting around it: Wellness plans, properly designed and implemented, work.

A Colorado health care company has added an onsite clinic to its wellness plan as part of its strategy to improve employee health and control the cost of health coverage.

Lockton says that wellness programs, properly designed and implemented, can address the problem by helping obese workers lose weight.

Employers, it appears, worked hard to hold down health plan cost increases this year. A Mercer study released Wednesday reported that the increase just 2.1 percent over last year was the lowest in 15 years.

Wellness programs are commonly setting weight goals for employees, but most often are paired with employer health plans denying coverage for evidence-based obesity treatment.