Accomplishments
There is a growing body of success stories emerging from clients who work with Health Plan Advocate. From employees who have turned around their health after decades of struggling with weight problems and the resulting health fallout – to employers who have seen enthusiastic company wide participation in health challenges – we are commited to making a positive difference for our clients.
"We've enjoyed working with Health Plan Advocate since 2012. They administer our wellness program, which involves biometrics, reporting, and program implementation. As a self-insured company, we had been involved with wellness programs since 2005, previously going it alone-and also using an out of state vendor. The advantages Health Plan Advocate has provided us include a blend of scientific research and biometrics, and a locally accessible wellness program resource with a knowledgeable team that cares about our program success."
Mary-Frances Oliphant, HR Director, Schupan & Sons
"It was our first year adding biometric screenings to our wellness program. We had amazing service and were able to get 80% participation in our first year. Our incentive was tied to their health plan contributions and no incentive for employees not on the plan. Even with this being true, we still had 44% of our staff not on the health plan participate! Another success is we used HPA for tobacco coaching. We had amazing results and only positive feedback about (the coach) and his coaching ability."
Dawn Duffy, Strategic Health Manager, Lighthouse Group
Wellness Case Study
HPA was approached by a consultant working with a non-profit client with the goal of implementing a wellness program to help address the rising costs of their healthcare plan. The first step was to form a Wellness Committee to deal with a health plan that was averaging an 18% per increase in the last couple of years compared to an organizational budget that was only increasing at a 3.5% per year. The Wellness Committee consisted of representation from the agency's four union groups, their professional team and their Executive Director. They were tasked with working on wellness recommendations, programming, and to help communicate recommendations to all employees and created the mission statement:
"Our mission is to help control costs by understanding the issues impacting the continual increasing cost of employee benefits and by committing to a healthier lifestyle through employee involvement.”
Wellness Committee responsibilities included:
- Serving as the champions for wellness activities at the worksite
- Encouraging co-worker participation in wellness activities
- Reviewing agency health costs on a regular basis
- Reviewing all wellness reports and impact on employee health and healthcare costs
- Input on premium incentive programs
- Conducting an annual wellness survey
- Recommending and helping with implementation of wellness programs including Corporate Challenges, Weight Watchers at Work, Smoking Cessation Program, 10,000 Step Program and Education on Healthcare Reform.
Their accomplishments:
- In spite of the national trend of rising health care costs, theirs remained flat for five years
- The Agency was able to maintain current co-pays and deductibles
- They were able to actually increase certain wellness benefits
- The Committee helped move the program from a participation based program to a results based program
- Over 95% participation rate in their health risk assessment and biometric screening
HPA tracked participants that participated in the first year and were still employed in year five. Following are some of the results:
- In year one, 34 participants smoked. Only 12 of those participants smoked in year five, a 65% reduction.
- In year one, 26 participants measured with hypertension. Only six of those participants measured with hypertension in year five, a 77% reduction.
- In year one, 19 participants measured with high cholesterol. Only six of those participants measured high in year five, a 68% reduction.
- In year one, 22 participants measured with high glucose. Only five of those participants measured high in year five, an 82% reduction.
- In year one, 77 participants measured in the obese category. Of those, 18% moved out of the obese category & 63% lost weight and of those, 29% lost 40+ lbs, 44% lost 20+ lbs, and 77% lost 10+ lbs.
Bottom Line Results
Prior to the start of the Wellness Program, the Agency's health care costs were increasing at the rate of 18% per year. At the end of the first five years of the program, the Agency's health care costs were essentially flat. In year one of the program, costs averaged $7,975 per contract, in year five the cost of the average contract was $8,074!
The program continues to experience above average participation rates and the Health Committee continues to seek ways to keep the program fresh and interesting for members.
"When we first started working with Health Plan Advocate, I knew I was not in good shape. Then, I saw my Health Risk Assessment and I knew I had to do something. The wonderful team at Health Plan Advocate helped identify my problems, changed my thoughts about my health, helped motivate me and provided great support with my fitness program. I'm proud to say that at 66, I'm in better shape than I was in 30 years ago. I've lost 40 lbs., no longer need my diabetes or blood pressure medicine, and was able to avoid taking statins. My blood markers went from very concerning, to excellent. I highly recommend Health Plan Advocate as a way to improve the health of your team.”
David Selleck, Pastor, United Methodist Church
"My coach was very positive about my goals and what I wanted to do. He never gave me the feeling that I wasn't doing good enough, and wasn't pushy. He also offer{ed} me some good advice and sent me flyers. He seemed genuinely interested and proud of what I've accomplished so far. I've worked with many health coaches in the past and this was a 5 Star experience!”
Anonymous Client Employee
