As employers pursue various approaches to save on healthcare spending, wellness programs are increasingly being tried. However, even though they're expanding offerings beyond traditional wellness approaches, a majority of employers say they haven't seen a measurable return on investment.
Only a third of respondents to a survey on healthcare wellness programs have reported modest reductions in healthcare costs as a result of wellness initiatives, said analysts from Buck Consulting, which gathered data on 555 programs internationally.
But that leaves some two-thirds that haven't achieved results yet, said Barry Hall, a principal for the New York-based firm. Even so, respondents appear committed to encouraging wellness among employees and trying innovative technology in the hope of achieving eventual savings.
"The majority of companies in the U.S. are doing it with the expectation of reducing their healthcare costs," Hall said. High costs are "such a painful issue for almost every company that provides healthcare benefits. It's turning into a competitive issue; a lot of employers are kind of desperate."
On the one hand, companies are attempting to cut expenses by offering consumer-directed healthcare plans, which are cheaper for employers but carry higher deductibles for workers. To improve health, companies are looking to wellness and disease management.
The survey, Buck Consulting's first on wellness programs, found that 86 percent of responding organizations offered wellness programs. In addition to trying to reduce healthcare expenditures, the other top reasons U.S. companies say they're providing the programs to improve productivity, reduce employee absenteeism, improve workforce morale, and attract and retain employees.
Some 77 percent of employers cited reducing healthcare costs as being very important, compared with 55 percent of employers naming improving productivity and 50 percent listing reducing absenteeism.
Hall said employers were moving beyond traditional approaches, such as employee assistance programs and immunization, to wellness approaches based on the implementation of technology, such as personal health records and health portals. Such technology has the potential to provide more personalized information that can prompt employees to work at their health.
Despite the growing interest, it will take time for these programs, many of which are in their infancy, to return tangible benefits to employers, Hall said.
"Companies that have really shown success have been able to achieve some level of cultural change with wellness. That doesn't happen overnight," he added. "Employers are still trying to figure out what works; it's not a mature science.
Employee perception of wellness programs are positive, unlike large deductibles or limitations on provider networks.
"Wellness can be presented as kind of a win-win," Hall said. "Employers know intuitively that the programs are good, but are asking how they get more hard data to justify the cost."