Some mobile health service providers are looking to engage self-insured employers as one of their core customers. A recent survey conducted by SNG Research and commissioned by RedBrick Health found that employee wellness programs that set program goals and rewarded employees paired with hiring an independent vendor significantly improved employee engagement in corporate health and wellness programs. Important but obvious caveat: RedBrick Health is itself an independent vendor of employee wellness programs.
RedBrick stated in a press release that employee behavior change and documented results have yet to consistently follow from corporate wellness initiatives because of lack of employee engagement. The survey found that 67 percent of corporate decision makers characterize health improvement programs as “not” or “only slightly” effective at producing health behavior change.
“Employers continue to deploy health management programs to help control costs and improve business performance. Yet year-to-year, these programs yield disappointing sustained engagement rates of less than 20 percent,” said Kyle Rolfing, chief executive officer for RedBrick Health. Here are the three key data points and tips RedBrick has for employers:
Employers that set measureable program engagement goals experienced 63 percent higher engagement rates, regardless of whether or not the goal was achieved, compared to employers that did not set goals.
Employers that provided incentives in any amount experienced average engagement rates nearly 107 percent higher than those employers that did not provide any incentive.
Employers relying primarily on an independent health and wellness vendor experienced engagement rates 83 percent higher across core programs than those employers relying on health plans as their primary health and wellness partner.
The survey included telephone interviews with 181 human resource leaders responsible for corporate health management program decisions at large to mid-size employers across multiple industries and U.S. geographies between March 11 and April 9, 2010. Respondents were required to work for employers based in the United States, have a health promotion or wellness program in place for at least one year and have at least 1,000 employees. The survey results detail engagement rates across primary program elements including health risk assessments, biometric screenings, telephonic lifestyle coaching, telephonic disease management coaching and online health coaching. Engagement in secondary program elements, such as onsite seminars and team competitions, were also analyzed.
For more details from the survey head to RedBrick Health's website
