Blue Bell, PA - Wellness Coaches USA is excited to share preliminary results from an on-going study currently being conducted by the University of Michigan’s Health Management Research Center (UM-HMRC). UM-HMRC is a world-wide leader in studying how health choices influence total health and productivity, quality of life, vitality and health care economics throughout a lifetime. The purpose of the study is to measure the impact onsite coaching has on medical claims and health risks over a several year period. This is a multi-year study, being administered for one of our largest clients in Ohio. The study was sponsored by our client’s benefits consultant, the Oswald Companies, and includes analyses of medical costs and health risk factors for the past two years we have provided onsite coaching services. In addition to onsite coaching, our client has an incentive campaign is in place for all employees, which includes requirements for Health Assessment completion, blood work screenings and meeting certain risk criteria. Our client also offers a variety of web based support wellness tools and resources.
A summary of preliminary results from the first two years of this study are as follows:
Medical Claims
• As the frequency of one-on-one onsite coaching sessions per employee increase, the medical costs per employee decrease
• More specifically, medical costs for employees coached 25+ times over the 2 year study period (an average of 12.5 sessions per year) were $1,421 lower per employee, when compared to employees coached 0-9 times (an average of 0 to 4.5 sessions per year)
Health Risks (Year-over-Year)
Coached employees reduced their population prevalence rate for:
• High Risk Cholesterol by 37%
• Smoking by 17%
• Poor Physical Activity by 19%
• High Risk Stress by 3%
In addition, coached employees had:
• Illness Days decrease by 4%
• Perceived Health & Health Age Index both improve by 20%
We are obviously very excited to share these results, and believe that they provide further confirmation that onsite coaching is the critical component of workplace wellness strategies. As more detailed information becomes available from the study, we will certainly keep everyone up to date.
