By Coral Sisk, WHF Associate
Employee wellness programs offered through employers can be a crucial component for people trying to manage their chronic conditions and make informed decisions about their healthcare. A growing number of employers are recognizing that providing opportunities for their employees to attain higher levels of health contributes to greater productivity—everyone ends up a winner.
Here in Washington, The Sound Health and Wellness Trust provides wellness support for chronic disease prevention as well as tobacco cessation resources through their LiveWell health benefits program available at no additional cost with employer-provided medical coverage plans. Livwell launched its Quit for Life program [1] in 2008 and has experienced a satisfaction rate of 94.8% among its thousands of participants. In addition to access to resources like Quitline, professional coaches, and medications, the Trust offers incentives to quit such as $100 rewards for five completed phone counseling sessions with a certified Quit Coach. The Trust estimates that out of the 28,000 eligible members, 4,200 are tobacco users. The average annual goal for the Quit for Life participation is 6.0% and in 2009 the trust assisted 9.8% of this population with their smoking cessation goals. Employee supported wellness programs are just one of the several evidence based strategies for aiding tobacco cessation. This is one choice that some employers have made to encourage access to healthy behavioral change outreach.
The Healthiest Communities Partnership is a public/private collaboration between the Washington Health Foundation’s Healthiest State Campaign and the Washington State Department of Health. The essence of this effort is about finding the best ways to make healthy choices about diet, exercise and tobacco the easy choices.
To learn more about the Healthiest Communities Partnership, click here.
References:
1.) http://www.soundhealthwellness.com/ppo/aboutQuitForLife.php
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