Wellness programs aren't being held accountable to lowering healthcare costs, according to a new survey of 443 employers conducted by WorldatWork and underwritten by HealthMine. While 72% of organizations are measuring the effectiveness of their wellness programs, only 37% are measuring the impact of wellness on healthcare costs. What's more, 28% of organizations aren't measuring their wellness programs at all. 33% of organizations aren't seeing any positive impact from wellness programs, reporting zero or neutral effect on healthcare costs. 

Physical Health Risk Assessments Absent From Over 40% of Wellness Programs
Although employer wellness programs have many potential benefits for members, lowering costs and identifying risk for chronic preventable conditions are chief among them. These outcomes are enabled by health-risk assessments such as biometric screenings. But 42% of employers don't support physical health risk assessments (biometrics, physical fitness, etc.) as part of their wellness initiatives, and another 25% of organizations don't incent or penalize for participation in biometrics or other physical assessments.  

Employers Missing Out on #1 Driver of Wellness ROI: Disease Management
Disease management programs offer the biggest opportunity for long-term healthcare costs savings. According to a 2014 RAND study, disease management can deliver 74% greater ROI per member than lifestyle management. Yet the World at Work/HealthMine study revealed that 43% of employers do not support disease management in their wellness programs. What's more, 81% of employers do not offer incentives to employees for participation or penalties for non-participation in disease management, despite the fact that consumers overwhelmingly want employer incentives. 

Half of Wellness Programs Don't Incent for Smoking Cessation
Another 50% of employers don't incent or penalize for smoking cessation, even though 63% of consumers think colleagues that smoke tobacco products should pay more for health insurance, according to a March 2015 HealthMine Survey of 561 consumers with company-sponsored health plans.

Bryce Williams, CEO and President of HealthMine, said, "Last year we processed 495 million pieces of health data to create meaningful incentives for plan members to manage their health. If a member is motivated to change diet and exercise to avoid diabetes, they are much more likely to follow through; that creates sustainable engagement." He continued, "And we need to offer them carrots for getting initial biometric screenings; from there we can identify health risks and tailor personalized actions and incentives. That's how wellness program can begin to achieve ROI."