Oct. 17, 2006
Media advisory: King County’s innovative wellness initiative boosting health of employees
King County employees are healthier thanks to the county’s innovative wellness initiative. Since King County’s initiative started at the beginning of the year, 75 percent of employees who were at high or moderate risk for developing poor health have reduced or eliminated one or more behaviors that would put them at risk for developing a chronic disease.
On October 18, noon to 1 p.m., hundreds of employees will gather at Union Station at 5th and S. Jackson St. in Seattle to learn more about how to manage their personal health. King County Executive Ron Sims will give awards to winning teams of employees who participated in a countywide health challenge where they earned points for eating smart and moving more. More than 1,200 employees participated in the health challenge, the Live Well Challenge, and 75 percent said that they ate better and got more exercise as a result. Employees who have improved their health as a result of the county’s Health Reform Initiative will be available for one-on-one interviews with the media.
To tackle rising health care costs, the county has taken the unique approach of investing in employees’ health rather than cutting their benefits. With this approach, the county is projecting a reduction in rising health care costs by as much as $40 million over the 2007-2009 period. As an incentive to improve their health, King County offered its employees and their covered spouses or domestic partners lower out of pocket expenses for participating in wellness activities including an annual health risk assessment and an action plan tailored to the results of the assessment.
In January, 90 percent, or 17,844, of King County employees and their covered spouses or domestic partners chose to take the wellness assessment. The assessment asked about current health, behavior and family history. Using factors, like nutrition, physical activity, weight management, perception of stress, use of tobacco, alcohol consumption and family history as indicators, people were stratified into categories for risk of developing a chronic disease – high, moderate and low risk. Overall, 44.7 percent of the people who took the assessment were high risk, 5.0 percent were moderate risk and 50.3 percent were low risk.
The next step in earning the lowest out-of-pocket expense level was to participate in an individual action plan based on the results of the wellness assessment. High and moderate risk individuals worked with a health coach over the phone to improve risk factors and low risk people kept a log for eight weeks of their physical activity or nutrition.
People took seriously the need to improve their health and seized the opportunity to keep their out-of-pocket expense levels low. The gold, or lowest, out-of-pocket expense level was earned by 15,895 people (77.2 percent) who choose to take the wellness assessment and follow-up with an individual action plan. Silver was earned by 2,669 people (13 percent) who only took the wellness assessment and 2,021people (9.8 percent) earned bronze by not participating at all. As an example of the differences in the lout of pocket levels, the per person annual deductible for the gold level is $100, Silver is $300 and for bronze it is $500.
Since January, when its employees and covered spouses or domestic partners took the wellness assessment, people have lost weight, started exercising more, are eating more nutritious food and have entered disease management programs to help them better manage chronic diseases like diabetes, chronic heart failure and coronary artery disease . Employees are not penalized with higher out of pocket expenses for having a chronic condition, smoking or being overweight. They are rewarded with lower out of pocket expenses for trying to maintain good health or improve health risk factors.
Activities like the Live Well Challenge help support employee’s efforts to get healthy and promote a community of wellness in the county. Other supporting programs include Weight Watchers at Work®, discounts at local gyms and a Healthy Workplace Funding Initiative that provides a small amount of money to each worksite that employees can use to make their worksite more supportive of good health. Employees have chosen to use the funding for yoga classes, healthy cooking classes, stress management education, exercise equipment and subscriptions to health publications.
About 495 employees attend Weight Watchers at Work® meetings and have shed a total of 3,879 pounds or almost 2 tons of weight loss so far this year. According to the Partnership for Healthy Weight Management, a weight loss of five to 10 percent can measurably improve health outcomes.
Employees have also found their own ways of supporting each other. Walking groups, one-on-one walking meetings, weekly salad potluck lunches, exercise classes and exercise breaks during the day have become part of the county’s work culture.
Fact sheet
- 19,702 people were eligible to take the county’s wellness assessment and earn lower out-of-pocket expenses. This includes employees and their spouses or domestic partners.
- 17,844, or 90 percent, of those eligible chose to take the wellness assessment, a rate that exceeded national standards.
- Of those who took the wellness assessment:
- 8,983, or 50.3 percent were low risk
- 882, or 5 percent were moderate risk
- 7,979, or 44.7 percent were high risk
- Deductible levels are:
- Gold: $100 for an individual, $300 for a family
- Silver: $300 individual, $900 family
- Bronze: $500 individual, $1,500 family
- To earn gold, a person has to take the wellness assessment and participate in an individual action plan.
- To earn silver, a person has to take the wellness assessment only.
- A person earns bronze for not participating at all.
- Out-of-pocket expense levels earned for 2007 are:
- 15,895 people earned gold
- 2,669 earned silver
- 2,021 earned bronze