Study States Vitality Health Program Cuts Healthcare Costs

With companies searching for ways to cut costs and increase productivity, a new longitudinal study of 374,479 working men and women confirms that the Vitality health enhancement program represents a tool in the increasingly common business practice of trimming healthcare benefit costs.

The data shows that programs designed with appropriate incentives deliver on the promise of lowering healthcare spending by prompting healthy habits.

Stuart Slutzky, head of product development with The Vitality Group, said that research was conducted by the company's parent organization, South Africa-based Discovery Holdings Limited, and measured how engagement in the Vitality health enhancement program over a five-year period impacted health insurance claims.

"The research established that the number of members who became actively engaged in fitness activities increased by 79 percent during the testing period. More important, The study showed that healthcare costs rose by 28.7 percent less for initial inactive members that became engaged versus those who remained inactive," Slutzky said. "Given that chronic diseases account for more than three quarters of the nation's $2.3 trillion medical care costs and that a significant share traces to lifestyle factors such as smoking, poor eating habits and the lack of physical activity, this is not surprising. Clearly, by motivating healthy behaviors that cut healthcare spending, health enhancement programs can and are contributing to increased profits and productivity."

The analysis covered all employees and spouses who were enrolled for a period of at least 36 months, from January 1, 2002 to June 30, 2007, and included 33,196,197 member months of data. There were 374,479 members who participated for the full period.

The Vitality Group offers the incentive-based Vitality health enhancement program to organizations and their employees throughout North America. The Vitality program provides employees with personalized rewards for engaging in activities and adopting behaviors that result in lowered health risks.

((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))

((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com)) ((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com))