Health Solutions Ltd. - Employee wellness programs that reduce healthcare costs
Health Solutions Ltd. - Employee wellness programs that reduce healthcare costs. Worksite wellness, employee health assessment, health care benefits, health management resources and measurable ROI.
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Untitled Document
Aspen Equipment Awarded for Wellness Program, Rewarded with Declining Costs
Aspen Equipment, based in Hennepin County, Minn., recently received the Wellness by Design Award from Hennepin County in recognition of their outstanding wellness program. Aspen Equipment Company was one of 60 companies to receive the Gold Award.
Launched in June 2008 and overseen by a committee comprising representatives from every department, the company's wellness program identified key areas of greatest value to employees based on health risk assessments conducted by the program administrator, Wisconsin-based Health Solutions.
In the first year, Aspen focused on raising awareness about good nutrition through creative techniques ranging from putting healthy (and lower priced) snack alternatives in the company vending machine, to hosting healthy potluck lunches (served by management on one occasion), and creating competitions that included the Fast Food Challenge, in which employees avoided fast food eating for three months. Now in its second year, Aspen's wellness program is focused on helping employees become more active with another friendly competition, "Step into a Healthy Weight," which encourages employees to purchase a pedometer with the company logo and track their steps throughout the month, according to the program's champion, HR Manager Sharon Hengel.
"We have seen many positive results from our wellness program, including some potential financial benefits, said Mark Nicolay, CFO of Aspen Equipment Co. "For the one-year period starting from approximately the same time we started the program, our medical claims loss ratio decreased 4 percentage points. We believe the wellness program contributed to this improvement and hope this will lead to lower premium costs on our plan renewal."
Why Wellness?
Aspen Equipment President & CEO Steve Sill Offers an Executive Perspective
"Like everybody these days, we need to reduce overall corporate expenses more than ever. Health insurance is a big one and in today's world, there are only two ways I know to reduce our health insurance costs. We can lower the benefit quality to our employees or we can work toward improving everybody's health and reducing our unnecessary use of medical attention. Frankly, we, like many others, exhausted Option 1. It is the second option that has real, long-term advantages as it controls costs and makes Aspen Equipment a more attractive prospect for competing health insurer bids and lower premiums.
"The trick isn't to simply sign up for a wellness program through one of the many providers out there," said Sill. "The first step is to find "the one" that best fits your company's needs and culture. And in our case, it wasn't the cheapest one. But the real key is finding an energetic and sincerely interested "champion" within your business to establish a wellness committee, which will organize and inspire and keep the message out in front of the troops month in and month out. Without Sharon and her committee, our investment in a wellness consulting firm would be a waste." |
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“Health Solutions Ltd® has the knowledge, technology and partnerships to maximize our employees’ health and wellbeing and purchasing power of the health care dollar.”
Tom Mueller, Director of Human Resources, Jagemann Stamping Co.
“Health care is a top business concern, driving employers in search of real solutions at the risk of uncontrollable costs. If you own, run, or manage a business and you don’t have Health Solutions Ltd® in your tool box, you may be leaving a real option to both control your costs, reduce your risk, and improve the health of your employees on the table. As an employer I know first hand Health Solutions Ltd®works.”
Tim Sheehy, President, Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce
“I believe the Health Solutions Ltd® system will save both our company and our employees’ money through health costs and attendance without being intrusive.”
Mark Nemschoff, President, Nemschoff
"PyraMax Bank went through a lengthy process before deciding on a partner who had the tools necessary to guide us through the implementation of a new program at another level and Health Solutions Ltd® has that unique ability.”
Monica Baker, Senior Vice President, PyraMax Bank
“We chose to go with Health Solutions Ltd® after a long search for a way to reduce our Medical Care Costs. The Health Solutions Ltd® approach empowers our employees to take charge of their health and help prevent illness.”
Barbara Stitt, President, Natural Ovens
"Health Solutions Ltd® was the most professional, technology-based organization that offered proven results and testimonials to the success of organizations they have served. We were also impressed by their proactive approach to managing the health risk assessment process and the educational tools they could offer our participants. We can’t say enough about the supportive staff at Health Solutions Ltd®during the launch of our program."
Patricia Christensen , Director of Human Resources, Tax Airfreight
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