How Can The Government Improve Prevention Programs In The Workplace?

In the U.S., over 150 million adults go to work daily and spend the majority of their waking hours engaged in some form of employment. Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the federal government had not seriously considered the workplace as an appropriate venue for improving population health, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had funded a small number of workplace projects dating back to the mid-1980s. In a bipartisan manner, the federal government can play a significant role to engage the business community in building and sustaining workplace health promotion programs that work by improving employee health, reducing unnecessary spending on health care, and raising worker productivity. Listed below are easy-to-adopt and generally low-cost strategies for delivering wellness programs to public and private sector employees. Improve the Health and Well-Being of Federal Workers As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government should lead by example by implementing evidence-based programs across all federal agencies and their worksites. By implementing and evaluating pilot programs, federal agencies can scale up successful models while continuing to explore innovative approaches and discarding programs shown to be ineffective. The government spends more than $40 billion per year on health care for its 4 million employees and annuitants, so there is potential for significant savings by improving employees’ health and well-b...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Organization and Delivery Population Health Quality health promotion Prevention Workplace Wellness Source Type: blogs