Our Wellness Story
As one of southeastern Wisconsin’s largest private employers, Froedtert & Community Health has developed and applied our proven approach to reduce costs and improve health and productivity among our approximately 8,000 employees.
Our employee wellness program has evolved as an effective initiative designed to enhance the health, well being and productivity of our staff while controlling healthcare costs. While our system member Community Memorial Hospital has been utilizing wellness programming for 20 years, we launched our own wellness program system-wide three years ago. We did it because it was the right thing to do, but it also netted significant savings, reducing our health spending by about $600,000 or $344 per employee on the medical plan.
“We are shifting people from having two to three health risk states to fewer risks through our wellness programming,” said Kathy Menard-Rothe, the full-time manager of wellness for Froedtert & Community Health. “For example, if an employee was identified as pre-diabetic by their HRA process, a certified wellness coach would make contact and work with them to help bring them within a normal blood sugar range.” Interventions might include helping them with lifestyle management and taking advantage of the healthy meal programs available at the work site.
Another example is a pharmacy program wherein employees can meet one-on-one with a pharmacist at the workplace to discuss their medications. This has helped ensure employees take the proper medications, plus spending is reduced when employees receive lower prescription prices due to volume discounts, and pharmacists work with physicians to shift to generics when appropriate.
The program has helped:
- Improve productivity
- Improve recruitment
- Reduce sick leave/absenteeism
- Control healthcare costs
- Reduce worker’s compensation
- Reduce injury
- Improve employee morale and retention
