SITUATION

The Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Patient Account Services (PAS) in San Antonio manages Account Receivable operations for 10 facilities and has 445 employees. In early 2006, PAS was seeking an effective way to improve the health of its 445 San Antonio employees and ultimately reduce the high cost of health insurance premiums.

The company had tried other wellness programs in the past, but without the success anticipated. Less than one-quarter of its employees participated, according to Cherie Wright, Director of Human Resources at PAS, “the initiative was our beginning, with a program that required employees to be intrinsically motivated by exercise – something which most of us are not.”

SOLUTION

In April 2006, PAS began offering the HealthMiles program as a benefit to employees in its San Antonio center. PAS’s goal was to provide a program that would give their employees the motivation and tools they needed to take charge of their own health. PAS wanted to reach not only employees who were already fit and healthy, but also those that had or were at risk for developing costly and preventable diseases and conditions, such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

HealthMiles is a first-of-its-kind Health Rewards Program that motivates and incentivizes members to make better choices, engage in the process of getting and staying healthier, and become part of the “prevention solution.” Similar in concept to “frequent flyer programs,” HealthMiles members earn Miles for living healthier lives. Miles are awarded for exercising, tracking results, and improving key body metrics, such as blood pressure, body fat and weight, and can be redeemed for products from leading U.S. retailers, such as Best Buy and Target.

Nearly half of PAS’s employees signed up for HealthMiles right away. “The fact that we had a 50 percent participation rate from the beginning was a big surprise,” said Wright. Furthermore, these members were not just the young, fit and healthy, 84 percent were obese or overweight, 60 percent had hypertension or were at risk for developing it and over 50 percent were age 40 or older.

RESULTS

Over the past four months, HealthMiles participation levels have remained high as employees lose weight, lower blood pressure and reduce BMI. They are using HealthMiles tools, such as the HealthZone kiosk, GoZone pedometer and LifeZone Website, to set goals, track results, measure success, and earn Miles.

“Our operation is delighted at the tremendous response to HealthMiles by our employees. It has truly exceeded our expectations,” said Wright. “We are pleased that it is not only the fit and healthy who have joined, but those who are really looking for some help in achieving good health. They now have this extrinsic motivator – they love seeing their results online and earning Miles.”

In addition to motivating employees to take charge of their health, HealthMiles has also served to further develop the PAS community. “A secondary benefit that was unanticipated is the camaraderie and team building among all levels of PAS staff,” said Wright. “Employees now go to the local gym together, play in corporate softball and volleyball leagues, and take lunchtime walks around the building. This is all new behavior since we implemented HealthMiles.”

And the results are clearly visible. “One of our departments initiated their own weight loss competition. Now you look at these individuals and they are so trim,” commented Wright. PAS is currently compiling aggregated employee health data, including overall weight, BMI and blood pressure statistics, to further document the success of the HealthMiles program. While still early, in six to nine months the company will be able to demonstrate an achieved ROI by measuring factors like decreased absenteeism and reduced medical claims.