Humana Inc. has announced the results of a study that examined the impact of its wellness rewards program, Go36, among more than 10,000 participants over five years in the areas of employee health, healthcare cost savings and productivity.
The results show that over the five-year period employees were more likely to make healthier lifestyle choices and reduce risk for chronic conditions, and those that actively engaged had lower healthcare costs and usage, over time. Additionally, higher engagement in Go365 is linked to fewer Unhealthy Days.
Go365 serves approximately five million members nationwide who can earn rewards for completing healthy activities such as Health Assessments, preventive screenings and fitness activities. Rewards include e-gift cards, fitness devices and apparel, product discounts and charitable donations.
The first two years were used as a baseline period for the study, and the last three years made up the analysis period. Highlights of Humana’s Go365 five-year study follow below.
Overall, there was an increase in members who ate healthier foods, exercised more and reduced stress and tobacco use.
· Members who exercised for at least 150 minutes each week rose by 25 percent
· Members who ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily rose by nearly 12 percent
· Members experiencing low stress increased by 5 percent
· Members were 2.3 percent more likely to be non-smokers
Biometric data found notable improvements in lowering risk for heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and other conditions over five years, which is very promising for the aging workforce.
· 7 percent more men and nearly 3 percent more women had healthy ranges of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) “good” cholesterol
· Members were likelier to have somewhat healthier ranges of blood glucose, blood pressure and triglycerides
High-engaged members had lower healthcare cost increases than members with low or medium engagement, which is promising considering the aging population and general inflation in the cost of healthcare. Higher engagement in Go365 is also linked with fewer emergency room visits and hospital admissions.
· In year 5, high-engaged members paid a per member per month average of $116 (or 22 percent) less in healthcare than low-engaged members
· High-engaged members had 35 percent fewer emergency room visits and 30 percent fewer hospital admissions than low-engaged members
· Medium-to-high engaged members had 11 percent more preventive doctor’s office visits than low-engaged members
Better productivity, as measured by Unhealthy Days, was found among high-engaged members
· High-engaged members reported 55 percent fewer Unhealthy Days than low-engaged members
· In summary, the study shows a link between long-term engagement in Go365 with employee health, productivity and cost savings with more highly engaged employees exhibiting the best results.
