2007 Model Practice Application (Public)

Reducing Health Care Costs Through Worksite Wellness Programs in Targeted, Intervention areas - Capital Metro

Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department

Reducing Health Care Costs Through Worksite Wellness Programs in Targeted, Intervention areas - Capital Metro targets the workforce of Capital Metro and addresses the public health issues of obesity, exercise, healthy lifestyle, and good eating habits. Creating healthy lifestyles in East Travis County through evidence-based strategies that reduce diabetes, obesity, and asthma. With an employer in the East Austin/Travis County area the program hopes to reduce health care costs and absenteeism, and engage the workforce in healthy behavoirs such as exercise, eating right, and loss of weight. Program participants report significant improvements in exercise, healthy food consumption, weight loss, blood pressure management, reduced stress levels, and overall general health. Capital Metro reports significant drop in absenteeism rate and reduced health care costs.

According to the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), half of Austin adults do not engage in 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity 5 or more days per week. Additionally, 8 out of 10 of adults in Austin reported that they do not eat fruits and vegetables 5 or more times per day, 37% said they were overweight and 17% said they were obese. Nationally, the cost of obesity to U.S. businesses—which includes employee absenteeism and lost productivity—reached $12.7 billion in 1994. Studies indicate that comprehensive worksite health programs focused on lifestyle behavior change lead to improvements in health behaviors among employees and a return on investment for employers, in terms of improved employee health and saved health care costs. Since launching the program Capital Metro has experienced substantial reductions in its health care costs. Total costs increased only 9.6% from 2004 to 2005, compared to 26.8% from 2003 to 2004. The company predicts health care costs to increase only 6% from 2005 to 2006. Program participants report significant improvements in exercise, healthy food consumption, weight loss, blood pressure management, reduced stress levels, and overall general health. Employee absenteeism rates—which is an indicator of worker job satisfaction and health—also decreased more than 44%, from a high of 12.4% in March 2004 to 6.9% in June 2006.

Local public health departments do not traditionally engage in wellness program partnerships with employers in the community. This is an innovative approach to a common issue for local public health departments and employers; engaging the workforce in healthy behaviors. Also, the program staff feel that the use of the assessments at a particular worksite is an outside-the-box use of a traditional public health tool. The entire practice is one that can be easily replicated and has proven successful.

The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department Steps to a Healthier Austin role in this project has been on several levels. As an assessor of workplace health, a sponsor of worksite wellness programs, and as an evaluator of health improvement. The role of the worksite employer in this practice has been to promote the worplace programs and to ensure sustainability. The partnership has been very producticve as evidenced by the outcomes accomplished so far.

The funding source for this practice was the Steps To a Healthier Austin Grant from CDC. Costs included $9,965 for a POLAR Fitness tracking equipment for use by Capital Metro employees and family members.

The overall goal of the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department Steps to a Healthier Austin (SHA) Community Action Plan is to reduce the burden of chronic diseases by preventing residents from developing diabetes, becoming overweight or obese, and being hospitalized for complications of diabetes and asthma, through evidence-based multi-level interventions to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce exposure to and use of tobacco products. Capital Metro is an employer located in the Steps to a Healthier Austin intervention area, a contiguous 20 zip code area located primarily in the eastern portions of Austin and Travis County. Steps to a Healthier Austin, in partnership with Capital Metro, the Austin transit authority, sponsors a worksite wellness program that provides a comprehensive range of services, including consultations with dieticians and personal trainers, a 24-hour company fitness center, and personalized health assessments. The program has also purchased a Health kiosk that Capital Metro has placed in the employee breakroom area that is used for a range of self monitoring activities and education. Through the wellness program, transit operators have unlimited access to Capital Metro’s newly developed fitness center, receive discounts for purchasing healthier choices in the company’s cafeteria, and can enroll in a myriad of weight and nutritional management programs. Cash incentives reward employees for joining weight loss programs, quitting tobacco use, using the onsite gym, and achieving other health-related goals such as decreasing high blood pressure and lowering cholesterol. A fitness tracking system was purchased, POLAR, for use by Cap Metro employees and their families. A baseline assessment of appoxiamately 500 employees and/or family members resulted in corresponding exercise plans for each, based on those assessments. Pre- and post- assessments are conducted twice a year to show improvement and track effectiveness. Asssemenst are done whenever Cap Metro staff visits with the corporate nurse as well.

Capital Metro has agreed to sustain the program, will keep the POLAR fitness tracking equipment, the self monitoring health kiosk, and will continue to provide an in-kind Wellness Coordinator. This is a program that took intial steps in 2003 after healthcare costs increased by 27% and has since received professional assistance and developmental wellness support from Austin/Travis County HHSD.

The goal of this practice is to create healthy lifestyles in East Travis County through evidence-based strategies that reduce diabetes, obesity, and asthma. With an employer in the East Austin/Travis County area, Capital Metro, the program hopes to reduce health care costs and absenteeism, and engage the workforce in healthy behavoirs such as exercise, eating right, and loss of weight.

Objective 1: Engage Capital Metro workforce in healthy behaviors.

Performance Measures: Per workplace survey participants report significant improvements in exercise, healthy food consumption, weight loss, blood pressure management, reduced stress levels, and overall general health.

Objective 2: Health Risk assessments using POLAR for 25% of total number of employees and family members (approx. 500 people). Also, Train Wellness Coordinator & other relevant staff in use of POLAR for health screening and tracking.

Performance Measures: Baseline assessment of approxiamately 500 employees and/or family members conducted. Development of corresponding exercise plans for each based on assessments. 2-4 Cap Metro staff have been trained in use of POLAR for risk assessment and fitness tracking.

Objective 3: Reduce workplace absenteeism at Capital Metro.

Performance Measures: Employee absenteeism rates, an indicator of worker satisfaction and health, has decreased from 12.4% in March 2004 to 6.9% in June 2006.