How we help employees understand the importance of ...

How we help employees understand the importance of population health programs.

Wellness Wisdom from Erik Eichinger,

HR Business Partner at Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness

There's a history of colon cancer in my family. My grandfather died of colon cancer, and my father had related health issues, as well. When I was in my thirties, at an appointment with my primary care physician, I told him about my family history. He encouraged me to get screened for colon cancer, even though I was 15 years shy of the recommended screening age.

After completing the screening, I learned there was tissue in my colon that would likely develop into colorectal cancer. I had the cancerous tissue removed, and my physician told me, "if you had waited until age 50, we don't know what would have happened." That's the scary part--what if I had waited until I was 50? Would what we found no longer have been treatable? Would I have even made it to age 50?

I have a friend with a similar story. She had the opportunity to get screened for breast cancer through her employer before she "needed to," and she was able to treat the aggressive form of breast cancer because it was caught early enough. She's now a breast cancer survivor. But what if that screening program wasn't offered to her, or she didn't participate?

Why am I sharing these scenarios? Because I believe in population health screenings, and I want to encourage others to believe in screenings as well.

It makes sense for employers to offer screenings. Any condition that's caught early saves the company money, and saves the lives of the company's most valuable resource (the people that work there). For example, my friend's employer likely spent significantly less on treating her early-stage cancer than it would have spent treating late stage cancer, which may have spread to other areas of her body.

It also makes sense to complete a screening if you're an employee--you gain valuable knowledge about your health at no cost. Personally, I always complete my employer-sponsored wellness screening. Every time I visit my doctor after getting my results, he's amazed. He tells me, "the fact that we can just have a conversation about your numbers and I don't need to order bloodwork unless we need to look at something even more in-depth, that's awesome!" However, not all employees participate in population health programs, and, from a human resources perspective, that's unfortunate. Employees are missing out on valuable, potentially life-saving information about their health.

How can we, as HR professionals, help increase engagement in health screening programs?

We need to focus on offering population health programs at the right time during

the year. If wellness programs are important to us, we need to give them the

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attention they deserve.

Often times, HR departments have multiple things going on at once, like open enrollment, employee engagement surveys, finalizing budgets, company celebrations, and volunteer work. When population health programs are going on while other initiatives are being pushed, the messages aimed at driving screening participation can get overshadowed. Moving population health screening programs to be separate from the bustle of other initiatives gives your organization the ability to focus on promoting the program, and lets employees know that their health is important.

In addition to letting wellness screening programs stand alone, it is important to time screenings in a way that makes sense in relation to other existing HR initiatives, specifically, open enrollment. Say that, at my organization, open enrollment is in November, and I complete my screening in October. If through my screening results I find out that I have a heart condition, by the time I receive my results and meet with my physician, open enrollment is likely over, and I may not have the chance to change my benefit elections based on my new health knowledge. If the population health screening program at my organization was offered earlier in the year, I would have the opportunity to select the right benefits plan or increase my flex spending for the following year.

Being mindful of when your company is offering population health screenings, and ensuring they are being offered at the right time, is how we, as HR professionals, can help boost engagement. We should work to clearly communicate the availability of these programs, as well as why they're important, and time them in comparison to our other initiatives so employees can use the knowledge gained from screening results to make smarter, more cost-effective healthcare decisions. I encourage you to let population health programs stand on their own so that employees have a chance to learn about their health and make informed benefit decisions.

For more information about employer-sponsored screenings and health intervention through Blueprint for Wellness, visit or call 1.800.654.7824.

Quest Diagnostics, the associated logo, and all associated Quest Diagnostics marks are the registered trademarks of Quest Diagnostics. All third-party marks--? and TM--are the property of their respective owners.? 2018 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. All rights reserved. 6/18

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