Purpose: Evaluate if there is a(n): 1) reduction in health risk behaviors and 2) association between health and wellness initiative participation and claims costs decreases overtime.
Design: Health risk behavior change consisted of the analysis of pre (2009) - post (2019) measures of health questionnaire participants. The medical and pharmaceutical claims costs evaluation consisted of a time-series (2016-2019) design with a comparison group.
Setting: A large mid-western university with a health system.
Sample: The health risk behavior sample ranged from 5215-5399, depending on the variable of interest. The medical and pharmaceutical costs sample used a cohort of participants (participating all 4 years, n=11114) and non-participants (not participating all 4 years, n=4776).
Intervention: Comprehensive employee health and well-being initiative.
Measures/analysis: McNemar's tests were used to identify bivariate associations between 2009 and 2019 health risks. The claims cost analysis used propensity score matching based on select demographics and linear mixed-effects regression modeling.
Results: Results show statistically significant (P > .001) improvements (ranging from -2.1% to -12.5%) in 7 of 8 health risk behaviors. 2016 and 2019 claims costs have a lower statistically significant (P > .001) percent increase for participants (32.6%) compared to non-participants (47.5%).
Conclusion: Employers, may consider implementing a comprehensive health and wellness program as part of their strategy to assist in health behavior risk reduction and health care cost containment.
Keywords: health risk behaviors and claims cost trends; program evaluation.