Washington Counties’ Businesses To Give Online Health Questionnaire to Employees

As part of an overall effort to curb "skyrocketing" health costs, some members of the Inland Northwest Business Coalition on Health in Washington state's Spokane and Kootenai counties soon will begin asking employees to complete an online "point-and-click assessment" of their health, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reports. The companies plan to use the results of the questionnaires to develop wellness programs, improve productivity and "reduce absenteeism." The questionnaire will be optional and individual results will be kept confidential. Companies will receive an "aggregate report" on all employees. The coalition, which has almost 40 members, including Providence Health Services, Empire Health Services and Spokane County, that employ some 20,000 workers overall, is using the YouFirst.com health assessment tool, which is owned by a subsidiary of drug company Pharmacia. Norm Charney, president of the coalition, said, "If businesses don't take care of their human capital, it costs them money." Katherine Capps, president of Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Health2 Resources, said that more employers across the country are using "Web-based tools to educate workers in an attempt to manage health benefits costs," according to the Spokesman-Review (Johnson, Spokane Spokesman-Review, 9/24).