Study Finds Health and Wellness Initiatives in Work Place Increasing, Despite Lack of Evidence That They Save Money

"Health and Wellness Initiatives: The Shift From Managing Illness to Promoting Health," Center for Studying Health System Change: The issue brief found that health plan initiatives designed to promote health and wellness among workers have become commonplace, even though there is a lack of evidence that the programs save businesses money. The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based on HSC's 2007 site visits to 12 nationally representative metropolitan communities. According to the study, the increase in health and wellness initiatives is a result of large employers looking for long-term strategies to address rising costs and to support their plan to give employees more responsibility for health care decisions and costs (HSC release, 6/4).