Health Care Reform and Wellness – nobody is leading, there’s no one to follow, so how about you get the government out of your way!

When I read about or watch discussions on television about the Health Care Bill, two famous people come to mind.  The first is the therapist and leadership expert Rabbi Edwin F Friedman.  He remarked “The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change.  Communication does not depend on syntax or eloquence, or rhetoric or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard.  People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them.  Even the choicest words lose their power when they are used to overpower.  Attitudes are the real figure of speech.”

In more recent years former Surgeon General Richard Cardona was quoted as saying, “America's obesity epidemic will dwarf the threat of terrorism if the nation does not reduce the number of people who are severely overweight.  Obesity is the terror within.  Unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9-11 or any other terrorist attempt.  Where will our soldiers and sailors and airmen come from?  Where will our policemen and firemen come from if the youngsters today are on a trajectory that says they will be obese, laden with cardiovascular disease, increased cancers and a host of other diseases when they reach adulthood?”

And now for the immortal words of wisdom at the end of his mini tirade - The surgeon general offered few specific solutions but said public policy reforms would not be helpful in curbing obesity, explaining that common-sense health decisions cannot be legislated.

I’m not sure what you get from these 2 observations.  I’ve got my thoughts and ideas.  When it comes to health care reform it’s not just the sheer size of the bill that most people oppose.  It’s also the delivery of it.  To say that most of us are being pursued by the words of eloquent orators who have little or no real grasp on the day to day travails of the average man on the street is surely an understatement.  Extolling the virtues of legislation that has zero impact on the creators of said legislation smacks not just of hypocrisy it also makes you feel that legislators are giggling behind your back as they point their fingers at you as you try your best to figure out what’s going to happen over the next ten years.  And I’m talking about you, the CEO, head of HR, office manager or a health care representative.  It goes without saying that troops in the trenches are going to be walking around with glossed over eyes, hoping that someone is watching out for them!

Which brings us to Senor Cardona’s comments.  Because it’s his concerns about ‘common-sense health decisions’ that are ultimately going to create the greatest rift between employer and employee since the advent of unionism in the early 1800’s. As important as unions have been in the lives of workers (my dad was a coal miner in the north of England and without unions most likely would have died down the pit) I believe the embracing of wellness programs will be the next breakthrough.  Albeit for different reasons.  And of course in this instance the implementation will be coming from the desk of the owner, or board, or CEO.  In fact I anticipate seeing many corporate heads opening up a company -wide meeting with something on the lines of “we’re gathered here today to discuss the biggest obstacle the company has faced in recent years.  If we are unable to figure out a way to stop the annual increases in our insurance premiums we fear the company will be unable to be competitive in today’s marketplace.”
Now, if you’re saying that’s a load of rubbish, let me pose a couple of questions for you.  Have you seen anything in the health care bill that is going to lower health care costs?  If yes, please let me know.  More importantly, have you seen the following graph?

Average Per Employee Health Care Costs

How many companies do you know will be able to survive increases like that?  And it’s irrelevant as to whether you believe that the increases are absorbed by a company or a self insured individual.  Most fiscal experts would say that’s a collision course for bankruptcy.  Hey, maybe the plan is to make this a reality so the government can come to the rescue once again and offer financial assistance in the form of a TARP and then become a part owner the way they did with autos, banks and insurance.  No, that’ll never happen!

Okay, let’s get pragmatic for a second.  We all know that those ‘common-sense health decisions’ are the driver of the increase in health care costs.  Let’s not beat about the bush.  Or try to place the blame somewhere else.  I’ve got lots of acquaintances who own companies who have watched their workforce’s waists grow over the years.  And with that came costs for the pre-diabetic treatments.  Then the first chronic disease, followed by the second.  And lest we forget, there’s the diminished productivity because, excuse my bluntness; weight is a factor when it comes to performance.  And if you’d like to get a better perspective, ask a fit and healthy employee what he or she thinks about their colleague who is constantly out of breath, has to take breaks, can’t perform mundane tasks, misses work all the time because of illness (if not their own then that of their spouse or children who are also overweight – birds of a feather!) or is just downright lazy!  Go ahead, I dare you.  It’s called seeing things the way they are, not the way you would wish they were.

So what are the answers?  Actually, there’s only one answer.  It’s called WELLNESS.  And here are the main factors of a wellness program that will generate results.

First and foremost is Open and Honest Communication.  We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve had to deliver news that is going to change people’s lives.  And we know that procrastination just makes things worse – for everybody.  I’ve been the deliverer and the recipient of the decision to make changes to the ‘company car’ policy.  As well as the ‘per diem’ travel program.  None of them were easy.  There’s no such thing as everyone’s a winner.  Because the couple of employees who kept getting tickets or fender benders ruined it for the good drivers when the company realized car insurance premiums were spiraling out of control!  Let’s not talk about the knuckleheads who always had filet mignon for dinner  when they were on the road because ‘I deserved it!’

And whenever I’ve been the person breaking the news my approach is to always create a scenario that would let the employee empathize with me.  Of course car insurance was easy.  Ask a mom or dad how thrilled they are going to be when they see their monthly bill when Dale Jr. turns 16 and follows through on his plan to buy that mustang from the money his grandpa left him.  What about his goal to attend college 3000 miles away – all paid for by mum and dad?  Reality will have finally settled in when he’s driving a Honda Civic (quite often with a Domino’s Pizza sign on the top) and attending a local technical college with the hopes of finding something he’s passionate about!

Okay, we’ve delivered the message.  Now we have to show Complete and Utter Buy In for the Wellness Program.  Don’t waste a lot of time of dedicated and ambitious health and wellness proponents by offering up some dictatorial mandate that will drive a huge wedge in the relationship between management and troops in the trenches.  They (troops in the trenches) understand that it’s not a perfect world and they’re not going to have that corner office with all the windows, the parking space and perks out of your ears!  But you can definitely expect some serious resentment if a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ policy is implemented.  And before anyone starts panicking about having to join a gym or parade around the parking lot in the wee hours wearing spandex, don’t.  You can’t expect that of the troops so they can’t expect it of you.  All that’s required is participation.  Simple but inspirational stuff.  Publicize your health and wellness goals.  Let the employees hold YOU accountable.  Park as far away as possible.  Walk with staff on lunch breaks.  Be seen eating fresh fruit all the time – make it entertaining.  Because you must understand that health and fitness is not easy for anybody!  No matter which rung of the corporate ladder you’ve got your foot on!
Now we’re cooking!  The 800 pound gorilla is no longer hiding behind a curtain.

The ‘powers that be’ have announced that this is, without exception, a team effort.  Now it’s time implement the real meat and potatoes of a wellness program.  The Results and Progress of the Participants.  Wellness programs are, as I’m sure you’re aware, very fashionable these days.  So it would be impossible to ever find time to critique them.  Subsequently, it’s very important that in your search for a provider you ask them ‘How is the progress tracked?’  If, in the response there is no mention of baseline data, move on to the next option!  It’s that simple.  In future articles I’ll discuss the working components of wellness programs;  what must be included, what’s a good carrot and stick approach etc.  But for now, I want to hammer home the absolute necessity of a detailed breakdown of the health, wellness and fitness of each and every employee WITH, here’s the kicker, reasonable future goals.

And now would be a good time to explain the difference between participation and results.  Lots of wellness companies tout their participation of 80% or 92%.

Which sounds excellent doesn’t it?  Wouldn’t that be something to be proud of?  Well, the questions that need to be asked are:  Has the participation in the program resulted in empirical data that validates the time, money and effort spent on the program?  You can drill down further with the following: have people gone from obese to overweight?  Have people gone from overweight to healthy weight.

Have employees who started with 3 chronic diseases improved and now have two or one or none!  How much less is being spent on claims.  What about pharmacy costs?  Workers comp claims?  What about that statistic that obese employees take 13 more days off than health employees?  Have you seen an uptick in productivity?

You see, it’s all fine and dandy if the goal is nothing more than participation.  But that would be the same as saying that all you need to run a successful company is to have the employees show up for work.  Show me a company without job descriptions, performance appraisals, goals and quotas, production requirements, reviews, reports….the list goes on….and I’ll show you a company that won’t survive.  You have to have the same mentality when it comes to wellness programs.  If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it!

I wish I had a way of looking into the future and seeing what kind of impact the new health care reform act is going to have on the way companies do business.  I don’t.  On the flipside I don’t think I need any special skills to see where obesity is going to be in 10 years time.  Mister Cardona called that one.  And I saw it happening in front of my eyes when I had lunch with a colleague at the deli today!  But there’s still a glimmer of hope and it’s called WELLNESS.

Next month I’m going to be even more pragmatic when I show you how all of the above is an effort in futility if you don’t include carrots/sticks and a unique way to include all employees.

About The Author

Mel O’Keefe is the CEO (Chief Exercise Officer) of Virtual Fitness Coach – www.virtualfitnesscoach.com   Mel has been a personal trainer, motivational speaker/coach and athlete for the last 30 years.  With a mid life crisis/sabbatical for half a dozen years when he was obese!  So having ‘been there and done that’ from the fat and fit perspective he calls it the way it is, not the way people wish it was.  His pragmatic approach to revealing and slimming down the 800 pound gorilla commonly referred to as the ‘obesity epidemic’ is educational, motivational and inspirational.

Virtual Fitness Coach was developed when Mel realized that success in the health and fitness industry is attainable when a personal trainer or coach enters the picture.  However, less than 5% of the population has the financial means to hire one.  Virtual Fitness Coach takes the experience of working with a top class fitness professional, nutritional expert and motivational speaker and makes it affordable for the masses and available 24/7

Irrelevant of your opinions as to what will happen with health care reform, creating a culture of health and wellness within a corporation will let the company decide how they are going to spend their health care dollars.

Mel can be contacted at (843) 270 2548 or mel@virtualfitnesscoach.com