Medical Cost Savings for Participants and Nonparticipants in Health Risk Assessments, Lifestyle Management, Disease Management, Depression Management, and Nurseline in a Large Financial Services Corporation

Abstract

Purpose. To compare changes in medical costs between participants and nonparticipants in five different health and productivity management (HPM) programs. Design. Quasi-experimental pre/post intervention study. Setting. A large financial services corporation. Subjects. A cohort population of employees enrolled in medical plans (n = 49,793). Intervention. A comprehensive HPM program, which addressed health risks, acute and chronic conditions, and psychosocial disorders from 2005 to 2007. Incentives were used to encourage health risk assessment participation in years 2 and 3. Measures. Program participation and medical claims data were collected for members at the end of each program year to assess the change in total costs from the baseline period. Analysis. Multivariate analyses for participation categories were conducted comparing baseline versus program year cost differences, controlling for demographics. Results. All participation categories yielded a lower cost increase compared to nonparticipation and a positive return on investment (ROI) for years 2 and 3, resulting in a 2.45:1 ROI for the combined program years. Conclusion. Medical cost savings exceeded program costs in a wide variety of health and productivity management programs by the second year.