Changing behavior is a key to reducing medical costs.  The designing of a wellness program for your organizations employees that treats everyone equally increases it effectiveness.  The question is to know the key behaviors that affect your organization employees, so that your wellness program deals with them.  There is no reason to have an emphasis on an area currently not affecting your employees.

So what is an organization to do to collect the information?  Require a health survey run by your health care provider to be issued to each employee and be a requirement for each covered member.  To ensure all are treated equally mandate that anyone including dependents for which coverage is requested is required to have a completed survey.  Make the survey required for coverage.  The information captured will allow your organization with the health care insurer to offer incentives for individuals to be more proactive in increasing healthy behavior.

The other aspect to the health survey is to find ways to reduce the stresses in a person life. The Family Medical Leave Act provided protection from discrimination to care for a family member, etc.  It does not address the fact that your organization needs to complete the work while the person is gone.  The individual knows it and is under lots of distress already dealing with the family health issues.  Stress increases the likelihood of illness in body of the employee.  Some organizations have begun to recognize the burden and are working to reduce the care burden by offering geriatric care managers, childcare coordinators or employee assistance programs.

The choice for your organization is to pay a little now or lot more later.