Wellness incentives pay for themselves

Annual group health care costs in southeastern Ohio's Montgomery County reached an average of $13,236 per plan member in 2010 — 44% higher than the national average — and were projected to exceed $29,000 in the coming plan year.

To curb the rapid inflation, Montgomery County reworked its benefits strategy beginning with the 2011 plan year, including gradually implementing wellness initiatives to steer its 4,300 employees to greater awareness and ownership of their behavior and medical care.

Today, the county's average annual health care costs have fallen to $11,400 per plan member, about 25% below the national average, according to county documents.

Additionally, Montgomery County's wellness initiatives generated moderate to significant reductions in cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes and chronic back pain among its employees from 2011 to 2014.

“When you look at where we were on health care claims when we started versus what we spend on incentives in the program, we've more than paid for the program,” said assistant county administrator Amy Wiedeman.

The program costs about $5 million with health care spending totaling about $40 million. Ms. Wiedeman said much of the credit for the success was the county's comprehensive communications strategy promoting the program's initiatives, incentives and potential health benefits — no simple undertaking, she said, given the diverse nature of the county's workforce.