Wellness: Where's the ROI?

I just returned from Blue Cross Blue Shield's press briefing "How America's Employers are Promoting Health and Wellness Programs in the Workplace," and it's really sparked some thinking.

Read the "Reporter's Notebook" post here.

Benefit managers are talking big about how they are putting programs in place to control chronic disease and how they're trying to actively engage their employee population, but very few have data to back it up -- at least not initially. So in today's cash-pressed economy, how are they able to convince their CFO's and CEO's that such programs will be effective, particularly if said programs are going to cost big bucks?

It's common sense that controlling disease through prevention is more effective than point-of-care treatment ... or at least it is in our office. But very little is ever said about how benefit managers are actually making the case to the c-suite that wellness is necessary. I know we're all hoping that benevolent executives will realize the soft-dollar benefits of such programs and see that they'll outweigh hard-dollar costs in the short term, but it surely seems logical not every executive will feel comfortable with the possibility of a return five years down the road.

So here's my question for this morning: how are the benefit managers out there making the argument that short term cost equals long term gain? Where are you searching for your data, and what sorts of time frames are you setting? What research is going into evaluating your population before programs begin, and what sorts of budgets are you asking for?

Share your thoughts. After all, beginning the conversation is the first key to finding a solution.
-McLean Robbins