Fitness pays, health insurer Highmark Inc. found after a four-year study of its employees and corporate wellness program.

More specifically, employers can save $1.65 in health care expenses for every dollar spent on a comprehensive employee wellness program, according to the peer-reviewed study, which will be published Feb. 11 in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The findings are likely to fuel a movement to pare the cost of health care claims by keeping employees healthy.

Comparing employees who participated in the company's wellness program with those who did not, the Downtown-based insurer saved $1.3 million during the four-year period of 2002 to 2005, according to Brian Day, director of advanced analytics at Highmark. Study participants were not limited to people who were already fit, he said, which surprised researchers.

"They had the whole gamut of issues -- chronic conditions, back problems," Day said. "It wasn't just the healthy people participating."

The study did not measure improvements in worker productivity resulting from better fitness and health, an area where far bigger savings may be seen, according to Ron Goetzel, vice president at Stamford, Conn.-based consultant Thomson Healthcare and director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at Emory University. Goetzel, who consulted on the Highmark study, said other researchers have shown that productivity losses from employee emotional or physical problems can exceed medical costs by one-and-a-half times.

The Highmark study is unusual because few studies have measured the return on investment for wellness programs, Goetzel said.

"There are very, very few studies done in real world environments that look at wellness programs," Goetzel said. "Most research in the corporate world has not come up to speed in using these methods."

In all, 1,892 employees were enrolled in the study, or 19 percent of the insurer's work force, Day said. Highmark began a modest wellness program in 2002 with Web-based information and classes, but it has since added fitness centers and walking programs, creating a "very rich" program.

"The programs that are most successful address all the risk factors," including smoking, obesity and regular exercise, he said.

Geri Recht, principal at the Downtown offices of human resources consultant Towers Perrin, welcomed the findings, saying that more than 50 percent of her clients either already have wellness programs or are in the process of organizing one. Management buy-in is key to a successful program, she said.

"Employers now realize that wellness can create a positive return if it's embraced by leadership and if it's part of the culture of the company, if the company really lives wellness," Recht said.

Downtown insurance broker Henderson Brothers Inc. introduced a health savings account and high-deductible plan for employees in 2005, the same time the company built a gym and rolled out a variety of programs, including yoga and cooking classes, to keep employees fit. The company, which employs 100 people, has not yet measured the return on its investment, said Chairman Dan Grealish.

"We have found that it's hard to quantify the benefits for expenses associated with wellness," Grealish said. "But intuitively you know it's the right thing to do."

Article originally posted by Kris B. Mamula at the Pittsburgh Business Times