Employers and employees are both frustrated by the continued rapid increase in medical costs. 

So much cost shifting has occurred that we are beginning to erode the value of the benefit plan.  Other drivers of medical trend, such as the U.S. demographics, technological advancement, and new drug development can not be controlled by the employer.   

The focus has to be on reducing utilization and the only way to reduce utilization is to focus on a healthier workforce.  In addition, the employer is in the best position to incentivize employees to change.  Given this is a multi-year process, the employer needs to have a clearly defined wellness strategy.

Employers have many questions on wellness plans:

• Are there different ways to incent your employees to participate and change their behavior?
• Do participation levels vary based on different incentives or level of incentives?
• What are the financial impacts to the employer under different options? 
• Is there an acceptable return on investment for the time and effort associated with wellness programs?

At Progressive Benefit Solutions, we work with clients everyday to answer these questions and make sure they get the value from their wellness programs.