ENGAGING EMPLOYEES IN THEIR HEALTHAn Evidence-Based Approach to Workplace Wellness Through a Unique Platform

CASE STUDY

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An Essential Need

An Innovative Solution

In order to fully understand the health risks of their population, Adventist HealthCare needed a comprehensive, data-driven approach with maximum engagement of both employees and spouses.

In collaboration with LifeWork Strategies (a segment of Adventist HealthCare), Pursuant Health coordinated and implemented a program for Adventist HealthCare that achieved 91% employee and 70% spousal engagement rates through the utilization of health and wellness kiosks. This allowed Adventist HealthCare to abide by USPSTF recommendations by utilizing a convenient, targeted screening approach combined with an NCQA-certified health risk assessment.

As the healthcare system shifts from a fee-based to a value-based delivery model, the focus on improving health outcomes and preventing the proliferation of high-cost, complex diseases is front and center. Many employers now invest in employee wellness programs that foster a healthy, productive work environment while reducing healthcare costs.

Adventist HealthCare, a five-hospital system based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is one of many organizations dedicated to improving employee wellness. As a healthcare provider, Adventist HealthCare places a heightened value on sustaining a healthy workforce. LifeWork Strategies, a segment of Adventist HealthCare that also designs employee wellness solutions for other businesses, manages the internal employee wellness programming for Adventist HealthCare.

Introducing an effective employee wellness program starts with obtaining baseline knowledge of the population to understand the health issues in need of addressing. For Adventist HealthCare, the desire to improve workplace wellness required a concrete understanding of the employee population health in its current state. LifeWork Strategies identified a need to efficiently capture comprehensive data on this population and found a partner that was able to do so in Pursuant Health.

In executing Adventist HealthCare’s mission to instill wellness in our community, we must

promote the same standard of health within our organization. Encouraging convenient screenings

and understanding our employees’ health needs are critical in our pursuit to create a healthy

workplace. We are focused on creating actionable goals that can help employees begin their

specific wellness journey. Easy access to wellness information allows us to focus on our employee

well-being and create engagement tools needed to improve health outcomes. Pursuant Health

helps us streamline the biometric screening process so we can easily capture important data we

need to shape our wellness initiatives.- Terry Forde, President and CEO, Adventist HealthCare

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Provide a highly accessible screening tool that can be easily used by all health plan employees and their spouses

Perform health risk assessments and biometric tests that utilize a digital platform, therefore reducing paper exchange

Reduce touch points and streamline the assessment process in order to give employees and spouses a convenient screening experience

Encourage participation so that Adventist HealthCare employees feel engaged and empowered in discovering their health status

Objectives

For a 90 day period between August 4th and November 1st, LifeWork Strategies and Pursuant Health embarked on a pilot to test the effectiveness of self-service kiosks in obtaining meaningful health data in a manner that was both accessible and convenient for Adventist HealthCare employees and their spouses. During this time, the 7,200 eligible participants in the employee wellness program used Pursuant Health kiosks to take both their biometric tests (including BMI, weight, pulse and blood pressure) and complete an NCQA-Certified health risk assessment (HRA) in one highly-convenient visit. Age and gender-dependent screenings (e.g. Cholesterol) were required only for the subset of the population based on USPSTF “A” or “B” recommendations.

Aligning with Adventist HealthCare’s goal to make the screening process and NCQA-Certified HRA accessible to both employees and spouses, Pursuant Health kiosks were available in multiple locations. Employees could use six kiosks located throughout the hospitals. Rather than having to adjust their schedules to accommodate a doctors’ visit or attend an organized health screening, employees had 24/7 access to the kiosks. Both employees and spouses also had the option of using a network of 118 local kiosks conveniently located in retail pharmacies at Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Safeway stores. These conveniences allowed for those who work nontraditional hours (for example, overnight shifts which are common in hospitals) to easily utilize the kiosks.

Program Basics

After Adventist HealthCare employees and spouses were initially informed about the program, communication was a continual effort throughout the pilot. Health plan members received a consistent

flow of information through the following outlets:

• Direct mailers

• Posters

• Flyers

• Table tents located in cafeterias

• Email campaigns

• Contests

Communication Strategy

While all program members had access to the kiosks, health plan employees and their spouses were given an incentive. Health plan members could have a premium health plan with better offerings and more savings if they used the Pursuant Health kiosk to fulfill the following core requirements:

• Non-invasive biometric testing using the kiosk • Health risk assessment (HRA) completion either at the kiosk or online • Completion of any additional tests as per USPSTF gender, age and risk-dependent recommendations

Incentives

The Approach

97%said using the Kiosk

was an easy experience

could see the value in using the Kiosk

82%

75%

51%

use the Kiosk at least once a quarter

use the Kiosk at least once a month

thought that taking the HRA on the Kiosk was easier than on a computer

74%

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Key Findings

Spouses are generally more difficult to engage in wellness programs given their detachment from the workplace. With this in mind, Adventist HealthCare chose to include spouses for the first time in their employee wellness program in order to observe if the convenience of the Pursuant Health kiosk could influence this group to participate. The 70% engagement rate suggests that utilizing a self-service screening assessment is not only effective for employees, but also their hard-to-engage spouses.

Spousal Engagement Made Easy

The exceptionally high levels of engagement and satisfaction for participants can be attributed to the ease and efficiency the Pursuant Health kiosk provides to users. By utilizing a two-tiered approach that offers both the health risk assessment and non-invasive biometric testing, the screening process is one all-inclusive task that takes the average user less than ten minutes. The streamlined tests, combined with geographic accessibility, eradicate the barriers that often prevent health screenings

In addition to being efficient for users, the kiosk significantly simplified the screening and data collection process at Adventist HealthCare for LifeWork Strategies by eliminating paper transmission and reducing touch points.

Streamlined Approach = Less Barriers

When evaluating the results, it is important to consider the impact convenience had on achieving high engagement. An astounding 91% of employees and 70% of spouses who were offered the premium health plan engaged in the screening process through the Pursuant Health network. 76% of those individuals chose to take their HRA at the kiosk instead of online.

One of the biggest convenience factors was that the kiosk could be accessed in a multitude of locations at any time. Employers planning to implement screening assessments and wellness programs in their workplace may therefore consider the use of a tool that can live both onsite and offsite to maximize engagement for both employees and spouses.

Convenience is Key

Going ForwardThe data collected by the Pursuant Health kiosks is crucial, but equally important are the implications of this

wider data collection. More data allows LifeWork Strategies to have a better understanding of the population

at hand, thus increasing the ability to design more specific and helpful programs for the population. If such

initiatives are successful in improving the health of participants, costs can be saved in healthcare coverage.

The success rate for the initial 90 day screening period suggests that the Adventist HealthCare population

may benefit from continued use of the Pursuant Health kiosk. Future efforts will be made with Pursuant

Health and otherwise to achieve the goals of improving the health and well-being of Adventist HealthCare

employees and spouses as well as reduce annual healthcare costs.

91% 70%

About Pursuant Health

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Pursuant Health’s purpose is to engage individuals to manage their health

and improve outcomes. We accomplish this by providing a unique platform that allows the capture

and integration of health related data. In summer 2010, the company received a $1.2M grant from the

National Institute of Health (NIH), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to

help enable innovation for self-service healthcare and prevention. In 2012, following FDA-Clearance as a

Class II Medical Device, Pursuant Health introduced its next-generation interactive kiosk, offering vision,

blood pressure, pulse, weight, symptom checking, body mass index and overall health assessments.

The company’s bilingual kiosks improve outcomes by not only providing convenient health screenings,

but also by giving users recommendations for follow-up care. Strategic investors and partners include

Outerwall Inc. (owner of the Redbox and Coinstar brands), Walter Huff (founder of HBOC), Anthem and

Dell. For more information, please visit www.pursuanthealth.com

About Adventist HealthCare LifeWork Strategies

Adventist Healthcare LifeWork Strategies, a member of Adventist HealthCare, partners with employers

to build customized, innovative solutions to create an engaging culture of well-being in the workplace;

a more productive workforce; a healthier bottom line; and, reduced healthcare costs. Based in

Gaithersburg, Maryland, LifeWork Strategies provides EAP and wellness services to clients nationally

and globally. When EAP and wellness are implemented together for an organization, the result will be

a well-rounded life-work combination, emphasizing both the emotional and physical well-being of each

employee. Our services in both of these categories include, but are not limited to online health portal and

mobile app, health and screening services, data and disease management services, risk stratification and

analysis, targeted interventions for at-risk populations, corporate fitness classes, NCQA-certified health

risk assessments, wellness coaching, influenza vaccinations and onsite/online seminars and workshops.

LifeWork Strategies helps businesses of all sizes and industries find their own healthy and embark

on their specific well-being journey through the implementation of these programs. Our approach is

consultative, hands-on, evidence-based and tailored to the culture of each workforce we touch.

For more information, please visit www.lifeworkstrategies.com