Employee Health Screenings

Employee health screenings, usually offered through a health or wellness fair, are one of the best ways to identity past, current, and potential health issues among employees. When used in conjunction with health risk appraisals, employee health screenings are an effective way to identify risk factors among employees and help them make behavior changes to address them.  
The most common screenings offered at the worksite include blood pressure screenings, cholesterol screenings, glucose testing (diabetes risk), body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

Depending on your wellness program budget other screenings may include bone mineral density, lung function testing, vision, hearing, prostate and thyroid tests, and skin cancer screenings. These tests can often cost extra but they can be very useful and effective in early detection.

 

I am a strong believer in offering as many health screenings as possible because knowledge is power. The more employees know about their health, the better their chances of making changes.

 

Why Offer Health Screenings?

The first reason to offer employee health screenings is to detect a disease or illness before it occurs. We have all heard the saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" right? As an employer, you are telling the employee that their health is important to them and that you care about their well being.

 

Not only are you trying to keep them healthy but you are also preventing huge medical care costs later down the road. From my years of experience in the wellness industry and most recently an insurance broker, I learned that the average cost of treatment for early detection of prostate cancer is about $45,000 versus $150,000 for treatments in a later state. The difference is a life but that savings can also pay for a very comprehensive wellness program.

 

The most important thing you can offer employees is a chance to achieve or maintain good quality of life. Offering employees the ability to have their health screenings completed at the worksite removes barriers such as lack of time, access to healthcare, physician fees, and time way from their family.

Selecting A Vendor and Cost

There are thousands of vendors, national and local, that can help deliver employee health screening services. The cost of the health screenings depends on the amount and types of services you determine best for your organization but generally run between $25-$200 per participant.

 

For employers working on a tight budget I recommend checking with local hospitals, experienced phlebotomy or nursing students, and health insurance carriers to see what they have to offer for low-cost employee health screenings.

 

You might also check in with your health insurance carrier and determine if you have a wellness or routine care benefit built into your existing plan that may cover routine health exams (i.e. mammogram's, lab draws, etc). If so, check with them to see what screenings would be covered under this benefit. Since you have already budgeted money towards prevention, you might as well promote this to your employees so that more participate.

 

Most Important Employee Health Screenings to Offer

While searching for a vendor to meet your programming needs think about the goals and objectives that you have set for your program.

 

• What do you hope to accomplish as part of your wellness program?
• What information do employees want to have?
• What resources do you have available?

 

Give prevalence to screenings that will provide the biggest "bang for your buck" and those that focus on early detection and disease prevention. Also make sure that the type of screenings offered are easy and practical for the worksite. A womanly exam offered at the worksite is probably not the best place to conduct this type of screening. Keep that in the Dr.'s office!

 

Here are my recommendations to be sure you include as part of your employee health screenings.

 

Blood Pressure

An easy, yet effective test for identifying a very serious and treatable medical condition.

Biometrics

These screenings include, height, weight, body fat percentage, and body mass index. They are most important for identifying risk for diseases related to overweight and obesity.Body Mass Index can be misleading and therefore body fat should be offered as well to predict risk.

 

Glucose

Early detection of the onside of diabetes. Using the inter-venous (through a vein) method is much more of an accurate method of testing for high blood sugar levels and potential diabetes. This is an important screening component as the disease rate of diabetes continues to rise rapidly.

 

Lipid Panel

This test includes total cholesterol, good cholesterol(HDL), bad cholesterol (LDL), a HDL/Total Cholesterol ratio--which is a good prediction of development of heart attack, stroke, and heart disease. Also--using the inter-venous method of testing is the most accurate method.

 

Prostate (PSA) screenings and thyroid (TSH) screenings are very important as the rates of prostate and thyroid cancer continues to increase. They often cost more than a "basic" screening but can be added to most plans. If you can't afford these screenings as a worksite still offer them at the employees expense.

 

ColoRectal Cancer

Screening kits are also useful for employees to take home and if detected early.....100% treatable. Be sure to focus on providing as many essential health screening opportunities for employees as you can. The benefits definitely out-weigh the costs when it comes to your employees' health.  

 

 

OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:

 

Health Risk Appraisals and Data Collection

Tips Planning a Health Fair

Wellness Incentives that Work

Employee Reward Guidelines

Health Coaching for Employees

Body Mass Index: What Does It Tell Us?

 

 

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