Workforce Health--The Transition From Cost to Outcomes to Business Performance

Although employers can shift the cost/risk of health care to external claims payers through insurance, they can never shift the broader impacts of health-related well-being, lost time and performance outside of their organizational boundaries. This article traces the evolution of employer strategies to manage health, addressing what research tells us about the broader impacts of health and well-being on outcomes and establishing a broader framework for connecting health to business performance. The challenge that employers now face is to integrate a much broader set of factors to meet the goals of improved workforce health, well-being and business performance. Regardless of how employers decide to provide health benefits, these broader issues are a business imperative for every employer in the 21st century.