Collaborative Employee Wellness: Living Healthy With Diabetes

Innovative approaches to managing an employee population with a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus can mitigate costs for employers by improving employees' health. This article describes such an approach at McCormick & Company, Inc., where participants had statistically significant improvements in weight, average plasma glucose concentration (also called glycated hemoglobin or A1c) and cholesterol. A simulation analysis applying the findings of the study population to Maryland employees with a baseline A1c of greater than 6.0% showed that participation in the program could improve glycemic control in these patients, reducing the A1 c by 0.24% on average, with associated cost savings for the employer.