Influence of a mobile worksite health promotion program on health care costs

The continued rising cost of health care has prompted some business to invest in mobile worksite health promotion programs, which screen employees for health risk and pursue risk reduction through counseling, health education, and referral to medical treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a mobile worksite health promotion program on health care costs. We conducted a five-year retrospective study on 1,325 city employees insured by the City of Mesa, Arizona. Of these, 340 had participated in the CIGNA Health-plan mobile worksite health promotion program for two years. The participants were age-matched and sex-matched with 340 control subjects who were also employed and insured by the city. We analyzed participant and control group health care costs for two years before and two years after program initiation. Repeated measures analysis of variance (2 x 2 MANOVA) indicated a significant decrease in health care costs in both groups (P < .0063). The control group had a 7% decrease, while the participant group decreased 16%. Further analysis showed specific reductions in general sickness, outpatient and inpatient claims, and total claims use. Costs for substance abuse/psychological treatment and for emergency care did not decrease. Benefit-to-cost ratio for the entire program resulted in a $3.6 savings for every dollar spent. Mobile worksite health promotion programs can be effective in reducing employee health care expenditures among both program participants and nonparticipants.