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White Paper: Employee Obesity is Number One Factor in Productivity Loss

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Leade Health, health coaching pioneers in the areas of weight management, stress management, tobacco cessation, and cardiovascular health, announced today the release of a new white paper, "The Business Case for Weight/Obesity Management Using Health Coaching Interventions." The paper not only addresses the impact of obesity on workplace productivity and medical costs, but focuses on health coaching as a way for employers to combat employees' weight issues through lifestyle intervention programs.

The free research paper can be downloaded via the following link: http://www.leadehealth.com/about_whitepaper.html

Key elements of the report cover research on obesity-related diseases, including:

-- Medical costs for obese employees are 77 percent higher than for healthy weight employees; obesity-related disabilities cost employers up to $8,720 per claimant. -- Obesity is estimated to account for 43% of all health care spending by U.S. businesses on coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis of the knee, and endometrial cancer combined. -- Obese workers have the highest prevalence of work limitations, with 6.9 percent experiencing such limitations compared to three percent among normal weight workers.

Employers are concerned not only with the ever-increasing costs and millions of lost work-days associated with obesity, but the rapid and dramatic increase in obesity over the last few years (a 74% increase in 10 years). With the shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, work environments are becoming more sedentary.

"Obesity is a growing epidemic in American society, but employers can turn the tide of rising health care costs with lifestyle intervention programs such as health coaching," explains Michael Mulvihill, President and CEO of Leade Health. "Studies have found that even modest weight loss or weight stabilization with an increase in physical activity can translate into significant health and economic benefits."

The paper suggests that overweight patients in well-designed programs can achieve a weight loss of as much as 10% of baseline weight. Lifestyle management programs that include physical activity, healthy eating, and good nutrition can also significantly help prevent costly conditions such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Conservative ROI estimates show that for every dollar spent on intervention programs, between $4.56 and $4.73 can be saved through restored productivity and medical savings.

At Leade Health, nearly 10,000 people have participated in iCanChange(TM), the firm's health coaching program for weight management. Of those, 89 percent have achieved weight loss or weight stabilization after one year. To learn more about Leade Health's health coaching services, please visit http://www.leadehealth.com/.

Leade Health

CONTACT: Elrond Lawrence of Leade Health, +1-831-460-9700

Web site: http://www.leadehealth.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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