This document discusses how integrating injury prevention into wellness programs can reduce healthcare costs and boost productivity. It provides two case studies of companies that successfully implemented injury prevention programs. The first company reduced musculoskeletal disorder costs from $2 million to $160k annually by establishing ergonomics processes and measuring risks. The second company coordinated benefits and saw a 40-45% drop in lost time claims through multidisciplinary teams and a phased approach. Overall, the document argues that risk-based, employee-engaged, and measurable injury prevention programs can significantly benefit organizations' costs and productivity when integrated with wellness.

1. The Healthy Employee: How Injury Prevention
Reduces Company Healthcare Costs and Boosts
Worker Productivity
Kim Weiss of Remedy Interactive
Karen English of Spring Consulting

2. Injury Prevention Should Have a Role in Wellness
Programs
• Injury prevention should be a critical component of an HR
Manager’s high quality wellness program
• The impact of injury prevention on healthcare costs and
workforce productivity is substantial
2

3. Injury Prevention and Wellness – Working
Towards the Same Goals
3

4. Injury Prevention Programs Do
What Wellness Does
well·ness
noun
1. the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind,
especially as the result of deliberate effort.
2. an approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing
illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing
treating diseases.
Source: www.dictionary.com
4

5. Wellness Programs Exist to Decrease the Cost of Many
Employee Benefits
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
EE GH STD LTD Incidental
Absence
FMLA
AverageCostsPerFTE
Full Costs by Program
(2002 Benefits Data)
Payments Lost Productivity
Source: “The Business Case for Managing Health and Productivity: Results from IBI’s Full Cost Benchmarking Program”, June 2004
Costs are both direct (medical + indemnity) and indirect (productivity and absenteeism)
5

6. 71%
19%
10%
Full Costs of Employee Benefits
(2002 Benefits Data)
Lost productivity
from absence
Employee WC and GH
Medical Care
Wage Replacement
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
EE GH WC STD LTD Incidental
Absence
FMLA
AverageCostsPerFTE
Full Costs by Program
(2002 Benefits Data)
Payments Lost Productivity
Source: “The Business Case for Managing Health and Productivity: Results from IBI’s Full Cost Benchmarking Program”, June 2004
Injury Prevention Programs Decrease WC Costs, But
(Also) Employee Benefits Costs
6

7. Audience Question
Have you experienced back or neck pain in the
last few weeks – Yes or No?
7

8. 8
Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Injuries Are the Top
Driver of Medical Costs
8
% of Claims % of Costs
1. Musculoskeletal &
Related
21% 18%
2. Heart/Circulatory 13% 17%
3. Neoplasm/Cancer 9% 14%
4. Digestive-Related 7% 11%
5. Respiratory-Related 8% 7%
Top Medical Drivers
Source: Based on Medical Baseline and Disability Baseline studies presented by Cigna
8

9. Productivity Costs Are Also Negatively Impacted By
MSDs
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as repetitive strain injury (tendonitis,
carpal tunnel syndrome, etc..) and back pain are one of the leading
contributors of lost productivity and a rise in group heath, disability and
workers’ compensation costs
187 million
per year
... from MSD pain
Lost Work Days
284 hours
per year
… from MSD pain
Lost Productivity
$61 billion
Annual lost
productivity costs for
MSD-related pain for
U.S. businesses
(JAMA study)
Source: “Lost Productive Time and Cost Due to Common Pain Conditions in the US Workforce,” The Journal of the
American Medical Association, Nov 2003
9

10. Costs of Treating MSDs Are Growing
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
900
$ billions
1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
510
361
719
Source: The Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases in the United States: 2008
In 2004, companies spent $510 billion to treat
musculoskeletal disorders – 41% more than 1996
- with $719 billion projected for 2012
10

11. MSDs Are Both Occupational and Non-Occupational
MSD injury prevention programs are often managed by Safety
18% of medical
costs are MSD-
related
Group Health
80% of claims are
MSD-related
Lower back injuries
consume 33% of
every WC dollar per
year
Workers’ Comp
Managed by Health & Safety Managed by HR & Benefits
11

12. But Health & Safety and HR Don’t Always Work
Together to Solve These Issues
Workers’ Compensation Disability, Absence, Health & Productivity
Management
Work-related/occupational Not work-related/non-occupational
Handled by Risk Management or Finance Handled by Human Resources or Benefits
Coverage Type(s)
State mandated – regulated by NCCI, NAIC Employer choice of benefit – regulated by ERISA
Purchased by employer Purchased by employer and/or
employee/individual
Techniques, Management & Measurement
Financing structures are advanced (i.e., retros,
deductibles, self-insurance, captives)
Financing structures more limited to insured
versus self-insured
Proactive claim management process, mostly due
to the fact that the injury is work-related and
employer is accountable for the cost
Reactive claim management process – injury did
not occur at the work place – employer may or
may not be accountable for the cost
Involves a workplace safety and therefore
preventative component
Focused on employee health and therefore
wellness based
12

13. Audience Question
If you have a Safety Manager in your
organization, do you work with them – Yes or
No?
13

14. There Are Two Approaches To Doing
Injury Prevention Well
Collaborate
with Health &
Safety
Own ItOR
Either way, you have more control over outcomes than wellness
14

15. Four Keys to Success In an Injury Prevention Program
1. Risk-Based Approach
2. Employee Engagement
3. Integration (where beneficial)
4. Measuring Impact
15

16. Identify Risk
Risk-Based Approaches Ensure Efficient
Use of Resources
• Survey and assess employees
• Collect data from assessments
• Leverage internal processes
Mitigate Risk
• Share assessment data with
other stakeholders
• Prioritize resources to reduce
discomfort or risk of injury
• Engage in training
• Employees are given what
they need to self-correct
Discover New Insights
• Analyze data for root
causes of past workplace
injuries
• Review types of injuries
sustained
• Make program changes
16

17. Risk-Based Approaches (How One Company Does It)
• Pinpoint the most common issues causing discomfort across the organization
• Predict which actions will yield the greatest risk reduction
17

18. Risk-Based Approaches (How Another Company
Does It)
Prioritizing Employees Across the World Based on Risk
The Solution:
Determine relative
risk levels; take
action based on risk.
Re-assess after 60
days to track
completion of actions
and their impact on
risk.
18

19. Audience Question
Do you think your employees know what
process they’re supposed to follow when they
experience discomfort or pain – Yes or No?
19

20. 79%
70%
68%
65%
64%
63%
61%
58%
Employee communications*
Common case management approaches for disability and one or more
other benefits
Return-to-work programs
Integrated data or information/reporting for disability and one or more
other benefits
Early intervention activities
Single source of intake
Single resource that manages STD/FMLA*
Collaboration across vendors, including referrals*
Does your program include the following? Percentage that said “yes”
Q37
Source: Spring Consulting Group, LLC, Integrated Disability/Absence/Health Management Employer Survey, 2009/2010; *
indicates no trend data available
Studies Show Employee Communication Is Key to
Engagement
20

21. 73%
70%
63%
59%
55%
52%
50%
48%
39%
26%
13%
4%
Consistent administration
Better tracking or reporting
Easier or better experience for employees
Reduced costs
Increased control
Improved compliance
Easier administration for the company
Provides expertise
Improved illness/absence outcomes
Higher employee engagement
Addresses presenteeism
Other
What have been the biggest advantages to your organization
in implementing an integrated program?1
Q33
Highly-engaged
employees miss 20
percent fewer days of
work, and three-
quarters of them
exceeded or far
exceeded expectations
in their most recent
performance review2
Sources: 1Spring Consulting Group, LLC, Integrated Disability/Absence/Health Management Employer Survey, 2009/2010 ; 2Watson Wyatt's
2008/2009 WorkUSA Report, Driving Business Results Through Continuous Engagement
High Engagement Levels Are Achieved Through
Integrated Programs
Concern for employee
well-being is a top
factor considered for
integration
21

22. Integration Means Different Things to Different People
Health &
Productivity
Management
“HPM”
All IDM and TAM
components plus…
 Links health, wellness/
prevention, disease,
and behavioral
management
 Allows for strategic
planning and HR as
business partner
Total Absence
Management
“TAM”
All IDM components
plus…
 Expands to other
time-off programs
 Supports workforce
planning and budget
activities
“IDM”
 Disability, WC and FML
as a baseline
 Single intake process
 Common case
management and RTW
 Integrated
 Data
 Tracking
 Reporting
Integrated
Disability Management
And the most common approach is phased – bringing Disability/WC
together, and applying wellness across all programs
22

23. Measurement Is Important Too – Here Are Potential
Savings to Measure
How much savings/improvement have you been able to achieve in each goal area?
Base: Have had integrated benefits for six
months or more; Had each item as objective for
integrated program
n=69 Reduce lost time for disability or workers’
compensation
n=71 Reduce direct costs of disability or workers’
compensation
n=76 Increase return-to-work rates
n=40 Reduce direct costs of group health
n=70 Decrease overall absenteeism
n=37 Increase advance scheduling of absences
n=71 Increase employee satisfaction
n=68 Improve employee productivity
12%
13%
11%
18%
11%
16%
6%
9%
12%
18%
13%
10%
11%
8%
7%
29%
21%
22%
5%
11%
8%
14%
9%
48%
48%
54%
68%
66%
68%
73%
81%
5% or less 6% to 10% 11% or more Don’t know/
Unable to measure
Source: Spring Consulting Group, LLC, Integrated Disability/Absence/Health Management Employer Survey, 2009/2010
23

24. Key Issues
 Company had no Safety Manager
 Injuries were 90% MSD and repetitive stress-related
 A 1999 survey revealed employees had no resources, knowledge, or
internal contact for health & safety
 There was no assessment after training to gauge injury prevention
comprehension or ergonomics follow-through
 Company was spending $500K in direct medical costs + $1.5 million in
Lost Time costs to treat MSDs
Solution
• Established an ergonomics program with goals and processes
• Phase 1 – Identified functional management groups and internal
leaders to create an employee-driven safety culture
• Phase 2 – Issued a “comfort survey” to all employees and provided
baseline ergonomics training to everyone; prioritized issues to solve
based on workplace risks revealed in survey
• Phase 3 – Followed through on ergonomic assessments annually
• Phase 4 – Collected data re: workplace risks and root causes, measured
employee progress, and adjusted what wasn’t working
Results
 Significant reduction of
MSDs and lost time costs
from $2 million to $160K
per year!
 Decreased risk of injury
(from high risk to low risk)
in 50% of employee
population
 More productive
employees and better
engagement through
smaller group efforts and
awareness building
 Now integrating wellness
and injury prevention
programs to increase
prevention mindset
Case Study: Large Food/Chemical Products Company
24

25. Case Study: Large Transportation Company
Key Issues
 Lack of clear philosophy and process for absence/lost time cost
 Process for moving through absence and disease management program was
disconnected and confusing to all parties
 Costs (group health, WC, STD/LTD), GL/MV/PD costs, and future cost trends were at
business-threatening levels; significant risk of costly federal and state non-
compliance penalties existed
 Common policies and procedures, comparable data and metrics, and financial
measurement frameworks were not readily accessible
Solutions
• Established a long-term strategy, phased approach and multidisciplinary
team
• Phase 1 – Took time to prepare the organization, built an internal database
for WC and Safety metrics and selected vendors for selected coverages
• Phase 2 – Focused on WC and work related disability by improving the
process, developing transitional work and onsite counselors
• Phase 3 – Integrated WC, STD, LTD and Group Health benefits and started
tracking the highest cost drivers
• Phase 4 – Incorporated all human capital by focusing on health/disability
prevention, population health management/wellness, total absence
management
Results
 Experienced 45% reduction
in lost time claims & 40%
reduction in lost days
 Improved employee
engagement through
increased call volumes (up
350%) and 400%
improvement in program
usage
 Documentation of workforce
absence rate at 6.5%
 Reduction of certain leave
incidence
 Referring > 10% calls a week
to health coaches
25

26. Conclusion
• By making injury prevention a critical component of your
wellness program, you can:
 Significantly reduce direct and indirect healthcare costs
 Increase productivity across the organization
 Improve other organizational efficiencies
• If it’s not possible to collaborate with health and safety,
establish your own program
• Optimal injury prevention programs are: risk-based, engage
employees, integrate with other stakeholders, and measure
impact
You can do it!
26

27. Thank you!
Kim Weiss
Remedy Interactive
klopez@remedyinteractive.com
Karen English
Spring Consulting
karen.english@springgroup.com