Insurer's venture to focus on wellness

HealthPartners is launching a new business to sell corporate health and wellness services beyond its insurance membership.

Bloomington-based HealthPart- ners will market the services nationally -- under the name JourneyWell -- to a growing number of companies that are trying to curb health costs by keeping their employees healthier.

JourneyWell joins a growing number of companies in the corporate wellness business, including the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Bloomington-based Ceridian Corp.

Nico Pronk, vice president of JourneyWell, said the program focuses on changeable behaviors, such as smoking or too little exercise, that can reduce the need for medical care for chronic conditions such as cancer and diabetes.

The programs range from phone counseling for stress and weight management to fitness classes at work. Employers will pay between $60 and $150 per employee per year for a bundle of services.

Return on investment

Health coaching programs have taken off in recent years as employers strain to pay rising health care costs. According to the Mayo Clinic, the average employee costs upwards of $8,000 per year for health care.

"If we can be healthier and need less care, it's a clear win for employers and employees," said LuAnn Heinen, vice president for the National Business Group on Health.

But the wellness programs might not benefit all employers.

Dave Delahanty, a health care consultant for Watson Wyatt, a benefits consulting agency, said companies with lots of young, healthy employees or high turnover might not see a good return on the programs.

"It's saving money for someone else down the road," he said.

Some programs focus on lifestyle changes for the individual, while others emphasize the work environment.

Other insurance companies offer similar programs and they're usually sold as an add-on to medical coverage.

"I've been in the prevention business for 20 years and never seen more interest from employers in prevention than now," said Marc Manley, medical director for population health at Blue Cross Blue Shield. "It's a real phenomenon."

It's that group of employers being wooed by JourneyWell and other programs such as Ceridian's LifeWorks.

Zachary Meyer, senior vice president and general manager for Ceridian, said more than $117 billion is lost each year at the national level in costs related to weight and obesity.

"You can reduce [the average] expense by about $2,500 if you can move somebody from a higher risk to a more healthy status," he said.

The St. Paul school system, which offers HealthPartners insurance to its staff, has offered the health programs for three years. Employees get a break on their insurance for filling out a health survey.

Renee Combs, a health teacher at Battle Creek Middle School, is her school's "Wellness Champion" and has led yoga and spin classes for her colleagues.

The programs have been so popular with the teachers that when Combs took a hiatus this year to coach track and soccer, people complained.

Combs said she will forgo coaching track and soccer next year to teach her colleagues again.

"Because of the teachers that have been asking, now I know that it was important to the staff," she said. "So I will do it; even if it's a handful of people, it's a handful of people that are getting it somewhere."