Wellness programs save money; Medical costs for companies show a decline.

• Position: BUSINESS MATTERS

Byline: Susan Spencer

Catherine Andrade, a MassHealth nurse case manager at Fallon Community Health Plan in Worcester, knew the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. She just had a hard time putting the nutrition and exercise pieces together in her own busy life, until she took part last year in a "Taking Steps to Good Health" employee wellness challenge at work.

Ms. Andrade not only improved her own shape and risk-factor profile, losing close to 20 pounds and lowering her cholesterol and triglycerides, she most likely contributed to a better bottom line for her employer, too.

A recent national survey by the Principal Financial Group, based in Des Moines, Iowa, found that employers who invested in wellness programs showed medical costs improve by an average of $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness; absenteeism costs improved by an average of $2.73.

"I feel more energetic," Ms. Andrade said after completing the program.

She also said that when she caught a cold this winter, it only lasted for three days.

"I could only attribute that to my exercise program," she said.

Fallon has a fitness room for its employees at Chestnut Place, which features treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bicycles and weights. The health plan offers exercise classes on-site and has partnered with Worcester Fitness to provide coaching and additional workout facilities, according to Linda St. John, the plan's vice president of human resources.

Ms. St. John said, "If you take care of people, then your return on investment is really going to take care of itself."

Besides working to keep its own employees healthy, Fallon offers wellness programs to its employer groups.

Karen A. Gagliastre, manager of health promotion, said the health plan offers a range of smoking cessation programs, screenings and workshops on hypertension, skin cancer, body mass index and stress management, among other topics.

"It's really a way to raise awareness, to improve their employees' health," Ms. Gagliastre said.

Interest in wellness programs from employer groups is growing as businesses seek to rein in health care costs. She said, "They want to see other ways of keeping employees healthy."

Unum, a Chatanooga, Tenn.-based insurance carrier with an office in Worcester, also offers an on-site fitness center and health resource center staffed by a nurse to its 600 local employees. About 180...