If Employers Measured Health Like Financial Performance 

Taking the approach "measure it and it will improve," The Vitality Institute is calling on companies to begin reporting employee health metrics the same way they report earnings -- with the goal of reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases (such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease) in the US workforce. The Institute assembled a commission including representatives from major corporations, the health care industry, and academia to make recommendations. In a report issued last week, they estimate that if employers got serious about improving the health of their employees, improved productivity and reduced health spending could be worth $300 billion annually. While the commission is thinking big, employers can take a small but important step on the road to measurement by completing the HERO Employee Health Management Best Practices Scorecard, an online inventory of just about everything employers are doing today to improve workforce health. Mercer collaborates with the nonprofit Health Enhancement Research Organization to offer the online Scorecard free of charge to all employers -- you can access it here. It has just been updated with current best practices and a set of easy-to-use metrics for measuring program outcomes. Upon submitting the completed Scorecard, you'll receive a reply e-mail with your organization's best practice score compared to national averages. Over 1,200 employers have used the Scorecard since it was first launched in 2009.

Go to full article: www.forbes.com