Recently in obesity Category

Cara Barde, President of Total Medical Solutions is proud of her employees. So why is she calling them Big Fat Total Losers? Because they are! A story on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel yesterday confirmed it. Read Sanford company gets leaner - in a positive way.

Total Medical Solutions launches it's very own Biggest Loser contest.

These days, employees at Total Medical Solutions are talking about weight. That's because they have launched their very own version of The Biggest Loser contest. Twenty five (25) out of seventy one (71) employees signed up for the contest and after 12 weeks have lost a total of 400 pounds!

Incentives vary, but success is total.

Nancy Perez, Home Health Account Coordinator for Total Medical Solutions, found that being accountable to her teammates made all the difference for her. She has lost 37 pounds. The fact that her teammates are counting on her provides the incentive she needs to stay focused and committed to the program.

Paulette Howard, also a Home Health Account Coordinator, has lost 47 pounds. She admits that at first she wasn't really interested in the contest. She had tried Weight Watchers before and found that it really didn't work for her. She did, however, jump at the chance for a cash prize. After getting into the program she found that cash really wasn't the thing that motivated her. She says, "It's the camaraderie that I've developed with my new 'loser' friends."  

Kevin Glennon, Vice President of Clinical Services for TMS, often lectures company executives about the added costs of obesity in workers' compensation claims. He has lost 68 pounds.

Wellness programs: a good way to address obesity?

As the writer of the Orlando Sentinel article points out, obesity is a big problem for Americans. Obesity rates have steadily climbed over the past few decades and it is well documented that obesity complicates other health risks and issues. Personalized corporate wellness programs like these are likely to become more popular as corporate America embraces the idea coupled with incentives provided by the new healthcare reform.

Obesity is an issue you'll read about often on this blog. It is an issue for concern on many levels, but increasingly pertinent in workers' compensation, specifically in terms of how injuries tend to be more complex for obese patients. See our earlier posts on obesity.  

Experts suggest that issues and costs related to obesity are likely to rise in the workplace. As stated in a recent article posted by Stuart D. Colbum on LexisNexis, government statistics show that 34% of Americans are obese and 66% are overweight. The article also says that obesity represents 9.1% of all medical spending, or $147 billion in 2008. In workers' comp, Colbum says, obese workers file twice as many claims as a healthy person and their medical claims costs are seven times higher. 

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NCCI reports that there is growing evidence that obesity not only contributes to the cost of medical care in workers' compensation, but that it is "significant in magnitude." They point to a recent study of workers' compensation claims of Duke University employees, where it shows for the morbidly obese, the medical costs per 100 full-time employees are nearly seven times more than for employees of recommended weight. The study also discusses how costs increase significantly as the claims mature. See the NCCI Full Study "Reserving in the Age of Obesity."  NCCI continues to study obesity and says it is an important trend to watch as it relates to workers' compensation claims.  They expect to publish a new full study in early 2010. Check their website often for updates on this important topic. www.ncci.com

Another study on obesity, conducted by Johns Hopkins (Bloomberg School of Public Health) published in May of 2007, shows similar findings, and in particular, that obesity increases the risk of traumatic workplace injuries.