141st APHA Annual Meeting

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University of Iowa healthier workforce center for excellence (HWCE): Statewide employer survey regarding adoption of elements of the IOM employee total health management model

Monday, November 4, 2013 : 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM

James Merchant, MD, DrPH , Healthier Workforce Center For Excellence, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
David Lind, MBA, CEBS , David P. Lind Benchmark, Clive, IA
Kevin Kelly, PhD , Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Healthier Workforce Center for Excellence, Iowa City, IA
Jennifer Hall, EdD , Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Healthier Workforce Center for Excellence, Iowa City, IA
Background and Objectives: Despite widespread implementation of integrated employee health programs among large employers and federal funding of the NIOSH Total Worker Health Program, there remains a need to define and measure what is meant by “integrated employee health programs”. The Employee Total Health Management Model developed and defined in the 2005 IOM report Integrating Employee Health—A Model Program for NASA provided that basis for a 12 domain questionnaire to assess employer implantation by domain, employment size, industrial sector and perceived return-on-investment. Methods: A total of 1,206 Iowa employers participated in the 2012 David P. Lind Benchmark Iowa Employer Benefits Study in which the IOM Model questionnaire was embedded as a Health and Wellness Module. Results: Over 60% of larger employers (250+ employees) reported currently offering programs in 10 of the 12 model domains, as compared to 11-43% among smaller employers (<250 employees). While participation by domain varied by major employment sector surveyed: Government/Education>Health/Social Services>Finance/Insurance/Real Estate>Manufacturing>Retail. Perceived ROI for employee health and wellness programs among the largest employer group (1000+ employees) was $3.49, for 250-999 $1.86, and for fewer than 250 $.039. Conclusions: The development of this IOM model-based questionnaire proved to be a useful method for assessing employer adoption of activities in 12 domains used by the IOM to define/assess integrated employee health.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety
Public health or related public policy
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the development and use of an integrated employee heath module based on the IOM model to assess employer adoption of worker health components.

Keywords: Occupational Health Programs, Occupational Safety

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was responsible for the creation of the questionnaire and the interpretation of of the responses.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.