Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

Business Insurance runs a post on how one Ohio county — Montgomery County, which calls itself the “Birthplace of Innovation” — helped address increasing health care costs with its wellness program.

The post states: “To curb the rapid inflation, Montgomery County reworked its benefits strategy beginning with the 2011 plan year, including gradually implementing wellness initiatives to steer its 4,300 employees to greater awareness and ownership of their behavior and medical care.”

In addition to reducing overall health care costs, the county's ” wellness initiatives generated moderate to significant reductions in cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes and chronic back pain among its employees from 2011 to 2014.”

Said assistant county administrator Amy Wiedeman: “When you look at where we were on health care claims when we started versus what we spend on incentives in the program, we've more than paid for the program.”