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.

Paul Mulhausen, MD, is chief medical officer at Telligen, a population health management company. He recently wrote in Employee Benefit News that “To create value in our healthcare system, we first need to create a culture of health. Although steps are being made by the healthcare community to improve the coordination and efficiency of healthcare delivery, true healthcare value will be achieved only when combined with effective health promotion that creates better health.”

Dr. Mulhausen notes that “The five metabolic risk factors described by the term metabolic syndrome include a large waistline, high blood triglyceride levels, a low HDL (“good”) cholesterol level, high blood pressure and a high fasting blood sugar.”

One approach to addressing these issues can be an effective workplace wellness program.

Writes Dr. Mulhausen: “The risks associated with metabolic syndrome present a well-defined example of the impact that risk reduction can have on the value of an organization’s healthcare benefit investment. In studies of workplace health promotion, measures that successfully eliminate the biometric, metabolic risks of the metabolic syndrome produce commensurate reductions in healthcare, pharmacy and short-term disability costs.”

He concludes: “Worksite health promotion programs hold great potential to mitigate the rising risk for poor health and increased healthcare costs experienced by individual employees and employee populations with metabolic syndrome. Yet, despite the potential impact on the value of the healthcare benefit investment, measures specifically targeting the metabolic syndrome continue to be largely under-utilized in the workplace.”