Experient Health Talks Through the Obesity Cost Calculator Regarding Workplace Wellness in Latest Blog Post
Richmond, Va. (PRWEB) August 05, 2014 -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Obesity Cost Calculator helps organizations estimate obesity-related costs and compare the costs and benefits of user-defined interventions targeted at reducing obesity, Experient Health detailed in its latest blog post.
Experient Health is the health insurance arm of the Virginia Farm Bureau and uses its blog, launched last year, to educate the community on ways to manage and improve their health.
Increasingly affecting workers all over the world, obesity remains a concern for the overall wellness of individuals.
Forward-thinking organizations are looking for ways to quantify the magnitude of this challenge and to assess the options and benefits of providing interventions and incentives to better manage the health of their employees.
"However, before you begin using the cost calculator, there are things to consider," Experient Health wrote. "You will need to gather specific information about your company: average hourly wages, percentage of employees receiving health benefits and the BMIs of your employees. If you do not have some of this data for your company, the Obesity Cost Calculator will provide default values from nationally representative data sets to calculate the cost estimates."
The calculator estimates the costs of obesity based on characteristics of a company.
These characteristics include costs for medical expenditures and the dollar value of increased absenteeism resulting from obesity.
Costs are estimated separately based on body mass index (BMI)
The calculator has the opportunity to provide health benefits, as well as financial reward.
"The calculator provides a module to assess the expected savings of interventions to reduce obesity, potential reductions in medical costs and work loss resulting from interventions, and the number of years before a break-even period is reached," Experient Health wrote.
For more information regarding the Obesity Cost Calculator, visit Experient Health online here.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov.
Stephanie Heinatz, Consociate Media, +1 (757) 713-2199, [email protected]
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