Bank of America

Health & Wellness Program

Description | Challenge | Solution | Outcomes | Additional Info

Description

Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions and employs more than 178,000 associates in the United States. When Bank of America and Fleet Boston Financial merged on April 1, 2004, the new company’s leaders leveraged the best wellness practices of both organizations. With an associate population of 42,000, Fleet had offered creative, comprehensive, wellness and prevention initiatives for over 20 years. Bank of America’s use of Six Sigma methodology and its fresh experience with wellness and health management provided new insights into program strategy and design.

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Challenge

Educating and motivating employees to optimally manage their personal, family, health and safety needs.

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Solution

The goals of the Bank of America program include educating and motivating employees to optimally manage their personal, family, health and safety needs. This is accomplished through:

• Health risk assessments – available to all employees through the internet;
• Fitness – on site fitness centers, walking initiatives, home workout kits, discounted fitness programs;
• Nutrition – online resources to help associates set and attain nutrition and exercise goals, “At Work” Weight Watchers Program, Healthier Food Choices Program, site specific nutrition lectures and cooking demonstrations, healthy food offerings in cafeteria;
• Smoking cessation program – Includes a 100 percent company subsidized, a 50 percent pharmacy subsidy for pharmacotherapy, and telephonic/ online coaching;
• Health advocate program – dedicated case managers through two national healthcare insurers that work with bank employees and dependents to help them with catastrophic and complicated cases;
• Disease management program: with two national insurance companies; insurance companies use predictive modeling and physician referral system to recruit certain patients for the program.

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Outcomes

• Bank of America’s health promotion program reduced insurance claims on average by $164 per-participant per-year compared to an average increase of $15 per-year for the control group that did not participate in the program.
• Bank of America saved $6 for each dollar invested in its wellness program.
• The disease management program is showing a high percentage of identification, with close to 6% identification of diabetics (close to overall U.S. benchmark of diabetes prevalence).
• The smoking cessation program resulted in a 31% quit rate over a 12-month period.
• Bank of America uses health risk appraisals, surveys, facility assessments, health fairs, wellness program enrollment, and medical claims data to analyze population demographics and influence program design. The analysis helps the bank achieve operating plan goals and allows it to measure associate health and satisfaction and to demonstrate return on investment.
• Bank of America uses insurance claims data and Voice of the Customer (VOC) research to improve its health programs. VOC involves regular surveying of associates about health and wellness initiatives.
• A new Bank of America Health Management Center will house all associate health data, wellness program information, tracking mechanisms and incentive programs.

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Additional Information

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***For further information, please visit, https://www.bankofamerica.com/index.jsp.

Published: January 26, 2009