Risk Management
Employee Health Program
In 1980 the Missoula Technology and Development Center piloted portions of an employee health and wellness program that included health risk analysis and cost-effective screening tests (blood pressure, blood chemistry, and so forth), as well as counseling for stress, nutrition, and physical activity. An expanded employee health program, including educational programs (stress management, nutrition, weight loss, smoking cessation), and several exercise options, was implemented widely throughout the Forest Service. Since then, a series of budget cutbacks have eliminated most aspects of the program.
Studies indicate cost-savings of $2 to $7 for each dollar spent on employee health programs. Savings come from reduced costs for health care and worker's compensation, reduced absenteeism, and greater productivity. Smoking cessation, weight loss, stress reduction, healthy eating, and exercise classes help reduce health risks and medical expenditures. In the private sector, employee health programs are often provided as an employee benefit. In one public university the program receives an 89-percent approval rating, even though it is funded with a small portion of employee contributions for health insurance.
"No more than 5 percent of total health expenditures are devoted to prevention, despite the fact that only 5 of the total 30 years of increased life expectancy over the last century are related to advances in clinical medicine." (McGinnis 2001)
The employee health program is preventive because it reduces health risks before they generate medical costs; it emphasizes personal responsibility by focusing on the only one able to make necessary changes in health behaviors, the individual participant; and it is cost-effective because it uses low-cost screening methods to identify those in need of more extensive tests or procedures. An employee health program, combined with a year-round fitness program, would prepare employees for the arduous duties of wildland firefighting and help to keep experienced fire managers in the system.
