Coke, J&J join big corporations behind new employee wellness push

By Toni Clarke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of some of the biggest U.S. corporations, from Coca-Cola Co to Johnson & Johnson, unveiled a campaign on Tuesday to reduce the nation's healthcare costs, urging their peers to embrace wellness programs to improve employee health.

The newly-formed group, called The CEO Council on Health and Innovation, said it came together "to lead the U.S. business community" in improving employee and community health and reducing costs.

The council's members also include executives from Verizon Communications Inc, Aetna Inc, Bank of America Corp, Walgreen Co, McKinsey & Co, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and Institute for Advanced Health. Combined, the group said its healthcare benefits cover 150 million people.

In a report released at a press conference in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the Bipartisan Policy Center, the council called on employers to accelerate the adoption of comprehensive wellness programs that aim to improve nutrition and weight management, promote physical activity, help employees quit smoking and manage chronic diseases.

The group also called on employers to make more use of incentives to increase employee adoption of wellness programs and to modify their health benefits in a way that would encourage workers to take preventive measures to improve health.

Workplace wellness programs, a $6 billion-a-year industry, are a favorite of the business community because they promise to improve productivity, cut absenteeism and reduce medical costs by averting expensive illnesses.

Some employers offer their workers monetary incentives to adhere to the plans, while a smaller group of companies and organizations are introducing penalties for not complying with wellness initiatives.

Several chief executives on the council described their wellness initiatives and cited success in reducing costs for both the employees and the company.

But some research has shown such programs do not always cut costs as hoped.

A long-running workplace wellness program at PepsiCo, for example, helped reduce costs for workers with chronic diseases by cutting down hospital admissions. But the savings for employees who were urged to make preventive changes to their lifestyle were negligible, according to a report published in January.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Tom Brown)