Evidence-Based Approaches to Worksite Wellness and Employee
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention:
Final Report of an Analysis Conducted for the
North Carolina Teachers'and State Employees' Comprehensive Major Medical Plan: April 2005
Over the past couple of years, evidence has been accumulating to demonstrate an alarming trend toward a greater
prevalence of chronic health conditions among beneficiaries of the State Health Plan. At the same time, the rates of
expenditure for personal healthcare services among Plan beneficiaries have been rising at a rapid rate.
It was out of a concern for these trends, and the consequences for the financial stability of the State Health Plan, that
the Administrators and the Board of the Plan undertook to address the problems associated with the rate of increase
in chronic health conditions among those insured by the plan.
This report summarizes the work, begun in June of 2004, of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and the Center
for Health Improvement (Sacramento, California)* to:
1 Assemble two national panels of experts to advise the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Comprehensive
Major Medical Plan (the State Health Plan) with regard to evidence-based worksite wellness interventions. The first of
these panels focused on worksite programs and interventions, while the second focused on efforts to increase
employee participation and acceptance of health promotion and disease prevention interventions.
2 Evaluate the information presented by the two expert panels and to recommend a strategy considered feasible
for implementation by the State Health Plan.
3 Summarize the work of the three meetings as a framework to guide subsequent investment of resources by the
State Health Plan in either targeted or more generally available health promotion and disease prevention initiatives
for NC teachers and state employees.
An advisory group convened by the State Health Plan (the State Teacher and Employee Wellness Advisory Committee--STEWAC) served to provide insight as to the feasibility of implementation of specific health promotion/wellness
initiatives among Plan members, as well as the acceptability of various incentives for participation that might be
considered.
This report summarizes the information derived from the presentations of the two panels of experts, as well as the
deliberations of STEWAC members at the third meeting, and offers a number of specific recommendations for how the
State Health Plan might use these findings and observations in shaping its planned initiative in this area.
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* The Center for Health Improvement is a national health policy organization with a primary focus on health promotion and disease
prevention.
