Michigan Business & Professional Association and Michigan Food and Beverage Association Offer New Services to Promote Wellness in Workplace, Hold Down Members' Health Care Costs

WARREN, Mich., Dec. 6, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the cost of health insurance increasing every year, wellness programs have become a critical component for health care cost savings for business. The Michigan Business and Professional Association (MBPA) and Michigan Food and Beverage Association (MFBA) have partnered with Wellco, a corporate wellness company specializing in health return on investment systems, health risk appraisals and wellness programs to offer two cost savings programs to Association members.

Under this new partnership, the MBPA can now offer HealthHammerTM and TrendMenderTM, programs that will promote employee wellness while saving businesses money. Both programs are designed to develop wellness best practice strategies, demonstrate the value of approaching wellness as an investment in future business success, illustrate how to achieve a return on investment in sponsoring employee wellness programs, and provide employees with disease prevention education.

"We chose these two new products for our members because they will provide the greatest potential for return on investment," says Jennifer Kluge, COO of the Association. "We know that saving money on health care is a top priority for our members."

Rising health insurance premiums have combined with growing political and social support to transform corporate wellness from a warm-and-fuzzy fringe benefit into a key strategy for lowering health care costs. Until recently, the lack of adequate tools made measuring the return on investment for wellness problematic at best. According to the Health Enhancement Research Organization, nearly half of companies offering wellness programs have not even attempted to measure medical cost trends. "Mounting economic pressures create an immediate need for critical evaluation of ROI," says Scott Foster, Wellco president.  "We are very pleased to partner with the Association to have such a broad reach and impact."

HealthHammer™ is the only return on investment (ROI) based health risk appraisal and management system with measurable results. The online system measures and tracks avoidable heath costs and medical conditions for companies of all types. It is the only appraisal system to help companies benchmark and achieve flat health care costs over time.

TrendMender™ includes seminars and tele-seminars covering a variety of health related topics. Each topic features practical, first-hand insights that will help enhance the health of employees and improve business performance.

For more information about the Associations visit www.michbusiness.org or www.michfood.org or call (888) 277-6464.

For more information about Wellco visit www.wellcocorp.com or call (866) 636-9355.

Based in Warren, Mich., the Michigan Business and Professional Association (www.michbusiness.org) http://www.michbusiness.org is the largest business organization of small to medium-sized businesses in Michigan, representing more than 20,000 members who employ over 160,0000 persons. Members include attorneys, physicians, architects, accountants, construction companies, banks, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and the like.   Member businesses receive numerous benefits including free legal and financial consultations; discounted technology, automotive and office products; employee training and recruitment assistance; and competitive insurance rates.

The Michigan Food and Beverage Association (www.michfood.org) is a sister association to the MBPA and is a trade organization that represents over 3500 members who employ over 60,000 persons throughout the State of Michigan.  The association provides similar member benefits as the MBPA to the food and beverage industry.

Based in Royal Oak, Mich., Wellco works with organizations who want to measurably improve health costs and conditions.   Wellco specializes in health ROI systems, health risk appraisals, corporate wellness programs, speaking, and consulting.  Wellco is the developer of the award-winning HealthHammer (TM), the first and only Zero Trend Appraisal (R) system to help companies accurately benchmark and fully achieve flat health costs over time.  

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.

Jennifer Kluge

http://www.profnetconnect.com/jennifer-kluge

SOURCE Michigan Food and Beverage Association