Wellness Program Saves Time and Drives Sense of Community at Regional Hospital
Stuck in the Stone Age
Identifying the Challenge:
The Indiana Regional Medical Center (IRMC) is a rural hospital located roughly 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, PA with 1,100 employees throughout their main campus and satellite offices. Started in 1914, IRMC remains the only independent hospital in the county, something they are very proud of and crucial to the level of tailored healthcare they are able to provide to the community.
The IRMC first implemented a wellness program fourteen years ago with a simple premise: invite employees to sign up, complete a task, and win a “trinket” as a reward. Participation was low and tracking was done manually with good old fashioned pencil and paper. Eventually reporting evolved into excel spreadsheets, which still required timely manual input. But ultimately IRMC needed a new solution for its wellness program.
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Finding Purpose
Considering the Options
A hospital is a 24/7 work environment and IRMC’s wellness program needed to engage all employees, no matter their shift.
Prior participation was low due to the fact that informational sessions were held during the day, reaching only one-third of potential participants. IRMC needed a wellness program that gave employees a common goal of working on wellness together.
IRMC also wanted to create a data-driven program with measurable results that made an impact on the overall company culture. They looked at reports from the Health Risk Assessment and the hard data of biometrics to determine the key areas that would not only lead to financial savings through decreased absenteeism and lower turnover rates but ultimately foster a culture of caring through shared purpose.
Customization is Key
Building a Solution:
With over 300 challenges WellRight provided a solution that offered a holistic approach to wellness extending far beyond nutrition and getting your 10,000 steps. The highly customizable platform allowed IRMC to quickly add monthly challenges to keep employees engaged. Within the first year, they saw employee participation in the wellness program jump to over 85% with the WellRight platform.
Director of Corporate Wellness at IRMC, Amanda Augustine, explains, “The simple, easy-to-understand layout of the WellRight platform was a huge selling point that helped draw employees to our wellness program. Employees could easily sign up for the program, track their results and redeem rewards. They also loved the text alerts to help them stay on track.”
Measurable Improvement
Loving the Results:
The WellRight platform automated IRMC’s tracking and reporting—a time savings of up to 50%. That time allowed them to focus efforts in other important areas such as administrative roles that transitioned into coaching.
“We’re actually impacting people’s health with the time that we’re saving because we can spend more one-on-one time with employees,” says Amanda Augustine.
Additionally, IRMC saw the cost of insurance premiums decrease as the health of their workforce improved. Smoking cessation decreased from 8.9% to 7.1%. And employee physical activity increased from 36.2% to 41.7%. One employee lost 85 pounds simply by taking advantage of the fitness benefit incentive offered through the WellRight wellness program—a small habit that led to big change.