What Is A Health Risk Assessment?

Wellness is a huge topic for companies these days, as many are seeing their health care costs sky rocket due to the pressures insurance companies are feeling, and due to the new health care reform legislation. Many companies are looking for ways to attack the issue of health care cost, be it through differemt insurance options or through wellness in the workplace.  Yet, for costs to truly be cut and for overall wellness to take place, the employers must look at their most basic level of health, which is each employee.

In order for any company to fully be able to increase the wellness of its employees, it needs to be able to target their weak spots. It's just like in any team sport, where the team is only as strong as its weakest player. The company is only as strong as its sickest employees. The best way to really get at the source is to bring in a professionals to assess exactly what the problems are.

How is this assessment done? It is known as a Health Risk Assessment.

A Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is a complete analysis of employe health that targets exactly what the problem areas of a company are and then provides a “road map” for prevention strategies. Many companies have taken to bringing in Corporate Wellness Programs to perform HRA's.

The most comprehensive HRA is one in which a physical evaluation of each employee on-site, in addition to a behavioral analysis that can be done online. A comprehensive health risk assessment analyzes the health of an individual from all possible angles. Whole health only improves if the whole picture is assessed.

There are many different aspects that contribute to whole health. In order to get a fill picture, HRA's often test the following aspects : height and weight, girth, blood pressure, flexibility, cardiovascular assessment, strength assessment, and body fat percentage.

Once the Health Risk Assessment has been done; often there is then a follow up with the a health coach. The health coach will provide the employee with resources and a plan of action, so that they can begin creating a healthy lifestyle. This “road map” is what will allow the employee to create change on an individual level, so that the company can create change as a whole.

Post the taking of the assessment, all this information can then be generated in a report for the employer. This report will illustrate exactly what the weaknesses of the employees are and how exactly these weaknesses are being targeted, so that the company is able to attack probems and increase its overall wellness.

Too often many of the issues that causes sickness are difficult to detect, since symptoms are not as visible as they are with something like the flu. Smoking, poor diet, and inactivity are huge contributors to problems such as absenteeism and productivity, which cost employers hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

If employers can implement regular health risk assessments, they will then be able to truly see what is going on with their company, attack the issue, and in turn increase their bottom line!