Role and Value of the Corporate Medical Director.

: The role of the corporate medical director (CMD) has evolved over the last 300 years since Ramazzini first identified diseases of Italian workers in the early 1700s. Since then, there has been a gradual blurring of the boundaries between private and workplace health concerns. Today's CMD must have intimate knowledge of their corporation's industry and the businesses that they support, particularly the occupational and environmental programs that comply with all local, state, and/or national standards and regulations. Leading companies not only measure compliance with such standards but also may hold programs to their own internal corporate global standards even if these go beyond local government requirements. This document will explore in greater depth the strength and importance that the CMD brings to the business operations to support a healthy, engaged, and high performing workforce. Part 1 describes the role and value of the CMD, while Part 2 provides collective wisdom for the new CMD from current and past highly experienced CMDs.

Mental Health in the Workplace: A Call to Action Proceedings From the Mental Health in the Workplace-Public Health Summit.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to declare a call to action to improve mental health in the workplace. METHODS: We convened a public health summit and assembled an Advisory Council consisting of experts in the field of occupational health and safety, workplace wellness, and public policy to offer recommendations for action steps to improve health and well-being of workers. RESULTS: The Advisory Council narrowed the list of ideas to four priority projects. CONCLUSIONS: The recommendations for action include developing a mental health in the workplace (1) "how to" guide, (2) scorecard, (3) recognition program, and (4) executive training.

The Effects of Telecommuting Intensity on Employee Health.

PURPOSE: To investigate the influence of the intensity of telecommuting on employee health. DESIGN: Study design comprised a longitudinal analysis of employee demographic data, medical claims, health risk assessment data, and remote connectivity hours. SETTING: Data from Prudential Financial served as the setting. SUBJECTS: Active employees ages 18 to 64 years who completed the health risk assessment between 2010 and 2011 were the study subjects. MEASURES: Measures included telecommuting status and intensity, and eight indicators of health risk status (obesity, depression, stress, tobacco use, alcohol abuse, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and an overall risk measure), with employee age, sex, race-ethnicity, job grade, management status, and work location as control variables. ANALYSIS: Health risks were determined for nontelecommuters and telecommuters working remotely ≤8, 9 to 32, 33 to 72, and ≥73 hours per month. Longitudinal models for each health risk were estimated, controlling for demographic and job characteristics. RESULTS: Telecommuting health risks varied by telecommuting intensity. Nontelecommuters were at greater risk for obesity, alcohol abuse, physical inactivity, and tobacco use, and were at greater overall risk than at least one of the telecommuting groups. Employees who telecommuted ≤8 hours per month were significantly less likely than nontelecommuters to experience depression. There was no association between telecommuting and stress or nutrition. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that employees may benefit from telecommuting opportunities.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Among Employees at Large Firms.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether race/ethnic disparities in the prevalence of chronic health conditions exist among an employed population. METHODS: We measured racial and ethnic differences in health across a national sample of workers in 46 large US businesses. We examined 15 chronic conditions for six ethnic/racial groups: African American, Hispanic, white, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Two or More Races. We identified the presence of each condition, using health care claims data. We report unadjusted and adjusted prevalence statistics for each race and ethnic group, controlling for confounding variables. RESULTS: Native Americans and African Americans had a significantly higher prevalence for almost half of the conditions studied compared to one or more other group. CONCLUSIONS: Employers should be cautious when initiating programs that may unfairly discriminate against employee groups with inherent medical conditions associated with certain race and ethnic groups.

Do workplace health promotion (wellness) programs work?

OBJECTIVE: To respond to the question, "Do workplace health promotion programs work?" METHODS: A compilation of the evidence on workplace programs' effectiveness coupled with recommendations for critical review of outcome studies. Also, reviewed are recent studies questioning the value of workplace programs. RESULTS: Evidence accumulated over the past three decades shows that well-designed and well-executed programs that are founded on evidence-based principles can achieve positive health and financial outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Employers seeking a program that "works" are urged to consider their goals and whether they have an organizational culture that can facilitate success. Employers who choose to adopt a health promotion program should use best and promising practices to maximize the likelihood of achieving positive results.

Measuring changes in lipid and blood glucose values in the health and wellness program of Prudential Financial, Inc.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of health promotion programs of Prudential Financial, Inc on biometric measures of blood lipids and glucose. METHODS: Using actual biometric and self-reported measures of blood lipids and glucose values for the employees of Prudential Financial, Inc, we examined 1) the extent to which self-reported lipid and blood glucose values correlate to laboratory data, 2) whether self-reported and measured lipid values differ for physically active and sedentary employees, and 3) whether participation in a disease management program affects employees' lipid measures. RESULTS: We found significant differences in self-reported and measured total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein values, although these differences and those for all lipid and blood glucose values were not clinically meaningful. Supporting previous clinical studies, high-density lipoprotein values were significantly higher for fitness center users compared with sedentary employees. Finally, disease management participants showed a significant reduction in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein during a 3-year period compared with nonparticipants. CONCLUSIONS: On average, the employees of Prudential Financial, Inc were aware of and accurately reported their lipid and blood glucose levels. Results from this study support the value of evaluating corporate health promotion programs, using measured biometric outcomes.