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Health & Wellness vs. Health & Welfare: Not two of a kind

While the terminology "Health & Wellness" and "Health & Welfare" may seem interchangeable, they are in fact very different. Read on to gain an understanding about the differences between Ceridian's Health & Wellness and Health & Welfare solutions and the total health and benefit management approach they can offer your organization.

Health & Wellness, defined
Rising health care costs are not going away any time soon, but there are some positive strategies that organizations can take to get them under control. A key factor to consider when it comes to rocketing health care costs is that many of these costs are largely impacted by preventable health conditions. According to the 2005/2006 Staying@Work Survey, preventable illnesses make up approximately 70 percent of the total costs of illness. The survey also revealed that the issues that most affect employee productivity are stress (72 percent), chronic medical conditions (58 percent), presenteeism (49 percent) and lifestyle medical conditions (49 percent).

Ceridian's Health & Wellness programs can provide answers for health care cost management by educating and empowering organizations about preventable health issues through an integrated "whole health" approach. Our comprehensive suite of Health & Wellness solutions include:

• Health & Productivity Incentives - an integrated rewards solution designed to boost participation in your company's Health & Wellness initiatives and affect employee behavior change.
• Well Coaching - provides participant-centered coaching directed at engaging individuals in the development of a life plan and the identification of programs and resources that can assist the individual in reaching their life goals.
• Life Health Assessment - a total health and productivity risk assessment that provides participants immediate feedback via a secure Web site that integrates health education, helpful resources and employees' personal wellness profiles into a comprehensive resource that shows the way to a healthier lifestyle.
• Health Coaching - targeted behavior modification programs for smoking, weight management, stress and cardiovascular risks to help individuals improve their emotional and physical well-being.
• Nurseline - toll-free, year-round access to licensed nurses for answers to everyday health issues and questions, helping your employees take proactive measures and learn how to make better decisions about their health care.
• Disease Management - a solution that helps individuals become more knowledgeable and proactive in making educated lifestyle choices and managing costly chronic diseases.
• Onsite Wellness - a highly successful program to help your employees be proactive about their health with services including blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screening as well as bone density and body composition analysis.

"Employers can pick and choose products from the Health & Wellness suite to tailor a maximized overall solution for their employee population," said Wendy Ryals, Ceridian product manager for Health & Wellness.

Ceridian also provides communications for employers to help them get the word out to employees about the different programs they may access. Available communication vehicles include newsletters, emails, tabletop tents, posters and wallet cards. And, some products tie to others, such as the Life Health Assessment which can be used to identify people for targeted outreach, a feature of the Life Coaching solution.

Shannon Rickert, Ceridian product manager for Health & Wellness added, "The collective suite of Ceridian's Health & Wellness solutions takes a holistic approach because it not only addresses health issues, but also the psycho-social and work-life issues that employees face related to their health conditions."

Health & Welfare - what is it exactly?
A flip side to the health care cost coin is the expense to an organization for administering benefits to its workforce. The administrative burden of annual open enrollment, the ongoing management of employee transactions and the misalignment of administrative staff with core business goals all add up to the heavy cost of health care.

That's where Health & Welfare comes into play. Ceridian's Health & Welfare Services feature a flexible, scalable portfolio of solutions to administer every aspect of an organization's benefits program. Features include:

• Self-Service Tools provide you and your employees with 24/7 access to personalized benefits information using Web-based or IVR-based tools.
• Ongoing Eligibility and Enrolment Services offer full-service capabilities to accommodate new hire processing, life and work-related events, separated population (COBRA, leave of absence) and retiree administration.
• Annual Open Enrollment allows employees and managers real-time access to annual enrollment data through integrated Web-based and IVR mediums from a single database, simultaneously with ongoing enrollment.
• Premium Administration relieves your administrative burden with comprehensive, automated premium administration services and processing, including discrepancy resolution and premium remittance services.
• Benefit Export Reporting Services facilitates the electronic transfer of enrollment, eligibility and premium deduction information to HR/payroll systems and benefit providers, including HIPAA compliant EDI files.
• Employee Service Center offers employees and participants access to on-staff benefits professionals using a single toll-free number.
• Online Communications empower employees with online access to a comprehensive knowledgebase and decision support tools to help them manage and select their benefit package.

"By outsourcing these non-core activities, organizations can lower benefits-related costs by taking advantage of Ceridian's streamlined processes, best practices and powerful technology, which frees the client to focus staff on more strategic initiatives," said Geri Lodato, Ceridian product manager for Health & Welfare. "Eligibility and premiums are managed behind the scenes to ensure that our client companies are only providing benefits for their eligible employees. The technology is hosted reducing capital equipment and upgrade expenditures. And for your employees, we basically become an extension of your benefits department by accommodating their benefit needs throughout their entire employment life cycle."

Although you can see that Ceridian's Health & Wellness and Health & Welfare solutions are very different, they do share a common goal: to increase your company's health care dollar ROI and improve productivity with a healthier, motivated workforce. Interested in learning more about our answers to rising health care costs? Contact your Ceridian representative to get the full details on Ceridian Health & Wellness solutions and Health & Welfare solutions.