Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To assess the prevalence of "best practice" program components across a select sample of organizations, and to explore differences in engagement rates and health risk reduction between organizations using "best-practice" and "common-practice" health management approaches.

METHODS:

Using a retrospective approach, researchers assigned organizations to a "best practice" or "common-practice" group based on well-defined criteria. The study examined group differences in employee health assessment participation rates, health coaching program participation and completion rates, and organizational-level health risk reduction.

RESULTS:

Best-practice organizations achieved higher levels of engagement than common-practice organizations in both health assessment and health coaching programs. Population-level and intervention-level health risk reduction was 2.35 and 1.08 times higher, respectively, among best-practice organizations compared with common-practice organizations.

CONCLUSIONS:

This study demonstrates the contribution of quality program components to superior program engagement rates and health outcomes.