Businesses & Public Health:

Partnering for Prevention

Fran Butterfoss, PhD Coalitions Work

Why Should Businesses Promote

Health Outside of the Workplace?

Health of businesses depends on

employees’ health

Poor health costs businesses

Prevention saves businesses money

It will foster healthier communities

Health of businesses depends

on health of their employees!

Overweightor Obese

Overweightor Obese w/1Chronic Dz

High BloodPressure

Heart Disease

% of Workforce Affected

25%

33%

50%

66%

Poor health costs businesses!

• 50% of profits spent on health care

• Cost to employers of obesity among

full-time employees = $73.1 billion/yr

• 75% of health care costs are from

diseases/conditions that are

preventable

Public Health Institute. (2013). Prevention Means Business.

http://bit.ly/1v33T8R

Prevention saves businesses

money!

absenteeism due to sick family

members

costs of family health care benefits

subsidies for Medicare, Medicaid &

the uninsured

• Healthier pool of potential employees

Public Health Institute. (2013). Prevention Means Business.

http://bit.ly/1v33T8R

“Business leaders . . . can do

everything right to influence the

health and productivity of their

captured workforce at the worksite,

but if that same workforce lives in

unhealthy communities, employer

investments can be lost or certainly

weakened.”

Andrew Webber, Former CEO

National Business Coalition on Health

It will build healthier communities!

• Increased buying power & consumption,

from improved community health & wealth

• Improved community relations & good will

• Positions businesses as change leaders in

their communities

Public Health Institute. (2013). Prevention Means Business. http://bit.ly/1v33T8R

What Does It Take?

Join a business

health care coalition

Partner with public health organizations

Support strategies that

improve health

Support public health infrastructure

Join a Business Health Coalition to:

• Amplify businesses’ power & impact

• Increase employer purchase power

• Build/strengthen public-private partnerships

• Position businesses as community change

leaders

• Address economic development, education

& other issues that affect businesses

Partner with Public Heath to:

• Add new perspective on mutual benefits,

such as health & safety, worksite wellness

& economic development

• Build a stronger evidence-base for practices

in & outside workplaces

• Develop metrics for absenteeism &

productivity that help employers identify

where to get best ROI

Support Strategies that Improve

Health:

Implement organizational & environmental

changes in workplaces that prevent obesity &

improve health:

Healthy foods for meetings/events, in vending

machines & cafeterias

Open stairwells & walking paths

Support for active transportation

Support Public Health

Infrastructure:

Advocate for funding public health programs &

national food & nutrition programs

(Prevention programs can show a 5:1 ROI)

Draw on

your

Strengths

Relationships

Resources

Results

‘Although public health and the

business sector each bear a

responsibility to assure the health

of our nation, only by exercising

those responsibilities together will

we be able to contribute fully to

that goal. “

Elizabeth Majestic

CDC, National Center for Chronic

Disease Prevention & Health

Coalition Building Resources

• Butterfoss, FD. Ignite! Getting Your Community Coalition “Fired Up” for Change. AuthorHouse, 2013.

• CADCA - http://www.cadca.org/

• Coalitions Work – http://www.coalitionswork.com

• Community Toolbox - http://www.ctb.edu

• Public Health Institute. (2013). Prevention Means

Business. http://bit.ly/1v33T8R