Colorado Culture of Health Conference Helps Employers Improve Workforce Health

Denver/CO/United States – WEBWIRE – Wednesday, April 23, 2014

For more information call:
Lu Stasko 303/477-9902 (Office)
720/404-4507 (Mobile)

Employers searching for strategies to improve the health of their workers and reduce health care costs will find a wealth of information at the 7th Annual Colorado Culture of Health Conference April 30, 2014. The day long conference will be held at the Denver Marriott City Center and will feature exhibits, keynote discussions and break-out sessions presented by wellness experts representing local and national businesses, think tanks, and universities.

Wellness programs are increasingly effective in both improving the health of workers and reducing health care costs. More than half of the respondents in Mountain States Employers Council’s annual Health and Wellness Survey said that workplace wellness programs had reduced obesity and resulted in employees feeling more physically fit. Forty-four percent of employers surveyed revealed that wellness programs decreased health insurance claims and another 33 percent said that wellness programs had reduced health premiums.

“It’s clear that wellness programs are producing real tangible benefits that can help employers improve productivity and save money,” said Donna Marshall, executive director of the Colorado Business Group on Health, one of the organizations hosting the Culture of Health Conference. “Wellness is also key in increasing morale and helping organizations distinguish themselves as quality employers.”

The conference will highlight employer success stories, including CoBiz Financial, whose CEO Steve Bangert will examine the ROI of wellness programs in his keynote: A Business Case for Wellness. Other keynote speakers include Wendy Lynch, Co-Director for the Center for Consumer Choice in Health Care, recently named by Forbes as one of the 13 Unsung Heroes Changing Health Care Forever and Lee Newman, M.D., Founding Director of the Center for Worker Health and Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health.

Breakout sessions will offer information on diabetes prevention, obesity management, keeping wellness programs fresh and tools to help employers implement and evaluate workplace initiatives. The conference has also partnered with several organizations to offer continuing education credits to attendees.

“This conference is a comprehensive, one-stop shop for worksite wellness information,” said Sandy Alexander, Member Relations Manager of the Mountain States Employers Council.

The conference organizers include: Mountain States Employers Council, The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, American Diabetes Association, 9Health Fair, Colorado School of Public Health, LiveWell Colorado, the American Cancer Society, Colorado Prevention Alliance, the American Heart Association, and the Colorado Business Group on Health.
For more information on the Colorado Culture on Health Conference or to register for the event, please visit www.coloradocultureofhealth.org

About Colorado Business Group on Health:
The Colorado Business Group on Health is a coalition of public- and private-sector companies that purchase health care services for 300,000 employees, retirees and their families in the state of Colorado. The group’s mission is to advance the purchaser role to accelerate cost effective, high quality healthcare. The Coalition is involved in a number of key initiatives including the Leapfrog Survey Program for Hospital Safety, Bridges to Excellence pay for performance project, and the annual Colorado Health Matters Quality Report. CBGH is changing the way employers buy health care, and more information is available at www.coloradohealthonline.org.

About Mountain States Employers Council:
Known as the professional, cost-effective resource of choice for employers, Mountain States Employers Council (www.msec.org) provides resources for employers of all sizes and industries to build and maintain profitable organizations. For more than 70 years, MSEC has served the employment law and human resource needs of the business community, helping employers manage all phases of the employment life cycle. More than 3,500 MSEC employers in the Rocky Mountain region are served by a diverse staff of attorneys and human resource, training and survey professionals dedicated to the MSEC vision -- effective, successful employers. Heavily relied upon by the Colorado business community, MSEC’s verified compensation and benefit surveys capture in-depth industry data and trends. MSEC also provides training on a variety of employment and management related topics, hosting the Colorado Culture of Health and the MSEC Benefit Update conference, in addition to other popular benefit offerings.

For more information, call 303.839.5177.

###