Though actual figures differ depending on the size of organizations polled, two recent surveys suggest 2008 is turning out to be a very good year for wellness programs.

A survey by Chicago-based Aon Consulting shows dramatic jumps in the numbers of U.S. employers implementing wellness programs. Entitled the 2008 Benefits and Talent Survey, the report indicates a threefold increase from 2007 to 2008 in various initiatives. For example, about 46 percent of employers are implementing smoking-cessation programs this year, up from 14 percent of employers in 2007.

Other top increases include:

* Promotion of exercise/physical activity -
- 68 percent (19 percent in 2007),

* Disease-management programs -- 60 percent (18 percent in 2007),

* Health-risk appraisals -- 48 percent (14 percent in 2007),

* Biometric screenings -- 47 percent (12 percent in 2007) and

* Telephonic healthcare coaching -- 46 percent (14 percent in 2007).

Aon surveyed more than 1,100 employers -- 41 percent with 501 to 5,000 employees, 36 percent with fewer than 500 employees and 22 percent with 5,001 or more.

According to Tom Lerche, Aon Consulting's healthcare practice leader, the trend has been building over the last couple of years.

"When we had double-digit cost increases, the standard response from the business community was to raise employee contributions and premiums," he says. "Now, employers and health insurers alike are finally beginning to understand that continuing to simply raise prices for employees is not an option anymore as a sole response."

And key to reducing healthcare costs is focusing on worker health, says LuAnn Heinen, a vice president at the National Business Group on Health, who founded its Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity programs and who works extensively with wellness programs at large companies.

"I think what we're seeing in this steady uptick is an overriding firm belief among employers that putting all your dollars into paying medical claims isn't working, so let's increase the investment instead," says Heinen.

"I think it's a positive change," she says, "because companies are feeling much more empowered by creating a culture of health. They now know there's a series of things they can do proactively; they don't feel so helpless."

A joint report by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the NBGH, both based in Washington, shows steady increases in health-risk appraisals and wellness initiatives at 453 mostly large companies in the United States.

According to that study, The One Percent Strategy: Lessons Learned from Best Performers, 83 percent of respondents say they currently offer such health appraisals and initiatives -- up from 72 percent in 2007 and 65 percent in 2006.

Indeed, says Michael Wood, Watson Wyatt's Seattle-based senior consultant in health and productivity, "every company is going to have to grapple with the cold truth that their healthcare-cost trends are held hostage by the behaviors of their employees."

The only long-term solution, he says, "is to reduce the risks of the workers and improve the quality of care."

The difference between the two reports, says Wood, indicates the small to mid-market companies are finally starting to catch up to the programs offered by larger company as vendors offer more services.

Lerche says it's clear "employers and health insurers alike are now getting it," that healthcare is neither health nor care without < wellness coaching.

"We're even seeing this trend worldwide," he says. "Employers in Europe and South America, especially, are expressing great interest in wellness programs."

Factors contributing to the increases shown in Aon's study include today's economic downturn and the impending labor shortage as baby boomers retire, he says.

"Many boomers are critical to the longevity and continued performance of their companies," Lerche says, "so employers are looking for ways to keep their boomers healthy and active -- abroad as well as here."

"We consider the results of this study as the beginning of a long, long dialogue in this country about the need for employee responsibility, not for cost alone but for overall health, and the increasing need for employers to address [and help] the people who are not taking care of their health."

Clearly, says Wood, employers are finally acknowledging the need to improve the quality of their workers' healthcare and their workers' health. "The side benefit," he says, "is that quality healthcare always costs less in the long run."