2008-09-22 23:57:01 -

newsroom.cigna.com/ - Every year, five percent of healthy employees become sick as a result of aging, unhealthy lifestyle choices, or other risk factors, according to CIGNA, one of the nation's leading health service companies. When added to the ranks of employees who already suffer from disease, this five percent drives the annual cost of health care coverage even higher.

To meet the challenges of these spiraling costs, many local governments have embraced a new culture of wellness that focuses on proactive health promotion and disease prevention rather than the reactive treatment of sickness.

"Creating a Culture of Health: A Manager's Guide to Improving Employee Health and Reducing Health Care Costs" has been developed to help cities, towns, and counties use this new approach to increase the productivity of their workforce through innovative employee health strategies. Developed by ICMA, the premier local government leadership and management organization, in conjunction with CIGNA this 28-page guide focuses on how managers can use health-driven programs to help employees make better health choices and improve behaviors that have an impact on personal health.

"'Creating a Culture of Health' puts invaluable information about the growing trend toward empowering employees to stay well directly into the hands of local governments," says ICMA Executive Director Robert J. O'Neill, Jr. "With this information, city, town, and county leaders can move their jurisdictions toward successfully managing today's health care challenges while enhancing the quality of the local government workplace."

"This guide is less about identifying problems, than about finding solutions by creating a culture of health and productivity and maximizing budget investment in employee health," said Sheila McGinley, CIGNA's general manager for government and education. "Creating a culture of health begins by understanding we can no longer wait for disease and illness to occur. We must deal with health risks and avert costly health events wherever possible. Success doesn't happen overnight -- however; the eventual benefits extend beyond financial returns and include making government a more attractive work environment, a more attractive employer, and increasing employee morale."

Most employers are aware that a small number of employees constitute a substantial portion of local government health care costs. What many do not realize is that employee disease--a major driver of increasing health care costs--is a critical issue that will continue to grow as a new generation of employees joins the workforce ranks.

Poor employee health also affects productivity, absenteeism, attitudes, and workers' compensation claims. An employee strategy of sustaining a healthy workforce supports a local government's overall value system to be performance-driven. By focusing on wellness rather than disease can result in lower risk for disease among 75 to 85 percent of local government workforces.

"Creating a Culture of Health" explains how long-term strategies such as insurance plans, wellness programs, education, a supportive environment, and measurement of employee risk factors and outcomes can result in financial returns and the added benefit of making a jurisdiction a more attractive work environment. The guide discusses ways in which many local government leaders have led the charge toward transforming their workplace health cultures by challenging employees, including unions, to assist in the transformation.

ICMA and CIGNA are releasing "Creating a Culture of Health" at the 94th ICMA Annual Conference in Richmond, September 21-24. The guide will be available in electronic and hard-copy formats for $19.95 for ICMA members and $24.95 for nonmembers. To order the hard-copy version, visit bookstore.icma.org/Creating_a_Culture_of_Health__P1873C14.cfm. To order the electronic version, visit bookstore.icma.org/Creating_a_Culture_of_Health__P1879C14.cfm

About ICMA

ICMA advances professional local government worldwide. Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and advancing professional management of local government. ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, provides member support; publications, data, and information; peer and results-oriented assistance; and training and professional development to city, town, and county experts and other individuals and organizations throughout the world. The management decisions made by ICMA's 9,000 members affect 185 million individuals living in thousands of communities, from small villages and towns to large metropolitan areas.

About CIGNA

CIGNA (NYSE:CI) provides employers with benefits, expertise and services that improve the health, well-being and security of their employees. With approximately 47 million covered lives in the United States and around the world, CIGNA's operating subsidiaries offer a full portfolio of medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy and vision care benefits and group life, accident and disability insurance. www.cigna.com

ICMA
Michele Frisby, 202-962-3658
mfrisby@icma.org
or
CIGNA
Joe Mondy, 860-226-5499
joseph.mondy@cigna.com