Employers love wellness programs. But do they work?

Workplace wellness programs sound great in theory, but they might not be the cost-savers everyone had thought. This could be in part because wellness programs are often run by HR departments that don’t really know what they’re doing, says Al Lewis a former health plan consultant. For instance, doctors recommend cholesterol tests every five years for healthy adults, while wellness programs test annually. Advocates, however, say the programs won’t deliver savings without deeper changes to the workplace.