But Monarch Beverage Co.’s employees in a satisfaction survey ranked the company’s on-site medical clinic as the No. 1 perk — edging out the free hams, turkeys, beer and wine during the holidays.

The clinic, tucked into Monarch’s cavernous Southwestside distribution center, is part of a sweeping effort to help its 650 employees get healthy.

What makes Monarch’s efforts worth lauding is that waistlines and medical bills are shrinking, driving down company health-care costs.

Expenses from medical claims fell by 16.8 percent in 2006 and 16.6 percent in 2007. Worker’s compensation claims are down 22 percent in 2007.

While most employees across the nation are bracing to pay higher premiums — a Kaiser Family Foundation study shows the average for family coverage is $12,106 a year, with workers paying $3,281 of that — for the second straight year Monarch workers will face no such increases.

“We have told employees, if this continues going down we will share this,” said Phil Terry, Monarch’s chief executive officer.

A nurse practitioner staffs the clinic every weekday. A physical therapist is there four days a week. Treatment is free, and employees receive a discount in their health- insurance costs if they take health-risk appraisals or have a consultation with the nurse practitioner.

Employees can take free weight-reduction and smoking- cessation classes, and smoking- cessation treatment includes free Chantex, a prescription drug.

In the company gym, employees can pump iron or run on a treadmill.

Monarch isn’t ready to credit the drop in its medical costs entirely to the wellness push.

“I believe in the program, but there’s also a little bit of luck that runs in the health-care claims,” said Terry.

Medical costs, especially for small to midsized businesses, can be unpredictable and skyrocket if just a handful of employees or dependents experience major medical problems or illnesses that require complex care or long hospitalizations.

Transforming storage area

About five years ago, Terry charged Natalie Roberts, vice president of human resources, with finding ways to help employees improve their health.

“For a long time, I was like a lot of people running businesses,” Terry said. “You get very frustrated with those double-digit increases every year in health-care costs.”

In his mind, Terry blamed his employees. He blamed the health-insurance company. He blamed hospitals. He felt anger and resentment when it came to paying more for health benefits.

Then he had an epiphany, he said. “The focus wasn’t on how do we reduce costs. The focus was on how do we get healthy, regardless of cost.”

Monarch’s program started modestly, bringing in people who talked to employees about healthy living and weight management. Next it added health fairs and health-risk appraisals.

Terry concedes the company has received some pushback from employees who feel the health initiatives are intrusive.

Monarch backed off the plan to ban all smoking on company property and decided to allow workers to light up in their own vehicles.

One of the biggest changes came in January, when Monarch transformed what had been a storage area into its medical clinic, equipped with examination and rehabilitation rooms.

Services include required drug testing, as well as routine checkups, testing for pulmonary function, and treatment for routine injuries and ailments.

Monarch uses WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to administer its health benefits, but the company said it developed its wellness program mostly on its own.

Some workers have dramatically changed their lifestyles.

“It taught me a great deal, because I lost 63 pounds since I started working there,” said William Souders, a truck driver from the east-central Indiana town of Carthage, in Rush County. “I just had a son, so I needed to get down so I would be around longer.”

Souders, a Monarch employee for about four months, met with the nurse practitioner and started working out at the company gym.

He used to fill up on soft drinks and food from McDonald’s or Taco Bell. Now he gulps down water and snacks on fruits and veggies as he delivers beer and wine to Muncie, Terre Haute, Seymour and his other stops around Indiana.

The clinic has been praised for alerting some employees to potentially serious conditions.

Velta O’Sullivan, who works in Monarch’s warehouse, sought medical attention after results of routine urinalysis found abnormalities.

The problem turned out to be a rare form of kidney stones that required the removal of her right kidney, the Indianapolis woman said.

“The kidney wasn’t functioning at all,” O’Sullivan said. “I didn’t even know.”

The hospital visit prompted her to quit smoking, cold turkey, after 25 years of lighting up.

Personalized help is key

Monarch has annual revenue of about $290 million, and spends more than $200,000 a year on its health and wellness initiatives.

“They’re doing the right thing, and I think they’re doing a good job at it,” said Jeanne Johnston, an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Johnston said the corporate wellness programs that tend to be most effective are the ones that provide employees with personalized attention, such as health consultations. Simply installing a work-site gym, she said, is likely to attract those already working out.

Around 90 employees and family members have signed up for next year’s OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, including some top managers — Terry among them.

Roberts, Monarch’s HR executive, has lost 35 pounds since Monarch’s wellness push began and is training to compete in her second Mini and her first marathon.

“I found it very difficult to stand in front of people and tell them they needed to get healthy when I wasn’t being healthy,” Roberts said. “I lost weight and started running.”

Source: Indystar.com
Original Publication Date: December 16, 2007