title: Current trends in reducing cardiovascular risk factors in the United States: focus on worksite health and wellness.
abstract: Health care in the United States (US) is changing with a broad provision of health care services to every American due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) slated to begin in January of 2014. An important aspect of the ACA is that US companies may begin to offer health insurance incentives to employees for participating in health and wellness initiatives. Moreover, since US employers directly absorb many of the financial costs associated with the high degree of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors present in their personnel, employers may be financially vested in improving employee health. However, employers must also consider the costs of developing and maintaining programs to improve employee health and their return on investment (ROI). This review will identify key risk factors to address in a worksite health and wellness program and to examine the performance of such programs in improving CV risk factors and their ROI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL. Electronic address: L.Cahalin@miami.edu.
authors.forename: Lawrence P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Cahalin
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, Palo Alto, CA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Human Performance Laboratory, Clinical Exercise Physiology Program, Ball State University, Muncie, IN.
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kaminsky
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
authors.forename: Paige
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Forman
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Duke University, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Mahesh J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL.
authors.forename: Sherry O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Pinkstaff
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arena
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004649:Employee Incentive Plans; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006293:Health Promotion; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000191:economics; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D017132:Workplace / Q000191:economics
keywords: Cardiac rehabilitation; Cardiovascular; Health; Risk factors; Wellness; Worksite