How employers can support heart health and why it matters
Prioritizing health in the workplace
As the leading cause of death in the U.S., heart disease impacts everyone. Millions of employees and their families face cardiovascular health challenges every year, from managing risk factors to recovering from heart attacks or strokes. Without holistic preventive care, advanced cardiovascular treatments cost employers billions of dollars each year through insurance coverage, medication, and lost productivity.
Meaningful support can make a difference. Heart disease is often preventable, and maintaining cardiovascular health decreases healthcare costs throughout a person’s lifetime. Here are three ways to support your employees' heart health.
Make heart-healthy choices easier at work
Many cardiovascular diseases can be prevented with diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors like avoiding tobacco use and limiting alcohol intake. Primary care providers at One Medical emphasize that improving cardiovascular health is about consistent, sustainable changes that can have a big impact, like getting at least 150 minutes of exercise a week. Since many employees spend the majority of their days at work, helping them make health choices is a great place to start.
Here are some strategies to support heart health at your workplace:
- Make your workplace a tobacco-free zone, if it’s not already, and offer classes for people who want to give up tobacco products
- Offer discounted gym memberships and incentives for using them
- Cover the cost of workspace modifications like standing desks, under-the-desk treadmills and bicycles that support regular exercise
- Provide fresh, nutritious food like vegetables, nuts and fruit in cafeterias and vending machines
- Designate and promote green spaces, such as walking paths on workplace property
Ease stress with mental health support
Since mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, and stress can impact cardiovascular health, caring for mental health is an important part of protecting the heart.
- Offer benefits that include easy access to mental health services
- Make sure employees know how to use their mental health benefits
- Create a culture where employees feel safe talking about their mental health and can access support and resources
When leaders model healthy work–life balance and make it the norm, it’s more likely to spread throughout the workplace. The benefits are a two-way street. Maintaining cardiovascular health is associated with longer life expectancy, improved cognitive function, and more years lived free of chronic disease. This can lead to healthier employees who can better contribute at work.
Provide easy access to consistent care that includes screenings
When employees can easily get care and build a relationship with their providers, they’re more likely to get the treatment they need, including regular screenings. There’s more and more evidence that when patients have a trusted primary care provider coordinating their care, health outcomes improve and total costs decrease. Primary care focuses on the provider-patient relationship, centering on a person’s whole health.
As a workplace, you can:
- Offer benefits that include access to primary care
- Implement screening programs connected to heart health, such as cholesterol and blood pressure screenings. One Medical recommends checking cholesterol every 4 to 6 years for most people. Additional screening, such as ApoB or a one time screen for Lp(a), may also be recommended depending on personal and family history
- Partner with providers to offer health education programs like seminars and health fairs
One Medical’s primary care providers emphasize that heart health is not just about a single number, but about looking at the person as a whole. A primary care provider works with patients to look at all aspects of heart health, including family history, lifestyle, and personal medical history, to get the full picture of a person's health.
Caring for the heart, and the whole person, in the workplace
By helping employees prioritize their heart health, you’ll help them look after their whole health. A primary care model like the one we use at One Medical allows seamless care across services, from screenings and virtual care to mental health. It’s the care strategic employers choose because they know it benefits their team and the future of their business.
References
Heart Attacks are Down, Heart Disease is Up
Opportunities to improve cardiovascular health in the new American workplace
The Hidden Costs of Poor Heart Health in the Workplace
Beyond Basic Cholesterol: The Heart Health Tests You Need to Know About
How to Have Heart-Healthy Workplaces
Learn more about how One Medical can help your employees to stay healthy here.