The Rand Report on Workplace Wellness Programs Study Assignment:  Unhealthy lifestyles are responsible for chronic diseases. This, in turn, lead to decreased quality of life, premature death, and disability, and subsequently, increased health care costs. Chronic disease is occurring at younger ages, while people are still employed. Mainstream chronic diseases include diabetes II, cardiovascular, obesity, and the like. As we learned from HR 300 guest speakers, employers are interested in changing the long-term health trajectory of employees in order to reduce a variety of health care costs associated with chronic diseases. 72% of employers with wellness programs characterize them as a combination of screening (Health Risk Assessment, HRA, and Biometrics), interventions, and targeted referrals). Among those employees who are targeted for a specific intervention (fitness, classes, health education, behavior modification), fewer than 20% chose to participate. Nevertheless, when comparing program participants to statistically matched nonparticipants, RAND found significant and clinically meaningful improvements in exercise frequency, smoking behavior, and weight control among the participant groups. These observations were sustainable over an observation period of four years, showing cumulative effective with ongoing program participation. With this background as well as from your reading of the “Rand Report on Workplace Wellness” paper, summarize key learnings including responses to the following questions:  Questions: 1. Do you agree with the Rand Corporation’s mission? Why or why not?  2. Who are the two government research sponsors of the Rand Study?  3. What are the characteristics and prevalence of current workplace wellness programs?  4. What is the evidence for program impact?  5. What is the role of incentives? 6. What are the key facilitators of successful wellness programs?  7. What do you think will be the future for employer-sponsored wellness programs? Explain.  8. Describe potential roadblocks that can prevent the development and/or implementation of an employer-sponsored wellness program.  9. Identify two common workplace chronic health issues. How would wellness programs address these?  10. Identify two organizational compensation strategies that will help decrease the cost of health care benefits and related costs.