For the past year, my friend Will Rosenzweig has served as Chairman of a U.S. national commission focused on health promotion and the prevention of chronic illness. The Vitality Institute’s Commission on Health Promotion and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases in Working-Age Adults has developed evidence linking the health of our nation’s workforce to the long-term competitiveness of our national economy. The recommendations were developed by a diverse group of thought leaders from the fields of public health, public policy, academia and business. Forbes has reported on the findings in an article about potential $300B cost savings opportunity for U.S. corporations.
Will Rosenzweig (photo courtesy of Vitality Institute)
Key recommendations from the report include:
- Require corporations to integrate health metrics into their annual reporting by 2025
- Secure commitments from more than 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies to include workforce health as part of their organizational strategy by 2020
- Increase federal government funding for prevention science research by at least 10 percent by 2017 and create a federal agency to fund efforts that support health and prevention
Additionally, to guide business leaders and policy makers, the report contains nearly 50 examples of chronic disease prevention programs that have been adopted by corporations, local governments and even the US military and are successfully increasing the availability of nutritious food, leading to the development of healthy products and promoting exercise.
