Why Be Involved

Social Determinants of Health:  The Value Proposition for Businesses

Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age that shape health. Social determinants of health include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care. Addressing social determinants of health is important for improving health and reducing longstanding disparities in health.

Health is more than what happens at the doctor’s office or hospital. The communities and environments in which people live have a significant impact on their health. Providing medical treatment to individuals while ignoring the conditions in which they live fails to achieve lasting improvements in health.  A wide range of factors influence how long and how well we live, from education and income, to what we eat and how we move, to the quality of our housing, and the safety of our neighborhoods. In some communities, the essential elements for a healthy life are readily available; for other communities, the opportunities for healthy choices are significantly limited.

Health Impacts All of Us

Poor community health directly impacts the health of a business’s employees, customers, and supply-chain partners.  Productivity losses related to personal and family health problems are estimated to cost U.S. employers $1,685 per employee per year, or $225.8 billion annually.¹ Conversely, improved community health can lead to a healthier workforce, a more attractive and vibrant community, and a stronger local economy.² Achieving optimum health outcomes has often been discussed in the context of access to health care and individual decision-making; however, improving health must go beyond access to health care and quality of care. The communities and environments in which people live have a capacious impact on their health.  Treating individuals while ignoring the conditions in which they live will fail to achieve lasting improvements in the health of West Virginians.

The Value Proposition for Businesses

Evidence-based workplace health promotion programs can improve the health and productivity of a business’ employees, and this, in turn, has an advantageous impact on a company’s bottom line.  While these programs can impact a significant number of individuals, their reach is limited. By definition, workplace health promotion initiatives only reach employees while they are on-site and usually do not extend into the community, nor do employees’ family members—who rarely, if ever, set foot on the premises—experience these workplace initiatives.
Employer-sponsored health insurance generally offers coverage to immediate family members, yet these covered lives are often unaffected by worksite-based health promotion programs.  After the Dow Chemical Company established that 80% of those covered by the company’s medical benefits were not employees but rather retirees, children, and spouses, the company’s health strategy was broadened to include a community focus that extended beyond the worksite.³

Thus, many businesses have moved beyond a traditional focus on workplace wellness to one that encompasses a culture of health both inside and outside the four walls of the company. These employers recognize that health is influenced by everyday interactions with one’s community. For employers, this means that investments in workplace wellness and employee health can be undermined if workers and their families spend the rest of their time in communities that do not provide the same environment and opportunities that lead to healthy choices as their worksite.

Public/Private Partnerships in Communities

Efforts to improve community health have too often occurred within siloes, limited in part due to the divide between the public and private sectors.  The underlying problems are often varied and complex, and they require a web of solutions that leverage a wide range of strengths and resources.  Neither governmental agencies nor the private sector alone can effectively solve large societal health issues that affect individual and collective prosperity.  It would be naive to assume that because they would be advantageous, collaborations between these sectors would just happen; therefore, Wild, Wonderful & Healthy West Virginia is working in communities throughout our state to build private/public partnerships that reflect on why these sectors are especially well-suited partners and how best to bring one another to the table.

Lasting change in the health of all West Virginians will need sustained community efforts. We believe that such efforts are more sustainable when a community starts with shared information, develops shared objectives, and uses local data to drive decisions about the most important needs and strongest assets. Important decisions will point the way to the changes to be undertaken by the community. What policies will need to change? What systems will change or be created? How will it be assured that school-age children in the community start healthy and stay healthy as they grow? It is important that this basis for communities’ future work is carefully built and agreed upon. Lasting change means developing a plan that partners not only agree upon, but are willing to invest in, and that will endure beyond the life of any grant funding.

Why Your Community Should Be Involved

With our community health improvement planning process, we will share resources, funding, tools and strategies with community leaders as part of the Wild, Wonderful and Healthy West Virginia initiative. Being part of this movement in West Virginia will benefit your communities in several ways:

• Attaining the best health possible, becomes valued by all community members;
• Individuals and families in your community have the means and the opportunity to make choices that lead to the healthiest lives possible;
• The economy is less burdened by excessive and unwarranted health care spending;
• Business development in your community grows; and
• Keeping everyone as healthy as possible guides public and private decision-making.

Wild, Wonderful and Healthy West Virginia must become an essential part of our state’s cultural fabric, achieved by weaving together the threads of physical, mental, economic, social, and spiritual well-being. Creating a statewide movement toward better health is not a short-term initiative; it is a cultural shift that will take time, determination, and, above all, the input of many.