New Podcast Interview with Summit Health CEO Helps Employers Choose the Right On-Site Wellness Provider
Interview with CEO Richard Penington helps companies navigate an “embryonic” employee health screening industry, avoid legal pitfalls
Southfield, MI (PRWEB) January 26, 2010
The employee wellness industry (http://www. summithealth. com/screenings. html) is in its "lemonade stand phase," and a new podcast from Summit Health helps employers navigate a crowded market of on-site health screening providers (http://www. summithealth. com).
The new podcast features a 20-minute interview with Summit Health CEO Richard Penington, and covers a variety of topics including:
the wellness industry's current state; services provided by on-site vendors; best practices for choosing a wellness provider; ensuring employee compliance; four critical big-picture questions to ask, and the consequences of choosing the wrong screening vendor.
"Today's wellness industry is at the lemonade stand' stage, said Penington. "It's very new, filled with small organizations, not very sophisticated – all trying to move up and become the next big player. Most are not legal and don't understand the various state requirements and that's disconcerting."
The interview is available from Summit Health, Inc., the nation's largest provider of on-site wellness programs, including health screenings, immunizations, coaching, and more. The podcast can be downloaded at no charge by visiting http://www. summithealth. com/about_downloads. html (http://www. summithealth. com/about_downloads. html); the interview can also be downloaded at iTunes.
Penington notes that while national and local regulations cover finger sticks and blood draws, no single organization or regulatory body has established national standards for on-site health screenings or flu shot programs.
The interview covers such topics as staff licensing and training, confidentiality, liability insurance, pricing, account management, integration issues, health coaching skills, data quality and the participant experience. Penington also examines the best practices for vendor selection. He notes that many corporations and HR departments tend to think of health screenings as a commodity business and assume that all wellness vendors are the same. Unfortunately, it's the employer who pays the price when a screening goes awry.
"Selecting the wrong partner can lead to legal and regulatory issues, as well as eroding employee confidence in a company's wellness program," he explained. "Some newer flu shot and wellness vendors may offer a lower per-person cost, but it could very well be at the expense of quality, safety and legality."
Summit Health recently released a white paper featuring additional best practices and sample questions to ask when choosing a provider. The paper can be downloaded at no charge by visiting http://www. summithealth. com/whitepaper_flushot_vendor. html (http://www. summithealth. com/whitepaper_flushot_vendor. html).
About Summit Health, Inc.
Founded in 1999, Summit Health is now the nation's highest rated provider of on-site wellness programs, including health screenings, immunizations, coaching, and educational seminars. This focus on quality of service has earned Summit Health customers who include all the leading health plans and over 80 Fortune 500 companies. Summit Health supports all sizes of companies in every zip code. Summit Health differentiates itself through excellence in regulatory and quality compliance, program management, data and claims expertise and the participant experience.
Media Contacts:
Pauline Reisner
Summit Health
734-332-0476
Elrond Lawrence
Fisher Vista, LLC for Summit Health
831-632-2183
This press release was distributed through PR Web by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: http://www. HRmarketer. com (http://www. HRmarketer. com)) on behalf of the company listed above.
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