Corporate Health Promotion Plan communication is important to all facets of Wellness and preventive medicine and is relevant to:
• Healthcare provider-patient relationships
• An individual’s exposure to, search for, and use of Corporate Health Promotion Plan information
• Effective counseling and patient education for behavior change
• Content of public health messages and community campaigns

Effective health communication should have these attributes:
• Accuracy: content is valid and error-free
• Availability: delivered or placed where the intended audience can access the information
• Balance: content presents benefits and risks of potential actions
• Consistency: content is locally consistent over time and is also consistent with information from other reliable sources
• Evidence-based: content and methods of delivery are based on relevant scientific evidence
• Reach: content gets to or is available to as many employees as possible in the target population
• Reliability: content source is credible; content is kept up-to-date
• Repetition: delivery of/access to the content is continued over time, to reinforce the impact with the audience and to reach new members of the target population
• Timeliness: content is provided when the audience is most receptive to, or in need of, the specific information
• Understandability: reading, language levels, and format are appropriate for the specific audience (i.e., Employees, Family Members, Garrison leadership, etc.)

What the research says about health communication
• Health communication best supports Wellness when multiple communication methods are used to reach specific audiences.
• Effective Wellness and communication initiatives should reflect an audiencecentered perspective, and reflect the preferred formats, contexts, and method of communication for the intended audience.

Material adapted from: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. 2 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/HTML/Volume1/11HealthCom.htm

Effective Corporate Health Promotion Programs include the use of data sources in support of Corporate Health Promotion Plan planning, implementation, and evaluation. Information sources can be used to complete a community needs assessment, develop realistic Corporate Health Promotion Plan goals and objectives, and gain Senior Management support.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Information and statistics
• http://www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics/
• Information and statistics are available by topic (i.e., asthma, injuries, MRSA).
• Information access tools are available to customize information tables and query datasets (i.e., Healthy People DATA2010, tobacco use-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs).
• Nationwide survey information is available (i.e., National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)).

CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
• http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm
• BRFSS is the world’s largest, ongoing telephone health survey system. BRFSS has been tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the US yearly since 1984.
• Chronic Disease Indicators are divided into seven categories: physical activity and nutrition, tobacco and alcohol use, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, overarching conditions, and other disease and risk factors.
• Prevalence information is also available (i.e., weight classification by Body Mass Index and age).

Corporate Health Promotion Plan data collection and analysis is frequently avoided because of a perceived lack of resources for this very important Corporate Health Promotion Plan component. Use the suggestions below to take advantage of a variety of resources available at your company or in the local community.

Medical Interns and Residents
• If your Onsite Medical Center has an internship Corporate Health Promotion Program, get to know the Internship Director.
• Make use of these resources – including having the Director and/or interns/residents begin the outcome information collection plan for your Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Local college and graduate students
• Where appropriate volunteer agreements are in place, use local college/graduate students to help collect, input, and analyze Corporate Health Promotion Plan data.
• Make use of the fact that these students are frequently looking for projects.
• If there are no “health-related” students/interns in your area, consider using organization students. Let them calculate a cost avoidance or return on investment (ROI) for your Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Other Medical Personnel
• Partner with other Medical Personnel. Find out who is collecting information, what information they are collecting, and how they are collecting it.
• If they are using a survey and the survey administration process is already in place, ask if you can add a question or two.
• Be aware of other research going on at your facility. They may already be collecting information you need OR may have analysis resources that can be shared.
• Make sure other departments in the Medical center know you can always use some extra help if they have personnel with any down time. Use these resources for information entry or other administrative tasks.
• Make use of the volunteers to help collect and input data.

Previous Corporate Health Promotion Plan members
• Previous Corporate Health Promotion Plan members are also a good resource.
• They may be willing to lead a class session, provide encouragement to current Corporate Health Promotion Plan members, or help collect data.
You can improve data collection and analysis by taking advantage of local resources. Using these resources expands the reach and impact of your Corporate Health Promotion Program.

A gap analysis is an assessment tool that enables a organization to compare its current capabilities and performance with industry benchmarks and expectations for performance. A gap analysis is used to identify areas that have room for improvement.

Gap analysis can also be used for your Corporate Health Promotion Plan to determine where the program stands now and how the Corporate Health Promotion Plan can better follow evidence-based recommendations.

To start a gap analysis, ask these simple questions about your Corporate Health Promotion Program:
• What is the current state of the Corporate Health Promotion Program?
• How does the Corporate Health Promotion Plan measure up to evidence-based practices? (i.e., the desired state)

The gap is the difference between the current and desired states.

After the gap has been identified, the next step is to determine the action steps that are needed to close the gap. These actions answer the question: “How can the Corporate Health Promotion Plan move forward towards the desired state?”

Sometimes the gaps that need to be filled can be addressed through Corporate Health Promotion Plan changes; other gaps might require policy changes. However, using a gap analysis will help you identify areas for Corporate Health Promotion Plan improvement and the actions needed to make progress towards those goals.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization plan review (from Key #19)
• A Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization plan is a roadmap for success.
• Your Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization plan should convincingly demonstrate that your Corporate Health Promotion Plan will help the organization to achieve its goals.

More smart Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization planning strategies

Planning the Corporate Health Promotion Plan
• Find out how your organization plans so that your planning process will be in sync with what already happens in the corporate.
• Involve other employees. A planning team brings their combined experience and perspective to the process. Including potential partners as you plan will make it easier to get their buy-in later.

Thinking of the big picture
• Look at the barriers and challenges that might be encountered during Corporate Health Promotion Plan implementation. Develop strategies ahead of time to overcome these potential problems.
• Do a SWOT analysis and examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This analysis will help you identify potential problem areas or resource shortfalls and opportunities for growth or raised partnerships with other company personnel.

The WORST organization planning strategy: sitting in your office; working by yourself.

The best Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization planning strategies
• Get out of your office; get out of the organization. The more employees you involve in the Corporate Health Promotion Plan planning process, the better. Always look for ways to expand your network.
• Keep your budget employees informed. Get to know their philosophy of financial management.
• Be able to articulate the impact if your budget is not fully funded.
o Avoid basing your impact-if-not-funded argument only on: “We have to.”
o Instead, describe the impact-if-not-funded with phrases like: injuries to workers, raised compensation costs, raised medical care costs for patients, lost work time, loss of licenses/accreditations, loss of workload to the Tricare network.
• Always have purchase requests ready to be submitted. There is frequently a short window of time to process these requests. Having the information gathered ahead of time will make it easy to submit the information right away.

A well thought-out Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization plan is critical in these times of shrinking budgets and resources. A good organization plan will help you gain leadership support and help you get and keep resources needed to begin the Corporate Health Promotion Program.

A organization plan is a roadmap for success. Use the guidelines below to develop a realistic organization plan and budget for your Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

What is a organization plan?
• A plan for success
• A document that convincingly demonstrates that your Corporate Health Promotion Plan will help the company to achieve its goals.

Questions to ask when developing a Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization plan
• Why do you need to do the Corporate Health Promotion Program?
• What are you going to do?
• Where are you going to do it?
• Who is the target audience?
• How are you going to do it?
• Who is going to begin the Corporate Health Promotion Program?
• How much will the Corporate Health Promotion Plan cost Senior Management?
• What is Senior Management going to get out of the Corporate Health Promotion Program? Why should Senior Management invest in the Corporate Health Promotion Program?

Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization Plan Components
• Title and duration of the Corporate Health Promotion Plan
• Points of contact
• Background information (description of need; bibliography/literature review; how the Corporate Health Promotion Plan will help achieve the organization’s goals)
• Corporate Health Promotion Plan description
• Goals and objectives
• Implementation site
• Target population
• Work plan
• Partnerships and collaborations
• Timelines and milestones
• Budget and resource requirements (dollars and employees)

Gaining the support of leadership
• Clearly link the Corporate Health Promotion Plan goals and objectives to the organization’s strategic plan.
• Focus on the desired outcomes.
• Use the right language for the right audience. For example, Senior Management is interested in decreased clinic visits, raised provider productivity, management of the health of the population. However, Senior Management is interested in raised readiness, decreased lost duty/training time, and decreased disability and FECA claims.
A well thought-out Corporate Health Promotion Plan organization plan will help you gain leadership support, help you get and keep resources needed to begin the Corporate Health Promotion Program, and keep the Corporate Health Promotion Plan on track towards meaningful outcomes.

As they say: “timing is everything.” Use the guidelines below to guide the timing of Corporate Health Promotion Plan activities and data collection.

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Plan Start-up
• Look at the optimal time to start a new Corporate Health Promotion Program. Take into account preferences of the target population and other factors that could affect enrollment and participation.
• For example, coordinating the start of an adult weight management initiative with the start of school in August or September may be a good tie-in with a “fresh start.”
• On the other hand, starting an adult weight management initiative In January may not be a great idea because of the constraints that weather may put on exercising outdoors.
• Make use of other timing cycles at your company. Planning a marketing blitz just after the PCS turnover has been completed is a good way to let new personnel know what Corporate Health Promotion Plan options are available.

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Plan Participant Support
• Look at how frequently Corporate Health Promotion Plan sessions should be offered to provide the best support and education for members and the best opportunity for success.
• Get feedback from members regarding what session frequencies work best for them.
• Look at the timing for other support mechanisms like email encouragement. What timing of those messages will benefit members most: Weekly? Bi-monthly? Monthly?

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Plan Data Collection
• Collecting information is an excellent way to track member progress and also to identify potential problems within a Corporate Health Promotion Program. So, give some thought to the frequency and timing of data collection.
• Select metrics that can realistically change during the Corporate Health Promotion Plan implementation time period. For example, BMI and weight may not change very much during a 10-week Corporate Health Promotion Program; however, step counts are more likely to noticeably change.
• Some information, such as member responsiveness to out-of-class assignments (like food journals) and other interim data (like step counts) will provide important information needed to “adjust fire” as needed and make Corporate Health Promotion Plan changes if something is not working.
• Be flexible regarding data collection frequency. Instead of requiring that members complete an physical fitness log every day, for example, consider asking for a “snapshot” summary from two or three days during the week. You will still get information to review, but members will have an easier time complying with the assignment.

Timing: Corporate Health Promotion Plan Follow-up
• Because the we are such a mobile population, it’s best to plan some sort of post-Corporate Health Promotion Program follow-up data collection within two to four months after the Corporate Health Promotion Plan ends.
• You can always try to collect additional follow-up data at 6 or 12 months after Corporate Health Promotion Plan completion. However, if you collect the information sooner, you’ll at least have collected some short term Corporate Health Promotion Plan impact information before members are lost to follow-up.

Evaluation of successful Corporate Health Promotion Programs has revealed several primary Corporate Health Promotion Plan strategies to increase Corporate Health Promotion Plan effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #5: Using a small number of targeted priorities maintains Corporate Health Promotion Plan focus.
• Needs assessment data can be used to identify leading health and wellness needs and also high risk populations.
• Choosing a handful of specific health and wellness needs on which to focus will maximize efficient use of resources.
• Keeping the Corporate Health Promotion Plan focus small will avoid duplication of other ongoing company Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

Strategy #6: Use standardized processes whenever possible.

Reduce the amount of variation within your Corporate Health Promotion Programs by standardizing all the processes needed for Corporate Health Promotion Plan planning and begination. For example:
• Use the same spreadsheet format for data collection so that the columns are in the same order. This way you can compare information more easily.
• Reuse the same forms for enrollment and attendance. Change the heading as needed.
• Look at other Corporate Health Promotion Plan processes (like registration, evaluation, marketing, etc.). What parts of those processes can be standardized?
• The Wellness and Prevention Initiatives website (http://chppmwww. apgea.army.mil/dhpw/Population/HPPiFunction.aspx) has many standardized Corporate Health Promotion Plan resources in a variety of topic areas.

Strategy #7: Corporate Health Promotion Plan delivery methods should be flexible and adapted to population needs.
• Delivery of products and services may depend on: company needs, training requirements, other scheduling considerations (such as work/duty schedules, school scheduling, etc.), member preference, and/or availability of staff or space.
• Be flexible: the same produce/service delivery methods may not work for every population.
• Some company’s may want services provided to them as close as possible to the company location; other companies may prefer as many services as possible bundled together at once (regardless of location).
• Take wellness and preventive medicine beyond the walls of the organization in order to meet leadership and worker needs. Answer the question: “How can we best help leadership and Employees to fulfill their mission?”

Evaluation of successful Corporate Health Promotion Programs has revealed several primary Corporate Health Promotion Plan strategies to increase Corporate Health Promotion Plan effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #1: Communication with leadership is critical
• Assess leadership priorities.
• Report Corporate Health Promotion Plan outcomes back to leadership in a timely manner.

Strategy #2: Corporate Health Promotion Plan planning must be driven by information.
• Determine specific needs of the target population.
• Focus on the health status of the population as a whole to identify the top health concerns.
• Information should drive decisions regarding which health and wellness needs should be addressed first.

Strategy #3: Use electronic information collection and reporting as frequently as possible.
• Centrally collected information in an electronic format is fundamental for determining population health and wellness needs.
• Electronic reporting is also very valuable when communicating Corporate Health Promotion Plan outcomes to leadership and other stakeholders.
• Flexible reporting capabilities allow information to be presented as information that can support decision-making, in formats that decision-makers prefer.

Strategy #4: Multidisciplinary collaboration enhances worker health and maximizes available resources.
• Collaboration between health disciplines increases effectiveness of Wellness and preventive medicine interventions.
• Don’t forget to look outside the organization for collaboration partners.
• Optimized Corporate Health Promotion Plan outcomes can be reached by coordinating the activities of medical experts, cadre, community agents, and funding sources.
• Bundling services together also provides the additional benefit to units by conserving training and mission time.
Implementing these strategies can improve Corporate Health Promotion Plan effectiveness and optimize available resources.

The majority of corporations do not have the Corporate Health Promotion Plan resources to address all of their health and wellness needs at once. Priorities must be set to determine the most pressing health and wellness needs. Use the steps below to prioritize company Wellness needs.

Assess the health and wellness needs of the population.

Collect information about the health and wellness needs in the community. How?

• Community- or target group-specific surveys

Identify health and wellness needs and at-risk populations.

Use the information to identify leading health and wellness needs and also high risk populations. For example:
• Obesity and overweight
• Injury prevention
• Self care

Reduce the list.

Not every health need can (or should) be addressed. Use the following questions to determine which health and wellness needs should be addressed first.
• How does the health need impact operational readiness? How big is the impact?
• What are the Senior Management priorities? How does the health need fit into those priorities?
• What are the behavioral factors affecting the health need? What is the evidence that a behavior change will make a difference? Has the behavior been successfully changed by other Corporate Health Promotion Programs?
• What other social, physical, or environmental factors influence the health need or the target population?
• Is the health need a greater problem at the local level than in the U.S. population as a whole?
• Does the organization have the subject matter expertise and resources to address the health need?

Develop Corporate Health Promotion Plan recommendations.

Only a handful of specific health and wellness needs should be focused on in a given year. Keep the following in mind as recommendations are developed as to which specific health and wellness needs will be addressed:
• Avoid duplication of other ongoing Corporate Health Promotion Programs whenever possible. Identify Corporate Health Promotion Programs already addressing the health need and/or the target population.
• Identify and assess available resources. Build on existing services whenever possible.

Use the recommendations to offer tailored, targeted, integrated interventions to address the prioritized list of health and wellness needs. Prioritizing health and wellness needs will keep Corporate Health Promotion Programs focused, maximize efficient use of resources, and align Wellness efforts with Senior Management goals and priorities.

References
• US Department of Health and Human Services, Planned Approach to Community Health, http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/PATCH/index.htm.
• Implementing a Comprehensive Community Wellness and Well Being Program, presentation by CHPPM-EUR at the 2006 Force Health Protection Conference