{"59754":{"#nid":"59754","#data":{"type":"news","title":"CHS and GT Announce Completion of Workforce Health Assessment Model","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWorkforce illnesses are among the most costly expenses for employers, with billions of dollars lost each year in time, productivity and associated treatment.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDetermining the most common illnesses affecting the workplace-and the best strategies to reduce these risks-is the goal of a new health assessment model developed by Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (CHS), a leading national workforce health management company, and the Health Systems Institute (HSI) at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA first-of-its-kind project, the Workforce Health Assessment Model (WHAM) is currently in use with select CHS clients. WHAM provides the ability to estimate various health risks in the workplace and assists in finding cost-effective strategies to reduce those risks and the burdensome long-term costs. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022By identifying the prevalence of the most expensive medical conditions faced by employees, our model enables organizations to proactively analyze the cost-effectiveness of various health programs and strategies, in particular, programs designed to prevent and\/or reduce those risks,\u0022 said Leanne Metcalfe, Ph.D., a research engineer with HSI whose thesis work formed the basis for the model. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWHAM represents an opportunity not only for employers, but researchers aiming to map out research models that analyze and anticipate various trends.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022For the academic community, it provides a template of how abstract statistical research in predictive modeling meets challenges of real-life tests for its quality and performance,\u0022 said Brani Vidakovic, Professor of Bioengineering Statistics at The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and an HSI researcher notes. \u0022I am pleased to see that WHAM meets these challenges and we at HSI are committed to support and further fine-tune the model.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWith the project now complete, the model will enter its second phase of development, which involves CHS and Georgia Tech researchers enhancing and refining the model. Planned improvements include incorporating richer demographic data, enabling meta-analysis by geographic region and industry type, and support for real-time updates.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022CHS is investing in this remarkable project because we believe that onsite health centers can greatly impact the cost and quality of care for employees, retirees and dependents,\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Enters Second Phase of Development"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"A first-of-its-kind project, the Workforce Health Assessment Model (WHAM) is currently in use with select CHS clients. WHAM provides the ability to estimate various health risks in the workplace and assists in finding cost-effective strategies to reduce those risks and the burdensome long-term costs.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Workforce illnesses are among the most costly expenses for emplo"}],"uid":"15436","created_gmt":"2008-11-19 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:25","author":"Automator","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2008-11-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2008-11-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"59755":{"id":"59755","type":"image","title":"Leanne Metcalfe and Professor Brani Vidakovic","body":null,"created":"1449176227","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:57:07","changed":"1475894265","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:37:45","alt":"Leanne Metcalfe and Professor Brani Vidakovic","file":{"fid":"190979","name":"tpm04181.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tpm04181_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tpm04181_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":230063,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tpm04181_0.jpg?itok=HCUKr8e_"}},"59756":{"id":"59756","type":"image","title":"Mel Hall, Chairman and CEO of Comprehensive Health","body":null,"created":"1449176227","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:57:07","changed":"1475894265","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:37:45","alt":"Mel Hall, Chairman and CEO of Comprehensive Health","file":{"fid":"190980","name":"tdh04181.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tdh04181_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tdh04181_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":171873,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tdh04181_0.jpg?itok=d0rPBnUa"}}},"media_ids":["59755","59756"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.hsi.gatech.edu\/","title":"Health Systems Institute at Georgia Tech and Emory University"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.chsmedical.com\/","title":"Comprehensive Health Services"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.hsi.gatech.edu\/news\/release.php?id=1948","title":"HSI\/GT Mel Hall Predictive Modeling Laboratory"}],"groups":[{"id":"1241","name":"Health Systems Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1217","name":"assessment"},{"id":"398","name":"health"},{"id":"1383","name":"model"},{"id":"3569","name":"risk"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EAndy Haleblian\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHealth Systems Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=ah141\u0022\u003EContact Andy Haleblian\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-0136\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["andyh@hsi.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}