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Research Is Our Middle Name
“Research is our middle name.” There is no accounting for the number of times that I’ve used that phrase or heard it used by someone in the HERO community. It’s true - factually and figuratively.
The HERO Bylaws state five primary aims of HERO’s organization and operation, including: “Sponsor and facilitate high quality research that documents the health impact and cost effectiveness of employee health management programming and services.” Last month, I began this walk down memory lane with a spotlight on the extraordinary HERO community of individuals and organizations. This month, I’ll zoom in on the research that HERO has produced through the support of this community.
Three studies have been foundational to HERO’s research:
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Goetzel RZ, Anderson DR, Whitmer RW, Ozminkowski RJ, Dunn RL, Wasserman J, HERO Research Committee. The relationship between modifiable health risks and health care expenditures. JOEM. 1998;40(10):843-854. Followed 46,026 employees across six employers for up to three years. This study established the "risk-cost" relationship the field still cites today.
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Anderson DR, Whitmer R, Goetzel R, et al. The relationship between modifiable health risks and group-level health care expenditures. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2000;15(1):45-52. The group-level companion to the 1998 individual-level study.
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Goetzel RZ, Pei X, Tabrizi MJ, Henke RM, Kowlessar N, Nelson CF, Metz RD. Ten modifiable health risk factors are linked to more than one-fifth of employer-employee health care spending. Health Affairs. 2012;31(11):2474-2484. A 92,486-employee, seven-employer replication that confirmed the 1998 findings still held 14 years later.
It is fitting that JOEM and AJHP published the first two HERO studies; the two journals have produced the majority of HERO’s research. Others have included Health Affairs, Population Health Management, Heart & Lung, and Behavior Modification. You can find other HERO research studies published in peer-reviewed journals here.
While the impact of peer-reviewed articles can be estimated using citation metrics (the three referenced articles alone total more than 1000), assessing the impact of research translation can be tricky. Changes in organizational policy, federal policy, global policy – HERO research has been cited and presented in these spaces, too. A prime example of this is a study by Grossmeier et al. published in JOEM in 2016, using data from the HERO Health & Well-being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer(c).
Citation: Grossmeier J, Fabius R, Flynn JP, Noeldner SP, Fabius D, Goetzel RZ, Anderson DR. Linking workplace health promotion best practices and organizational financial performance: Tracking market performance of companies with highest scores on the HERO Scorecard. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2016;58(1):16-23.
One of now 10 studies co-authored by Dr. Ray Fabius, it demonstrated the connection between robust investment in workforce health and well-being and business performance. As a standard talking point in all of our presentations about HERO, the “money slide” has gotten the attention of influencers at the Federal Reserve Bank, Capitol Hill, and the United Nations General Assembly.
We are conducting a refresh of this study now using V5 of the HERO Scorecard, with results expected in early 2027. HERO also continues to benefit from grant funding from Ardmore Institute of Health to explore lifestyle as medicine in employer settings (read on for the update in this newsletter), as well as research using the HERO Scorecard database with a current study on employer vaccination strategies.
On behalf of HERO, I am grateful to Drs. Sara Johnson and Mary Imboden for your stellar research leadership and insights.
With gratitude also to the many contributors to HERO’s published research over the years, including:
Individual Authors
Adams, T.B.; Aldana, Steven G.; Anderson, David R.; Avins, A.L.; Baase, Catherine; Barleen, N.A.; Barnhurst, M.; Bastable, Jack; Bazzarre, T.L.; Behling, Chris; Benevent, R.; Benowitz, N.; Bhatnagar, A.; Blacker, A.; Bodak, Tony; Bullen, C.; Carter, M.; Castle, Patricia H.; Chung, Raymond E.; Coberley, Carter R.; Dion, S.; Doyle, Stephen; Dunn, R.L.; Evers, Kerry; Fabius, D.; Fabius, Raymond; Fellingham, G.W.; Ferrão, Arline; Fisher, Roshi; Flynn, J.P.; Freeman, S.; Frost, G.J.; Gascon, Gregg M.; George, Vicki; Gingerich, Stefan B.; Gold, Dan; Goetzel, Ron Z.; Goldstein, Fred; Greenlaw, R.; Greenwell, A.; Grossmeier, Jessica; Harris, John; Hecht, R.; Henke, Rachel Mosher; Howe, G.; Hudsmith, Nikki; Hudson, M.; Hudson, W.; Hymel, Pamela; Imboden, Mary T.; Isaac, Fikry; Johnson, Sara S.; Kaplan, Gordon D.; Karjalainen, T.; Kelly, Rebecca; Kennedy, S.T.; Kent, K.; Kirsten, Wolf; Kowlessar, N.; Krick, Dan; Leutzinger, Joe A.; Lipsenthal, L.; Loeppke, Ronald; Manley, M.; Markle, E.; Mason, Shawn T.; Matson Koffman, D.M.; Matthias-Gray, L.; May, J.; Merrick, N.; Merrill, Ray M.; Metz, R.D.; Meyer, L.; Mitchell, Rebecca J.; Mochari-Greenberger, Heidi; Monley, S.; Moseley, Karen; Nelkovski, Lidia; Nelson, C.F.; Niebuhr, S.; Niemiec, T.; Noeldner, Steven P.; Noyce, Jerry; O'Brien, V.; Oste, H.F.; Ozminkowski, Ronald J.; Palma-Davis, LaVaughn; Pei, X.; Pelletier, Kenneth R.; Pitts, Jennifer S.; Pope, James E.; Pronk, Nicolaas P.; Pshock, Jim; Rahrig Jenkins, Kristi; Richling, D.E.; Ruppert, J.; Salberg, A.; Saringer, Colleen; Serxner, Seth A.; Sherman, Bruce; Smith, K.; Stave, G.M.; Stewart, M.; Swayze, Philip; Tabrizi, Maryam J.; Tangen, T.; Terry, Paul; Thomas, D.; Tivnan, Valeria; VanderHorst, Nicole; Vyhlidal, Tonya P.; Wasserman, J.; Webb, Kathy M.; Whitmer, R. William; Whitsel, Laurie P.; Wolfe, Emily.
Organizations & Committees
ACE; ACOEM; AHA; Bravo Wellness; HERO Culture of Health Study Committee; HealthFitness; HealthPartners; Healthways; HERO Research Committee; HERO Research Study Subcommittee; Interactive Health; Johnson & Johnson Services Inc.; Optum; Performance pH; Population Health Alliance; StayWell; Truven Health Analytics.
Together,
Karen
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