It’s Time to Ditch Invasive and Expensive Biometric Screenings

With healthcare costs continuing to rise each year, every company wants to find a way to achieve true healthcare cost savings while also ensuring that their employees have access to proper care.

Traditional corporate wellness programs don’t work because they often target the healthiest, most active individuals – those with the lowest average healthcare spend. Comparatively, condition management focuses on a specific group of people who sit between healthy and sick, and are the biggest drivers of healthcare cost.

We’ve previously discussed how HR or benefits managers can garner CFO support for chronic condition management programs, but do you know how to identify those employees who are most susceptible, and need the extra help with their personal health?

The pitfalls of traditional biometric screening

Typically, biometric screenings have been the chosen method for determining if an individual has Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), a combination of risk factors that increase the likelihood of costly chronic conditions.

The challenge with most traditional biometric screenings, such as the HbA1c test for diabetes, is that they rely on blood samples and are invasive, expensive and inconvenient. Employers often need to conduct a health fair, or encourage their employees to visit a commercial laboratory or their provider’s office. It’s these steps that can deter employers from taking the necessary first step in setting up condition management programs for their most at-risk employees.

Zillion has a simpler alternative.

What is the YI assessment?

The Yavari Indicator (YI) assessment is a non-invasive tool that determines an individual's likelihood of having type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome, using only an individual’s age, gender, height, weight, hip and waist measurements. This type of screening also allows you to "stratify" the employee population and adjust the delivery of your wellness solution portfolio based upon risk profile, with low to high intensity programs. When employers can accurately identify the “at-risk” population, they can work with employees to create appropriate interventions.The YI assessment tool eliminates the need for blood test measurements and immediately predicts diabetes and pre-diabetes as accurately as HbA1c. It gives companies a way to conduct viable and inclusive health risk assessments for their employees.

Created by Dr. Reza Yavari, who was recently brought on as Zillion’s medical advisor, the YI assessment has been used to support risk stratification and condition management within health organizations, medium-sized organizations, and large enterprises.

Using the YI assessment

At Zillion, we want to help you help your employees who are suffering from or at risk for chronic conditions such as diabetes, pre-diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure or dyslipidemia.

It’s important to reach this group of employees and show them how small lifestyle changes can lead to sustainably healthier lives. Applying proven alternatives to today’s biometric screening options will help both employers and employees get started.

It’s time to ditch traditional corporate wellness programs that are generalized and oversimplified, and it’s time to stop using invasive and time-consuming procedures. A targeted condition management approach, utilizing a non-invasive assessment option, lowers costs for employers and gives employees an easier way to measure progress and reverse prevalent chronic conditions.