Welcome  to  Public  Health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. Three  out  of  every  four  employers  that  provide health  insurance  also  provide  a  wellness  program. The  programs  are  designed  to  improve  health  and reduce  overall  health  care  costs.  But  do  they  work? That's  what  researchers  at the  University  of  Minnesota  aim  to  find  out  when they  looked  in  house  evaluating the  U  of  M's  wellness  program. Over  the  last  few  years, one  of  the  researchers, assistant  Professor  Gene  Abraham, a  health  policy  expert,  discussed  the  findings. Here  at  the  university, we  examined  the  effectiveness, the  disease  management  program  as  well  as the  lifestyle  management  program and  the  fitness  rewards  program, which  was  recently  launched  in  2008. Our  evaluation  work  is  showing  that not  only  do  these  programs  save  money, but  they  really  are  improving  the  health  of  employees. And  that's  really  the  overall  objective of  these  initiatives. Abraham  adds  that  more  research  is  needed. The  first  generation  of  wellness  program  research has  really  been  completed. But  there's  so  much  more  that  we  don't  yet  know. For  example,  what  factors influence  employee  participation. How  should  these  programs  be designed  to  be  most  cost  effective? And  how  should  these  programs  be  organized as  they  relate  to  health  insurance that's  offered  to  employees?