Health Care Cost | Physical Activity Evaluation Measures

Health care cost measures for physical activity^1-3

In contrast with the worker productivity costs described above, health care costs are measures of the direct medical expenses of providing employee health care and preventive health programs.

Baseline

• Determine current health care use and costs for conditions where individuals have a higher risk associated with physical inactivity such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke, and type 2 diabetes  
  • It is difficult to attribute the effects of enhanced physical activity directly to the costs of health care, but tracking this information over time gives the program evaluator an indication of the physical activity program’s impact
• Determine the health care use and costs of program participants before education and other programs are initiated and after operation of these programs

Process

• Periodic repeats of baseline measures

Outcome

• Assess changes in health care use and costs from baseline
• Compare health care use and costs of program participants before education and other programs are initiated and after operation of these programs