Al Lewis

This article, the second in a series, looks at how participation bias is misused to falsify claims about the success of employee health programs.

This article, the first in a series, looks at how regression to the mean is often misused to justify false claims about the success of wellness programs.

Advisers need to be aware that many if not most clinical wellness programs now expose clients to employee EEOC actions.

Even if you were to reduce 100% of [wellness-sensitive medical events] you could not pay for most wellness programs.|

Four out of five dentists recommend twice-a-year teeth cleaning. Here’s why the fifth dentist is right.

The diabetes prevention industry presents five ways to “show savings” to employers without actually achieving them.

A wellness program for Arkansas teachers shows how "pry, poke and prod" programs raise expenses while likely harming health.

A recent recommendation to start colonoscopies at age 45 shows why the U.S. suffers from over-treatment and worse outcomes.

The study that said no level of drinking of alcohol is safe suffers from the same flaws in statistical analysis that afflict so many wellness studies.

There is panic over the sunsetting of the safe harbor for incentives/penalties for health risk assessments and biometric screenings.

The more informed employees are, the wiser they’ll be when it comes to making the right lifestyle and healthcare choices.

All honest and competent vendors of wellness programs need to incorporate this pledge into their operations and contractual obligations.

Not since 2014, with the Penn State debacle, has the wellness industry had such a bad year. And it’s only February.

The reward for showing your wellness program works is now $3 million -- but there have yet to be any takers.

AARP's win over the EEOC may actually be a windfall for employers with wellness programs that use heavy incentives.

In the immortal words of the great philosopher LL Cool J, some wellness companies lied about the lies they lied about.

They often provide no benefit, but half a million procedures a year occur (at $20,000 apiece) because of healthcare's flawed financial structure.

Anyone who actually takes Interactive Health’s advice on how to avoid diabetes is likely to increase their odds of getting diabetes.

The $78 billion all-in cost in the U.S. of opioid use, abuse and treatment works out to about $756 per employee per year. 

New book explains how to vastly cut healthcare spending, delivering big benefits both to employers and employees.

Vendors claim a 230% decrease in the likelihood of claims by participants. News flash: You can't be 230% less likely than anyone on anything.

Among the mathematical issues, Fitbit cannot reduce healthcare costs by 46%. Taking a certain number of steps just isn't that important.

If employers want people to stay healthy in the long run, why aren't wellness programs measuring and paying for health in the long run?

There is a saying: “In wellness, you don’t have to challenge the data to invalidate it. You merely have to read the data. It will invalidate itself.”

The C. Everett Koop Award just went to a company that HURT employees' health. It's time for a code of conduct for wellness programs.

Employers can help head off chronic use of opioids before it turns into addiction by having independent analysis look for three key risk factors.

Corporations can now impose more draconian wellness schemes on their workers, even though the programs have been shown to not work,.

A key way to save on healthcare costs (while helping employees): Use hospitals that take responsibility for the costs of "never events."

Wellness actually harms employees because it distracts people in human resources from doing their jobs.

A shockingly serious proposal is being floated that would have companies announce how fat their employees are, how much they drink, etc.

How many times do wellness promoters have to admit or prove that wellness doesn’t work before everyone finally believes them?

In a little-noticed decision, a federal court allowed employers to impose 100% fines on employees who won't participate in wellness programs.

Athletes should love wellness programs because they win rewards for doing things they're already doing. But....

One of the 10 wellness plans relies on drugs specifically discouraged by the AMA. Another is 100% guaranteed to harm the workforce.

Now that claims of ROI by wellness vendors have been thoroughly discredited, are they going away? Nope, just inventing a new metric.

We'll settle the wellness debate the old-fashioned way: offering a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove it isn't a horrible investment.

Actually, proponents surrendered in the wellness war, producing a report that debunks their own claims of return on investment.

The author, a longtime critic of claims that corporate wellness programs deliver a return on investment, says he has reconsidered his position.

A call to action in 2009 published "arresting facts" that are certainly arresting but aren't facts -- yet have become the basis for wellness plans.

The authors welcome his recent, pro-wellness posting but question his data, including the slide most often used to demonstrate wellness' value.

There was the first-ever lay media feeding frenzy on wellness.

Businesses are demanding that Obama halt legal actions, even though it's clear that conventional workplace wellness has failed.

A review of the three main types of studies shows that costs exceed savings -- and with no net benefit to health.

The sky just fell on Honeywell, even though its program complies with the ACA. Don't be next.

The published study is a series of punchlines -- but they aren't funny.

The EEOC filed a suit that could end workplace programs and expose brokers and vendors to similar lawsuits.

The author has repeatedly pointed out major problems with wellness claims but says the industry won't respond. Now, he's upping the ante.

She drank the Kool-Aid on wellness programs and may have gotten more wrong in a single post than any I've ever seen.

It is with great satisfaction that I can finally recommend a company, Quantum Health, which saves significant money while improving the employee experience. |

"We aren't doctors, and you're not sick, and you never asked for our help and probably never would, but we've got the solution for you anyway."|