High-tech custom physical new exec perk

While you might not think of the annual company physical as an employee perk, a high-tech, in-depth version of the traditional checkup has become another VIP benefit for many executives.

Executive physicals are now a featured attraction in executive wellness programs offered by businesses nationwide, thanks to insurance providers and hospitals which have begun designing their own customized executive health-care programs.

Exempla Healthcare runs an Executive Health Program out of three of its Colorado facilities: Exempla Rock Creek Medical Center and Rehabilitation at Superior, Exempla Total Health and Downtown Medical Center in Denver and Exempla Family and Occupational Medicine at Southwest Littleton.

“If the executives are healthy and physically fit, then it adds to a company’s well-being,´ said Jack Cochran, occupational medicine business manager for Exempla Physician Network in Denver. “And businesses realize that the health and wellness of top people in the company is important. If you can keep them healthy, they’ll be guiding the rest of the company for a long time.”

Cochran said that, under the guidelines used by the program, the Exempla executive physical is much more thorough than the average employee annual checkup.

“This is much more intensive testing and delves into your lifestyle,” he said. “Usually in a routine employee physical you’re not going to go on a treadmill or have an EKG or sit with the doctor discussing the results for an hour and a half. This way, it’s geared toward each individual.”

A blood profile is taken in the basic physical offered by Exempla’s Executive Health Program, as well as the patient’s complete medical history. Cardiovascular tests follow, including heart and pulmonary function screening and EKG tests, along with treadmill tests to assess heart function.

After the results come back, the patient returns for a lengthy one-on-one consultation with the doctor and is given a complete health risk appraisal. If necessary, additional tests are recommended, such as a chest X-ray; prostate or pelvic exams; a mammogram; bone density; heart and body scans; or a colonoscopy. These tests are generally covered by the patient’s individual employee insurance, and while Exempla recommends specialists, the patient is free to go to his or her own doctor if they wish.

Cochran said that the cost of the initial physical, which is completely paid for by the patient’s employer under the executive program, can range anywhere from $500 to $1,000. Additional tests, which are paid for by the patient’s insurance, can range from $400 for a heart scan to $3,000 for a colonoscopy.

Other preventive procedures are electron beam tomography, or EBT, scans, which look for calcium buildup in the arteries leading to the heart, and virtual colonoscopies, which are noninvasive done through computer imaging.

According to Cochran, it was Dr. Thomas Starkey who, several years ago, first brought the concept of an executive wellness program to the Denver area. Two years ago, Starkey began working with the Exempla Health Program, where he joined forces with another local physician, Dr. Dave Zieg, a family practitioner at Exempla Family and Occupational Medicine at Southwest Littleton.

Zeig worked in executive wellness programs for the past seven years. He noted the program’s increased popularity as the business employment demographic evolved.

“You’ve got a population in Colorado of people who are very in touch with their health – more so than they used to be,” he said. “You’ve also got executives who are in their 50s and 60s and are part of the aging baby-boomer generation. And they see that insurance and HMOs don’t pay for some of this testing anymore.”
In addition to providing an extensive physical exam, Zieg says it’s important to include a thorough discussion of what he calls “psycho-social factors.”

“Given the higher stress that’s usual in the executive population, I’ll touch base with them on how they’re doing emotionally and how good their balance in life is, along with what they expect to achieve and what their goals are for their health down the road,” he said. “Then we’ll discuss stress and, if it’s needed, I’ll provide some strategies on how to manage stress and obtain a better balance in life.”

Zieg feels that an executive wellness program not only can benefit a company, but also serve as a wake-up call for managerial staff who sometimes don’t give enough time or thought to their own health care.

“Many times, executives are so busy they don’t take the time to go to primary care doctor and get these tests done,” he said. “And doctors don’t always go over the same things we do. Typically they go through the exam a lot more quickly, so something in the patient’s medical history might be missed.”

For Rick Johnson, finding the right executive health plan for his staff has been a personal quest. Johnson is vice president of employee relations at Utility Engineering, a company that specializes in design engineering for the power industry, including utility companies such as Xcel Energy.

As a longtime employee of the parent company that recently acquired Utility Engineering, Johnson was covered for the past 10 years under a similar executive fitness program at his former company headquarters. He found that, from a patient’s perspective, the annual physicals offered through these types of programs are much more thorough than the average employee physical.

“I always had physicals with my own doctor, but they were never as extensive as the ones I had through the company program.” he said. “By the time I got through the stress tests and colonoscopies and other preventive procedures, I realized that my own doctor wouldn’t have gone to those lengths. I felt this was a much broader look at my health – and I liked that.”

When Johnson came to Colorado to work with the Utility Engineering headquartered in Denver, he was anxious to implement a similar program. His search led him to Exempla, where he was able to tailor an executive wellness program that will cover three or four levels of management, which, for his company, will cover about 60 employees.

“From a corporate perspective, it’s a good message to send to our employees – that it’s a good thing to maintain your health,” he said. “Our industry is very competitive right now, and we want our staff to be good performing players in our company for a long time.”

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