• Everett, Wash.-based Providence Health System showed a company savings of $1.5 million, with $4.24 saved for every $1 spent over three years, according to company officials.
• Officials for Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont Co. cited a 47.5- percent drop in absenteeism over a six-year period for participants in their wellness program.
• Medical claims were 55 percent lower over six years for employees participating in a wellness program compared with those not in the program at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Steelcase Inc., according to company officials. That statistic, however, could be explained by the tendency for healthy people to more readily participate in the plans.
• Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Railroad, with mostly union and blue-collar employees, introduced an employee wellness program after its medical costs soared to $6,000 per employee. After Union Pacific officials instituted what they called "a modest wellness program," they reported saving $1.26 million in health care costs in just one year, more than 50 percent more than they invested in the program.
• Superior Coffee and Foods, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Sara Lee, reported the wellness program for its 1,200 employees showed 22 percent fewer hospital admissions, 29-percent shorter hospital stays and 42-percent lower expenses per admission when compared with other divisions. Long-term disability costs dropped 40 percent.
• The Canadian Life Assurance Co . found turnover among wellness- program participants was reduced 32.4 percent over a seven-year period.

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