San Francisco committee hears case for worksite wellness to lower long-term health costs

The committee held an informational hearing on preventive health care in the workplace, hearing presentations from Shape Up San Francisco advocates and Public Health Department staff and agreeing to continue work on incentives and next steps.

Chris Mittelstaedt, founder of The FruitGuys and a member of the Shape Up San Francisco steering committee, told supervisors that a large share of U.S. healthcare costs are attributable to preventable disease, citing studies his statement attributed to medical journals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He argued employers can play a central role by implementing wellness programs and described employer examples — including a Pillsbury Winthrop site with nearly 400 employees that reported morale gains after launching a wellness program.

Public Health Department Health Promotion Consultant Christina Carpenter described local initiatives under the Shape Up effort, said the city has a high prevalence of overweight and obesity and noted city partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce and others to promote walking challenges and other incentives. The committee discussed incentive structures, including proposals to allow employer wellness spending to count toward parts of the Healthy San Francisco employer match and cited King County’s multi-year investment in worksite wellness as a model that used assessments, coaching and benefit-tier incentives.

Supervisors raised the city’s retiree health unfunded liability and asked for participation from the Health Service System and plan providers in future hearings. The committee invited follow-up briefings and indicated it would hold further hearings and seek updates from the mayor’s office and relevant departments.