Business Record Daily AM 9.20.24

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Sarah Wells Kocsis, a director on the public health team at the Milken Institute, shared during Iowa Healthiest State Initiative’s second Obesity Roundtable on Sept. 17 that employers have a "tremendous role" in fighting obesity.

Highlighting a GlobalData report from February 2024 that showed employees with obesity or who are overweight in the nonfarm, civilian workforce cost about $425.5 billion, Kocsis said the cost of not addressing the issue is much greater than the cost of tackling it.

Included in that $425.5 billion cost are $146.5 billion in higher medical costs to employers ($89.8 billion) and employees ($56.7 billion), along with $242.6 billion in costs associated with absenteeism and presenteeism.

Kocsis was the principal director in crafting the "Modernizing Care for Obesity as a Chronic Disease" how-to guide for employers, which outlines four opportunities for action including education, culture change, strategic benefit design planning and public policy.

The first step, Kocsis said, is recognizing obesity as a chronic disease.

"But then, as you learn more about obesity as a chronic disease, you understand the need for a comprehensive approach because it's very tempting to go to one modality or solution, like drugs or surgery," she said. "It has to be a continuum, and a whole comprehensive set of options for people to look at. And I think employers, patients, insurance companies, everybody needs to see it from more of a holistic perspective."

Over one-third of adults in Iowa, or 36.4%, are classified as having obesity, according to the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, and an additional 34.3% are classified as being overweight.

"The role of the employer is just so tremendous, and it's because of the workforce numbers that we have in this country," Kocsis said. "It's the access to care through our benefits and insurance. And we still have government programs, but employers have a critical role in terms of investing in the health of their workforce, so they need to understand these issues and the root causes behind them."

Some of the opportunities for action outlined in the how-to guide include increasing awareness and understanding of obesity as a chronic disease and its economic and social impacts on the workplace, creating a culture of health and well-being in the workplace, and addressing barriers to access to high-quality, efficient and evidence-based obesity care.

"Employers know that they need to tackle this issue, but they also are so sensitized to cost that it's almost like we need to have more of the conversation around it," Kocsis said. "It's a lot of sound bites, and there's information that is being discussed, but I think it's almost like employers need help in navigating the decision-making process, and there have been other diseases in the past that have been very expensive."

The Milken Institute report was not intended to be exhaustive, Kocsis said, but instead serve as more of a conversation starter.

"This report did not go deep enough," she said. "So now, it's really saying, 'How can we take this to the next level?' And we came up with these opportunity areas for action, but I think we need to lean into the ones that employers of certain sizes or readiness feel like they can tackle, and then really give them concrete and tangible tools to work from."

NEWS BRIEFS

New Partnership program aims to connect new, existing residents
A new program from the Greater Des Moines Partnership will connect prospective and new residents with existing Greater Des Moines residents who are engaged in the community. The DSM MVP program stems from research surveying new residents, which found that a majority of respondents rated opportunities to make friends and connect to the community as important. The program also aligns with the Partnership’s Do Something Greater talent attraction campaign, which has resulted in hundreds of people expressing interest in relocating to the Greater Des Moines region, a news release said. More information about the program is available to new residents here. Those interested in learning more about the process for becoming a MVP can reach out to Anne Lowder at alowder@DSMpartnership.com.

The Technology Association of Iowa has announced the finalists for the 2024 Prometheus Awards, which honors the year’s achievements and successes across Iowa’s technology landscape. Winners will be announced at the Prometheus Award ceremony on Nov. 6. Tickets are available on TAI’s website.

Finalists in each category are:

Startup Technology Company of the Year

Claimable

Pyrone Systems

Rise Energy

Tumbleweed

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Read more

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Read more at innovationia.com.

NEWS BRIEFS

Wells Fargo announces another round of layoffs in October and November in West Des Moines
Des Moines Register: More layoffs are coming at Wells Fargo shortly before the holiday season. The bank filed an amendment with the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, site for an additional 47 employees to be laid off, effective Nov. 18. The company also had announced amendments in August affecting 19 workers, effective in October.

University of Northern Iowa to launch civic education center with Iowa Board of Regents approval
Iowa Capital Dispatch: After the Iowa Board of Regents directed state universities to develop potential initiatives for civic education and research last fall, the University of Northern Iowa saw its proposal for a civic education center approved this week. UNI’s Center for Civic Education will offer professional development, training, events, research opportunities and educational resources both to campus and the public with the goal of growing civic engagement across all areas of campus, said Jennifer McNabb, UNI history department head and professor.

Nike CEO John Donahoe stepping down after rocky tenure
Wall Street Journal: Nike leader John Donahoe will retire as chief executive next month after nearly five years at the helm, capping a tenure marked by a series of missteps that caused the sneaker giant to lose ground to competitors. Elliott Hill, who in 2020 retired as the company’s president of consumer and marketplace, will succeed Donahoe as president and CEO starting Oct. 14, Nike said Thursday. Donahoe will also step down from the board of directors.

ONE GOOD READ
U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives

NPR: For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S. "This is exciting," said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute On Drug Abuse, the federal laboratory charged with studying addiction. "This looks real. This looks very, very real." National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6%. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages. Some researchers believe the data will show an even larger decline in drug deaths when federal surveys are updated to reflect improvements being seen at the state level, especially in the eastern U.S. "In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of 20%, 30 %," said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an expert on street drugs at the University of North Carolina.

KCCI TOP STORIES

Downtown residents oppose new bar plan for old Spaghetti Works space
Des Moines residents are voicing opposition to a plan to turn the old Spaghetti Works restaurant space into a bar on Court Avenue. Larry Smithson, a Des Moines businessman who has owned many bars downtown over the years, is asking the Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment to allow him to transform the 8,000-square-foot space from restaurant to bar use. This change would mean more than 50% of sales would come from liquor, wine, and beer, which is not what some downtown residents were hoping for. "Based on what little information we have, we would not support this at this time," said Deb Madison Levi, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association. The association sent a letter to the city board of adjustment urging members not to approve Smithson's rezoning request. Read more

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