Johns Hopkins Medicine has reported an increase in the organization's performance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Worksite Health ScoreCard (CDC WHSC), a tool used by employers to evaluate workplace health and employee health promotion strategies. The improvement is the result of more than a decade of employee well-being strategies and investments.
The full study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst Dec. 18, details how Johns Hopkins Medicine's score rose from 68.5% in 2016 to 88% in 2024 (an improvement of 19.5%) and also exceeds large employer and industry-specific benchmarks for the CDC WHSC. The increase indicates the success of Johns Hopkins Medicine's workplace wellness programs and organizational support for employee health and well-being.
Johns Hopkins Medicine first implemented the CDC WHSC a decade ago, using the tool to assess how strategies supporting and promoting employee health were implemented throughout the organization. Ten Johns Hopkins Medicine member organizations, including its hospitals and primary care network, participated in completing the ScoreCard between 2014 and 2024. ScoreCard data from member organizations were tracked and analyzed annually, both on an internal basis across the organization and externally using a CDC ScoreCard database.
"Employee well-being has long been a strategic objective for Johns Hopkins Medicine," says Richard Safeer, M.D., chief medical director of employee health and well-being at Johns Hopkins Medicine. "Using an external organizational assessment tool allowed Johns Hopkins Medicine to stay objective and not only give us a proven path, but also one that includes benchmarks so that we could compare ourselves to other employers."
Johns Hopkins Medicine officials used the CDC WHSC tool to evaluate a number of employee health promotion strategies and infrastructure over multiple years, using the data to tailor initiatives based on the ScoreCard results. Employee health and well-being programs that were evaluated include blood pressure health, lactation support and occupational health and safety.
In the full paper, Safeer and team note that while the CDC WHSC is important for employer understanding of the success of employee health and well-being initiatives, the tool does not measure other factors crucial to well-being culture in the workplace, such as peer support and social climate. However, they propose that using additional assessment tools and supporting well-being culture can help construct a workplace that aids employees in making healthier choices while improving overall workplace culture.
"Well-being is a team sport, and employers and leaders need to be on the same playing field as the employees," Safeer explains. "Johns Hopkins Medicine is committed to ensuring our processes make our employees feel their health and well-being journeys are supported in the workplace."
Johns Hopkins Medicine plans to continue its annual evaluations using the CDC WHSC.
