(Jan. 4, 2018) This year, Atlantic General Hospital has been recognized with a Best in Benefits Award for providing its associates with superior benefits packages among employers in the mid-Atlantic region.

Milliman, one of the world’s largest providers of actuarial products and services and the company that bestows the award, calculates the benefit value and cost to the employee of each company plan, and then ranks the companies by lowest cost-highest benefit.

Only 10 employers in the mid-Atlantic region received the award for 2017.

This isn’t the first time Atlantic General Hospital has been recognized for the benefits it provides to its associates. The hospital received the 2016 and 2017 Wellness at Work gold tier award from Maryland’s Healthiest Businesses for the quality of its employee wellness program and the employee assistance benefits offered to associates.

“Because we’re a hospital, we care deeply about wellness and the health of our associates,” AGH employee health and wellness nurse, Tracey Mullineaux, said. “We recognized that if we had a healthy, productive workforce, we could give the care and support that our patients need. The healthier we are, the more productive we are, and the less absenteeism there is.”

With this in mind, Atlantic General Hospital created the Associates Getting Healthy wellness program in 2013. This program was implemented with the goals of providing opportunities for the associates to improve their health and wellbeing and control the high cost of providing health benefits.

Those goals were achieved and results in creating a culture at Atlantic General Hospital that helped associates begin or enhance a healthier lifestyle.

A case study was performed by Business Health Services, Atlantic General’s wellness program partner that delved into how the hospital prioritizes wellness for its employees.

Since beginning the wellness program, there has been a marked improvement in employee health at the Berlin hospital.

Overall, 82 percent of associates participating in the wellness program are in a low to moderate blood pressure risk. For body mass index (BMI), a standard measurement used to determine overweight and obesity, 52 percent of participants are in a low to moderate risk category, with 16 having moved out of the high risk category.

Additionally, medical claims were 20 percent lower than expected in 2016 and thus far in 2017.

“We’re not only providing competitive benefits to our employees, we’re promoting a healthier lifestyle,” said Jim Brannon, director of human resources at Atlantic General Hospital. “Our associates’ wellness successes are testament to that.”

Atlantic General Hospital has been providing quality health care to the residents of Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties in Maryland and Sussex County, Delaware, since May 1993.

Built by the commitment and generosity of a dedicated community, the hospital’s state-of-the-art facility in Berlin combines old-fashioned personal attention with the latest in technology and services.

It provides quality specialty care such as general ophthalmic and retina surgery, weight loss surgery, orthopedics, outpatient infusion for individuals with cancer or blood/autoimmune disorders, and a comprehensive women’s diagnostic center.

Atlantic General Health System, its network of more than 40 primary care providers and specialists, care for residents and visitors throughout the region. For more information about Atlantic General Hospital, visit www.atlanticgeneral.org.