German prevention report 2020 on workplace health promotion

The German prevention report 2020 was recently published (in german). 

The statutory health insurance companies are obliged to finance company health promotion measures. The German Prevention Guide defines the quality standards for the measures. 

The legal basis for the commitment of the health insurance companies in this field can be found in §20b SGBV (Social Code V). In 2019, the health insurance funds spent 239,911,574 Euros for this segment of prevention services, which corresponds to 3.28 euros per insured person. This amount was both higher than in the previous year (2.37 euros) and above the benchmark for 2019 of 3.15 euros. Of this amount, the health insurance funds actually spent 0.77 euros in hospitals and nursing homes, i.e. for health promotion in care. In the last ten years, the health insurance companies have been able to win over more and more companies for health promotion and prevention measures. In 2019, 23,221 businesses could be reached directly. This corresponds to an increase of 19% compared to the previous year. As in previous years, health promotion measures were most frequently carried out in the manufacturing sector. Here the employees are often exposed to great physical strain, which is why initiatives to reduce and compensate for these strains are necessary

In 2019, the health insurance companies were able to reach 2.3 million employees directly; 8% of the companies had a high proportion of “unskilled” employees. In these companies, it can be assumed that there will be an increased demand for WHP.