Differential Cost Analysis Techniques in Occupational Health Promotion Evaluation.

The article reports on the application of differential cost analysis techniques to worksite-based health promotion programs in the United States. Worksite-based health promotion programs, designed to both improve employee health and reduce employee health-related costs to sponsoring employers, are prime targets for accounting analyses of program success. Indeed, differential cost analyses techniques may be adapted to the measurement of program effectiveness in financial terms. This study suggests that numerous potential stumbling blocks exist to effective accounting analyses of corporate health promotion efforts. In essence, the task involves accurately measuring behavioral change associated with participation in designated health promotion activities, monetarizing measured behavioral changes, then comparing monetarized changes with associated program costs. Invariably, accountants will find this process challenging in that it requires the dissemination of knowledge not normally within the purview of the accounting profession.