Orriant, Ray Merrill
Category: Wellness
Short Summary of Company’s Marketing Claim:
“A New Scientific Study Proves Wellness Works”
Materials Being Reviewed:
http://www.orriant.com/File/4072ee6c-2bcd-43a5-83b6-e9035c8c0f1a
Questions for Orriant and Ray Merrill:
When you say “a new internationally-published study proves wellness works,” are you taking into account that the “international” journal publishing the work has a Zero impact factor, meaning that essentially no one believes anything they publish has enough value to cite?
ANS: Refused to answer
Are you attributing the fact that “participants had fewer health claims than non-participants” to your program, rather than to the obvious non-observable variable that participants are motivated whereas non-participants are not?
ANS: Refused to answer
Are you familiar with Health Fitness Corporation’s demonstration that participants will outperform non-participants even in the absence of a program? (See the year 2005 below — no program but participants outperformed non-participants nonetheless.)
ANS: Refused to answer
You also note that “those with the greatest health risks” had the most improvement.” Are you familiar with Dee Edington’s work that says those with the greatest health risks will improve the most even in the absence of a program, due to the natural flow of risk?
ANS: Refused to answer
Non-participants’ medical costs were “2.9x greater” (about $4000 vs. about $1400). This, of course, is the record for the hugest savings ever claimed from a wellness program. Since government data shows that wellness-sensitive medical events account for only 4% of total costs or about $200/person, where did the other $2400/person in savings come from?
ANS: Refused to answer
Why didn’t the authors plausibility-check the entire population using a wellness-sensitive medical event analysis?
ANS: Refused to answer
They Said What? 
My employer implemented Orriant program this past year, And I am 60 years old. The health assessment indicated that my BP was high, and my cholesterol was just above recommended levels. The only medical claims that I have had in my 60 years has been issues with skin moles, and those turned out to not be an issue. Had them tested for melanoma and came back negative. Talking with fellow employees, some think it is a big joke, others say it has turned us all into liars. So now we have another company saying that they will save the employer and employee money, when they are just wanting a piece of the health care money pile. There web site is constantly having issues, their health coaches are not providing anything I did not already know.
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I’ve yet to meet anyone (other than people who make their money in this field) who doesn’t think it’s a big joke. And, yes, of course, it encourages lying. Thanks very much for the comment. PS Orriant in particular is a joke — they’ve been “profiled” on this site.
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