Why More Businesses Invest in Executive Physicals and the Five Health Exams You Cannot Live Without
Simply put, companies invest a lot of money on their senior executives. Investors and business owners want to protect their company’s assets, which include the executives themselves. More than 22 percent of Fortune 500 companies1 now enroll their top management in executive physicals to help protect their employees and ensure the continued growth of their own companies. Altruistic reasons, such as creating a positive and healthy company culture, also drive this trend. With the changing nature of business – in part due to the economy and in part due to technology – it is more critical than ever to ensure the most important people in a company’s structure are productive and healthy.
Below are five health exams offered by Hoag Executive Health that you do not want to live without.
The VAP Cholesterol Test is a comprehensive cholesterol panel. In addition to determining levels of both good and bad types of cholesterol, it also shows the levels of all subcomponents so that a medical team can assess the unique risks. Certain medicines are more effective depending on which components you show higher levels for and this panel can ensure the most efficient therapy and treatment.
The Carotid Intimal Medial Thickness (CIMT) measures the thickness of the inner lining of your artery and is an evidence-based assessment of plaque. With this specific information, a medical team can assess your risk for stroke and a heart attack.
After determining a patient’s resting metabolic rate with a gas exchange device, Hoag Executive Health can recommend optimal fitness levels with the VO2 MAX test. This unique test allows patients to learn how to make the most out of a fitness regimen and remain at or reach an ideal fitness level.
In conjunction with the VO2 MAX test, Functional Muscle Testing also checks for muscle imbalances, strengths and weakness and where a patient might be vulnerable to injury. Not only does it protect from possible injury, but can keep an executive from diminished work productivity due to an out of work trauma.
A certain amount of memory decline is to be expected as our brains age but when should you be worried about significant “cognitive impairment” that may need medical intervention? Using a diagnostic memory screening that identifies subtle memory loss and distinguishes normal aging from abnormal memory loss can detect signs of mild cognitive impairment of the brain early and help find and treat the cause.
In addition to these unique individual tests, an executive physical provides a comprehensive snapshot to determine the overall health of the patient. Research has shown physicals such as these, performed on an annual basis, can uncover serious, underlying health conditions in 5 percent of cases2. Designed to work in concert with a patient’s primary care physician, these and other tests bring together a full picture of an executive’s health in an efficient and effective manner.
Written by James Lindberg M.D., Hoag Executive Health Chief of Service
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[1] http://hbr.org/web/2009/health/executive-physicals-whats-the-roi
[2] http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=10026321
