Discovery Health Services brings ‘onsite whole-solution health and wellness’ to local workplaces

Business Spotlight:

Looking to make the workplace a wellness space, Discovery Health Services specializes in helping La Jolla-area businesses boost employee health and well-being. To learn more about the practice, the La Jolla Light posed the following questions to Chief Executive Jeffrey Sternberg.

Q. When did your business start? Who founded it? What is its mission?

A. We were originally founded in 2002 as a division of Pacifica Health and Medical. A former partner [Selby Stultz] and I were founders.

Our mission is to maximize profitability and productivity of our corporate clients by improving the health, well-being and workplace sentiment of their employees.

Q. What services do you offer?

A. Onsite whole-solution health and wellness programs tailored to the workplace, culture and individual needs of employees. Our most popular program includes our onsite nurse that works at the client’s place of business three to five days each week.

With a nurse onsite and able to offer all of our health assessment and health screening options [and] provide treatments and things like vaccinations, blood testing, heart health, weight loss, digestive health, hormone balance and other programs, we see unprecedented employee engagement in improving their health and well-being.

Corporate wellness cannot be effective if a company is still just hosting two or three “wellness events” each year. It has to be woven into the fabric of the workplace, and we’ve figured out how to achieve this at about the same price. When employees improve health and well-being at work, they go home happier and return to work improved and well-rested, which directly benefits a company.

Q. What makes your company unique compared with similar businesses?

A. We have far more experience than most companies in our field, but the biggest difference is our focus on the profitability of the client’s business. We are able to reduce expenses, including insurance premiums, work comp ratings, sick days, employee turnover and litigation while increasing the bottom line by targeting employees that are high-risk and have the biggest upside with respect to increased productivity through better health.

A healthy employee is more focused, more productive, less risk-prone, will use fewer sick days and is generally happier — making them more likely to want to and have the energy to do well at work and in life.

Q. What’s new recently with the business that you want everyone to know about?

A. Since COVID, we’ve seen companies more willing to spend on employee well-being than ever. DHS has grown exponentially through 2022. We set the standard that fueled this shift by challenging employers to think about the investment opportunity of having employees that wanted to be in the workplace because they felt the employer respected them and was willing to spend money to create a positive and safe workplace. Even something as seemingly simple as COVID testing for employees can increase productivity and employee sentiment toward the company if done thoughtfully and with purpose.

Q. What are the advantages of working in La Jolla?

A. We are in the business of teaching companies how to drive ROI [return on investment] through purposeful investment in how employees feel physically, mentally and after a day at the workplace. We have our offices in La Jolla because we know that being where our employees can walk to the coast and enjoy the beauty and safety of La Jolla has a positive effect on their state of mind and overall health. Plus, it’s a great place to host a meeting.

Discovery Health Services is at 5726 La Jolla Blvd., Bird Rock. For more information, call (858) 266-0823, email wellness@discoveryhealthus.com or visit discoveryhealthus.com.

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