Despite the national push for outcome-based health care, a keypart of the envisioned equation--outcome-based wellness programs--appears to havestagnated.

In a recent survey, 44 percent of U.S. companies reported havingoutcome-based wellness programs in 2015--only 2 percent more thandid in 2014. Taking into account the survey's margin of error, theincrease is statistically insignificant.

Why has the hype abated?

One explanation is that employers are increasingly wary of thelegal ramifications of making employees submit to health tests.

“The [laws] have evolved with the implementation of theAffordable Care Act," Jennifer Patel, director of wellnessengagement at Hallmark Business Connections, said. "Employers andorganizations find themselves in court, [with employees]questioning, ‘Is it legal for employers to ask me to submit tothese biometric screenings or health risk tests?’”

Whether or not the lawsuits succeed, even the hassle of dealingwith litigation is a major turnoff for companies.

And of course, litigation is a symptom of a potentially greaterproblem that firms want to avoid: Angry employees.

Some workers respond poorly to health and lifestyle lecturesfrom their employers, a negative effect that might have a greaterimpact on a company's bottomline than whatever savings are achievedthrough a wellness program.

One prominent expert, Al Lewis, a former Harvard economist andCEO of Quizzify, asserts that corporate wellness programs arealmost always a waste of money.

Virtually no corporate program, he argues, has been proven tosubstantially reduce the weight of its employees inthe long term. Lewis furthermore describes many programs as"weight-shaming," which not only demoralizes overweight workers butcan push them into unhealthy behavior, such as crash diets.

LuAnn Heinen, vice president of the National Business Group onHealth in Washington, suggested that the future focus of wellnessprograms will have to include other goals besides improvingemployees' physical health.

“The evidence is becoming clearer that physical health is notthe main driver of productivity, performance, and businessoutcomes,” she said.