Wellness In The Workplace

Corporate wellness is among the most vital investments that a company can make. Corporations that implement wellness programs aren’t only investing in the physical wellness, safety, and mental health of their employees, but are also taking preventive measures by creating a healthier environment.

By starting a wellness program, companies are able to improve the overall productivity and are able to save money on healthcare expenses. Often, companies are concerned about the actual wellness ROI (return on investment) but the reality is that by encouraging healthier lifestyles, companies are creating healthier employees who’ll work more diligently and miss fewer days of work due to illness.

It’s imperative that corporations not only provide corporate wellness solutions for their employees, but that they also maintain ongoing knowledge about safety and wellness techniques. Employers need to keep up to date on health statistics and stay aware of ways to encourage specific wellness issues such as smoking cessation or weight loss.

It is often helpful for a business to speak with physicians who participate in medical Continuing Medical Education so that they’re up to date with how they can assist their employees in maintaining wellness.

Also, if a business maintains an on-site gym, it is necessary that the business employs person who have received the proper training and certification, which makes up the gym management, in order to assist workers with exercising safely.

Although companies may establish a comprehensive wellness program with many options, an incentive wellness program is often necessary in order to encourage workers to actually participate in the programs.

Whether one is creating a corporate wellness Chicago or a corporate wellness small-town Nebraska program, the issue that companies often have in common, is the lack of motivation of workers to actually participate. Providing incentives for workers, like a free lunch or gift cards, might  be simple enough rewards to encourage workers to participate in corporate wellness.

An initial medical testing can include a recent survey of employees’ interests as part of the assessment. Successful wellness programs are designed to meet the needs and interests of the workers.

The information you need to get from a recent survey depends on the scope of your program. A sample survey could be acquired in the HOPE Publications Web site.

When you plan to adapt this sample survey or develop your own survey, keep the following hints in mind -

• Ask primarily closed-choice questions, in particular if you’ll be sending the survey to a large number of staff members. Closed-choice questions provide specific choices and are easy to tabulate. You could want to use a computer for data entry and analysis.

• Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions after the survey. Open-ended items are more challenging to summarize.

• Include a brief explanatory cover letter with the survey with the signature of the corporation president. Make certain to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.

• Ask a group of representative employees to review the survey before it’s distributed. Find out if the questions will be understood by employees and won’t be objected to.

• Include demographic information at the starting or end of the survey. Consider various ways that you might analyze the responses by demographic characteristics (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).

When considering who should get the survey, a simple rule is when you’ve under 500 workers, everyone should receive one. the public relations benefit of everyone receiving a recent survey may be significant.

Over 500 workers, a sample of the work population will suffice. A sample saves on costs and time. You might want to consider consulting with a statistician to determine an appropriate sample size for your worksite.

Needs surveys are confidential and anonymous; they don’t request information that may identify a person.

Getting support from management is critical to the success of the program.

One way to do this is to survey managers (see forms) and conduct interviews with decision-makers in the organization. You can use the surveys here or make up your own.

When you decide to do your own, keep the survey short. It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to complete.

The interview process can also serve to educating management. Provide concise fact sheets on the advantages of wellness programs for management.

When surveys and interviews are completed, tally the surveys and write brief summaries of the interviews. Give these reports to management.

Once completed present a brief executive summary to management. Highlight several interesting findings that could be used immediately to make decisions about the program.

Utilize charts and graphs to make your points. Prepare a detailed report for wellness committee members itemizing each response. Give a short article about the survey in the corporation newsletter.

The higher the response the more exact and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is acceptable.

Do you know the fastest-growing reason for employee assistance program (EAP) use since 2003?  

It isn’t for substance abuse or depression. Actually, it’s financial in nature. Over the last five years, there’s been a reported 69 percent jump in staff member employee assistance program (EAP) use related to personal financial concerns.

The trend is not all that surprising in this era of salary freezes, high deductibles and cost-sharing of benefits premiums.

Statistics show that, for the first time since the Excellent Depression, the average American has negative savings - in other words, debt exceeds income - in a average month.

A lot of employees are racking up high credit card debt, make the problem worse.

Troubling trends

Here are some ominous numbers from a recent employee survey -

• 27% of respondents said they were “one major setback away from financial disaster”

• 22% say they were “worse off than last year, with less take-home income and more debt”

• 40 percent say their company is “insensitive to their employees’ financial needs,” and

• only 6 percent said they felt comfortable with their current financial situation and ability to manage their debts.

The majority of personal-finance related EAP use arises from concerns over debt management, household refinancing and/or failed investments.

———–

Robust wellness programs involve all workers, deal with all major health risks, offers choices, and target both the workers and the worksite environment; provide periodic examination of its results.     

Extensive wellness programs emphasize follow-up and offers support for the employee as long as he/she is employed. Studies have shown this approach to be highly successful. Key components are planning, implementation, and analysis.   

Planning extensive wellness programs involve performing a needs and interest assessment, appointing a wellness committee, selecting  wellness providers, setting goals/objectives for the wellness program, advertising and marketing/promoting the program, and establishing procedures to ensure confidentiality.   

Implementation of robust wellness programs consist of five major tasks -    

1   Medical testing and referral

2   Follow-up and counseling workers

3   Follow-up with physicians

4   Health improvement programs

5   Organizing worksite-wide activities.

Examination involves monitoring wellness programs to find out when it is working and to help you refine it. Measuring success shows what you’ve achieved, helps justify costs, and provides information for management to support continued programming.   

Robust wellness programs involve all workers, deal with all major health risks, offers options, and target both the workers and the worksite environment; provide periodic analysis of its results.     

Robust wellness programs emphasize follow-up and offers support for the employee if he/she is employed. Studies have shown this approach to be highly successful. Key components are planning, implementation, and analysis

Planning comprehensive wellness programs involve performing a needs and interest assessment, appointing a wellness committee, picking  wellness providers, establishing goals/objectives for the wellness program, advertising and marketing/promoting the program, and establishing procedures to ensure confidentiality

Implementation of robust wellness programs consist of five major tasks -

• Medical screening and health risk (assessment|appraisal}

• Follow-up and counseling employees

• Follow-up with physicians

• Health betterment and disease avoidance programs

• Organizing worksite-wide wellness program activities.

Analysis involves monitoring wellness programs to find out if it is working and to help you refine it.

Measuring success shows what you’ve achieved, assists justify costs, and provides information for management to support continued programming.

Authorizing employees to bring camera phones to work can carry hidden legal risks.  

But should you tackle this issue aggressively or trust your employees to do the right thing?  Every business wants to create an environment where employees feel trusted by management. But there’s also the need to stay protected legally, and it isn’t always easy to balance the two.

The cell phone issue is specifically delicate since most staff members carry them nowadays, and improper use at work is a non-issue for the vast majority. But there are always a few bad apples in every bunch.

Growing number of complaints

There has been an explosion of lawsuits - and complaints to management - about employees taking inappropriate photos at work with their cell phone cameras.

Most cases revolve around embarassing or expliclit photos of colleagues (sometimes but not always posted on the Internet or e-mailed to others in the office). Nevertheless, a handful of lawsuits have arisen from staff members taking photos of confidential documents or other internal information.

As most benefits and HR veterans would tell you, the most valuable benefit an organization can offer its workers is a workplace where they feel trusted and valued. In contrast, it only takes one “joke” gone too far to stir up a hornet’s nest of trouble. and no firm is immune from this risk.

Three options

One step every corporation ought to take is circulating a memo or having a face-to-face meeting with employees about the need to restrict camera phone use at work, says labor lawyer William Hannum.

This is the time to answer questions and make clear that the policy is a matter of a legal concern, not a case of Big Brother watching over employees’ shoulders. for added legal protection, you might want to develop a formal camera phone policy to be written worker handbooks.

Some companys have gone so far as to take the step of banning camera phone (or personal cell phone) use at work and prohibiting people  from posting personal photos or videos from corporation computers.

Notwithstanding, these policies are challenging to enforce and run the risk of alienating the majority of staff members who use the devices responsibly.

As an alternative, several firms that haven’t banned camera phones have had employees sign a policy that gives managers permission to review photos or videos on the phone if there’s a complaint. If you go down either of these routes, remember -

• the policy should be enforced consistently

• your policy must spell out specific steps for filing and investigating  a complaint, and

• the policy should obviously explain the disciplinary steps for violations.

The enforcement aspect is namely tricky. In cases where the phones are company property, businesss obviously have the right to control non-work use - which includes requiring staff members to turn over the contents stored on the phone in cases of suspected abuse. Staff Members have no legal expectation of privacy in such cases.  

However, there’s a slippery slope when the phone is an employee’s property. as a rule of thumb, companys typically have the right to inspect the contents as they pertain to alleged inappropriate behavior within the workplace.

Where it gets tricky is dealing with behavior that takes places on the employee’s private time, but overlaps with the workplace (e.g., staff members go out socializing at a bar after work, and potentially embarassing camera phone photos get spread around the workplace). Legal specialists caution corporations to tread very carefully in these cases.

Where does your organization stand?

Does your organization have - or is considering a policy on employee camera phones? Do you think such policies are workable or even appropriate?

In my conversations with attendees at the SHRM conference in Chicago, HR and benefits managers appear to be divided on the issue.

Initially introduced by Halbert Dunn in the 1950’s, wellness became a popular buzzword during the late 1970’s and received considerable academic attention in the 1980’s.     

Wellness programs for staff members became more widespread during the following decade, and credible evidence for their economic viability started to be published.     

There have now been over 100 published studies on this topic and a number of systematic reviews.

Health risks increase costs.  Medical and medical insurance costs escalate with both age and number of risks present.8,10   the number of risks is also strongly related to sick time absenteeism, Employee’s Compensation costs, short-term disability, and reduced productivity (”presenteeism”).

Early worker wellness programs were relatively basic and normally produced a return on investment (ROI) of less than one dollar for every dollar spent operating the program (ROI = <1 - 1).8

Such programs could  be characterized as “fun-oriented”.  Participation is entirely voluntary, and there’s no particular focus on the reduction of namely identified high risks.  

Interventions and activities aren’t customized, and there’s no emphasis on the management of health care costs.  These programs are ordinarily site-based only, lack choices to address all of the major behaviorally-related health risks, and lack multimodal presentation.  

Minimal or no incentives are provided to workers for participation, and services to spouses and family members are not available.  Most such programs lack meaningful evaluation.  

More conventional programs are “activity-oriented” and have shown an ROI of between 1 - 2.5 and 1 - 3.5.8 These programs may have a greater emphasis on health and risk reduction, although the efforts are relatively broad and not personalized.  

They may have some generalized emphasis on healthcare cost management, although not necessarily aimed at specific high risks.  Most are site-based and voluntary, with spouses included only rarely.  

Modest incentives may  be utilized to encourage participation.  Formal investigation may  be weak.

The newest and most economically viable programs are “results-oriented” and exemplify the health and productivity management model.  These programs consistently produce return rates of 1 - 4 or greater within a 12-24 month period.8  

Such programs are strongly focused on the reduction of namely identified high risks and the management of healthcare costs.  They’re generally voluntary, but use strong financial and other incentives to promote participation.  

They’re multi-component in nature (address all major risks), and have both on-site and virtual modalities of operation.  The interventions are highly targeted and individualized, and offered to spouses as well as employees.

For corporations, the cost of providing medical insurance for their workers is of excellent importance.  Those costs have been increasing at annual rates between 6% and 14%.

Chapman’s 2007 systematic review7 reported an typical reduction in healthcare costs of 26.5% then of staff member wellness programs.  His review covered 60 of the most scientifically valid studies, with an typical of 3.77 years of study.

Absenteeism due to illness is another cost driver.  Chapman’s review7 reports an typical reduction in sick leave of 25.3%.   Cost for Employee’s Compensation was decreased by 40.7%, and disability costs by 24.2%.

There is also an emerging literature on the costs of presenteeism (reduced productivity).11,13  In one study, every risk lowered through a wellness program yielded a 9 percent reduction in presenteeism (and a 2 percent reduction in absenteeism).11

Some businesses have achieved a zero% increase in healthcare costs across at least brief periods of time.10  Doing so requires 90-95% participation of the staff member population in focused wellness programs, with 75%-85% of the workers falling into the low risk category.10     

Although robust efforts to lower the risk status of those in moderate or high risk categories ought to be made, the needs of currently healthy workers ought to be addressed as well to avoid increases in risk-status.   

Given the size of the federal workforce, meaningful cost savings in the government’s contribution to medical insurance premiums for employees may be achieved when a majority of that population were participating in active wellness programs.     

In like manner, improvements in absenteeism, employee’s compensation, disability, presenteeism, and turnover then of extensive staff member wellness programs would yield substantial fiscal benefits for the government.   

References   

1   Aldana, Steven G.  (2001)   Financial Impact of Wellness Programs -   A Robust Review of the Literature.   Am J Wellness 15(5) - 296-320.

2   Chapman, Larry.  (1998)   the Role of Incentives in Wellness.  The Art of Wellness  2(3) - 1-8.

3   Chapman, Larry.   (2003)   Biometric Screening in Wellness -   is it Really as Important as We Think?  the Art of Wellness  7(2) - 1-12.

4   Chapman, Larry.  (2005)   Meta-Investigation of Corporate Wellness Economic Return Studies -  2005 Update.  The Art of Wellness, July/August, 1-15.

5   Chapman, Larry.   (2006)   Staff Member Participation in Corporate Wellness and Wellness Programs -   How Important are Incentives, and Which Ones work Best?   North Carolina Medical Journal   67(6) -   431-432.

6   Chapman, Larry, Lesch, Nancy, and Passas Baun, Mary Beth.   (2007)   the Role of Wellness Coaching in Corporate Wellness.   the Art of Wellness, July/August, 1-12.

7   Chapman, Larry.  (2007)   Proof Positive -   an Analysis of the cost-Effectiveness of Corporate Wellness.  Northwest Health Management Publishing, Seattle, WA.

8   Chapman, Larry.  (2007)   an In-Depth Look at the Economic Evidence for Rewarding Health Behavior Change.   Workshop presentation at the World Research Group “Rewarding Healthful Behaviors for Health Plans and Employers” Conference, Orlando, FL, January 23-24.

9   Edington, Dee.   (2001)   Emerging Research -   A View from One Research Center.  American Journal of Wellness 15(5) -  341-349.

10   Edington, Dee W.  (2007)   Health Management as a Serious Company Strategy.  Presentation at the World Research Group “Rewarding Healthful Behaviors for Health Plans and Corporations” Conference, Orlando, FL, January 23-24.

11   Pelletier, Barbara, Boles, Myde, and Lunch, Wendy.  (2004)  Changes in Health Risks and Make sure to work Productivity.   Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 46(7) -  746-754.

12   Pelletier, Kenneth R.  (2005)   A Review and Analysis of the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness Studies of comprehensive Health and Disease ManagementPrograms at the Worksite -  Update VI 2000-2004.  JOEM 47(10)1051-1058.

13   DeVol, Ross, Bedroussian, Armen, et. al.  (2007)  an Unhealthful America -   the Economic Burden of Chronic Disease.  Report released by the Milken Institute.   www.milkeninstitute.org.

14   Partnership for Prevention.  (2008) Investing in Health -   Proven Wellness Practices for Workplaces.   http - //www.prevent.org/images/stories/2008/investinginhealth_finalfinal.pdf.

In a value-based plan, the idea is to reward workers for seeking treatments that promote wellness.

The more clinically viable the treatment, the less an worker pays out of pocket for it.

Example -  Women over 40 and younger employees with a family history of breast cancer pay less for a each year mammogram than employees for whom the test isn’t as necessary.

Value-based plans often work better than high-deductible plans when used in combination with standard wellness program features like health risk (assessment|appraisal}s.

Five target areas

As reported by the May 2008 issue of Simply Well, there are four quality-of-care criteria that have emerged as key benchmarks of the quality of care -  health care management, preventive screenings and treatments, member service and access to care.

Areas of care that are of particular concern -

• Employees’ dependents receiving appropriate and timely childhood/adolescent immunizations

• Breast cancer screenings for female health plan enrollees, ages 52 to 64

• Diabetic workers receiving hemoglobin A1C and LDL-C testing

• Members receiving proper referrals and treatment for mental health issues (e.g., primary care doctor refers a patient to a professional to ensure proper prescription and management of an anti-depressant medication)

• Pregnant employees receivig time and appropriate prenatal and postpartum care, and prevention of antibiotic treatment in adults with acute bronchitis.

The quality of care for a lot of of the aforementioned issues can suffer when employees foot too much of the bill out of their own pockets.

The hope for value-based plans is that employees get some cost relief and obtain treatments that will reduce costs in the long run.

Corporate America is increasingly investing in employee wellness because it’s good company.  In order to meet productivity demands, companies must rely on a healthful, productive workforce to succeed in the highly competitive global marketplace.  

Over a hundred studies in both corporate and governmental establishings have documented the economic advantages of staff member wellness programs, including lowered absenteeism, lowered injuries and workman’s compensation costs, lowered healthcare costs, lowered staff member turnover, as well as increased productivity, greater staff member satisfaction, and improved morale.1-10  

The more recent literature reflects improvements in wellness programming along with greater return on investment.  In general, the more focused and intensive the program, the greater benefit realized.  

To enhance their effectiveness federal government staff member wellness programs could  be able to incorporate some of the features described.  Worker wellness programs shown to have positive returns on investment often include the following features -    

1   Health and productivity management model

Programs characterized by this model focus attention on identification and reduction of specific risks or behaviors like tobacco use, lack of exercise, excess weight, unhealthy diet, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stress, depression, and so on.     

High-risk staff members are in particular targeted for intervention, although the most successful programs also direct efforts towards healthful staff members to maintain their low-risk status.  This model emphasizes outcomes as opposed to simply offering wellness activities for their own sake.     

2   Health risk (assessment|appraisal}

Use of a computerized health risk (assessment|appraisal}  instrument with individualized feedback and recommendations is almost universal in successful programs.  Staff Members take the questionnaire annually in many cases.     

The HRA serves to increase awareness, provide direction, and motivate person to improve specific behaviors.  In some cases, the customized report is directly linked to appropriate resources related to identified risks.     

Research indicates that the use of an HRA is effective when it is followed by some kind of educational or therapeutic intervention for identified risks.  It often serves as the entry point into wellness programs.   

3   Biometric analysis

Many wellness programs combine the results of the health risk (assessment|appraisal} with measurement of each employee’s biometrics, including weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) , blood pressure, cholesterol, fasting glucose, and assorted other metrics.     

Combining the results of the HRA with biological measures results in a more precise risk profile.   Computerized health risk (assessment|appraisal}s often incorporate biometric data in their risk analysis.   

4   Wellness Program Incentives

Staff Members are frequently given monetary or other meaningful rewards for completing an HRA, participation in a program or class, specific accomplishments like stopping use of tobacco, losing weight, or exercising, and for maintaining healthful status and/or behaviors.     

In many cases the monetary incentives are associated with reductions in health insurance premiums.  Some programs use disincentives in addition to incentives, like charging workers who smoke higher rates for their health insurance contribution.   

5   High wellness program participation rates

Successful programs use incentives to drive participation rates up.  They also market their programs extensively, and may use contest or challenge strategies to heighten enthusiasm and encourage participation.   

6   Wellness coaching

Workers with identified risks or desire to improve their health habits may  be periodically coached via telephone by trained health coaches.     

Coaching helps workers set and achieve realistic lifestyle-related objectives including those addressing stress, work life balance, smoking, weight, exercise, and various behavior modifications.     

Three or more sessions are usually offered.  In some intensive programs, the coaching extends to actual disease management (DM) intervention for employees with identified high-risk illnesses.    

7   Multiple formats

Programs may offer wellness content in online, paper, and seminar formats to provide stimulating variety and alternatives to accommodate the needs of all employees.     

In addition to onsite physical activity and healthy eating events, on-line programs, e-mail reminders and notices, printed newsletters and materials, and workplace courses and workshops are common dissemination strategies.   

8   Senior level management support

Enthusiastic and frequent endorsement by  executive management is vital to achieving high rates of participation.  When senior executives are wellness role models themselves the effects of endorsement are enhanced.   

9   Frequent contact

Successful programs have frequent contact of some sort with every worker.  This could  be through advertising and marketing efforts (e.g., posters, e-mail notices, reminders, or messages, etc.), bulletin boards, newsletters, staff meeting presentations, discussion in new worker orientation, supervisory sessions, etc.      

The key is to enhance staff member awareness of wellness opportunities and reinforce the corporate emphasis on wellness through frequent and multiple “touches”.   

10   Open enrollment

To encourage high participation rates staff members must’ve easy access to the wellness programs and activities.  Open and uncomplicated enrollment processes achieve this.     

Some corporations automatically enroll all employees and then allow those who do not wish to participate to “opt-out”.  This practice has been proven to increase enrollment rates in some establishings.   

11   Family involvement

Many programs encourage spouses and other family members to participate in the company wellness activities and to adopt a healthful lifestyle along with the designated staff member.  It’s far easier for the staff member to have a healthful lifestyle when his/her family does so as well.   

12   Smoking cessation

Because use of tobacco and other use of tobacco is the number one threat to health it is crucial to offer employees effective and convenient assistance with quitting.     

Access to smoking cessation pharmaceuticals is often part of such programs.  In-house programs provide the most convenient access to these services, although on-line or telephone-based programs might  be available as well.     

13   Physical Activity

Regular physical activity is a core component of every wellness program.  Employees must be strongly encouraged to engage in regular physical activity.     

Most programs provide either periodic or continuous on-site opportunities, and some locations have on-site health clubs, swimming pools, walking trails, etc.  Discounted or compensated memberships to community exercise facilities is a common alternative to on-site facilities.   

14   Weight management

Because obesity is a major threat to health it’s imperative that programs offer effective assistance with weight control.  Extensive encouragement from  senior level management to shed excess weight is important.     

Internet Based programs, worksite programs, or discounted access to weight control programs in the community may all be available.  Long-term follow-up is vital for maintenance of weight loss.   

15   Stress management

Workplace stress is perhaps the most common complaint among workers and a major contributor to absenteeism, presenteeism (reduced productivity), and low morale.     
   
Nearly all successful wellness programs offer assistance with personal and workplace stress.  Some programs refer staff members to outside resources for additional serious conditions like depression and anxiety disorders, but most offer online or frequent on-site general stress reduction programs.     
   
Some corporations endeavor to structure the work environment to minimize stress, both physically and operationally.   

16   Health screenings/immunizations

Staff Members are actively encouraged to complete recommended biometric testings for blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, colorectal and breast cancer, and others.     

Annual influenza immunizations are also encouraged.  Some sites provide these services at the worksite.  Incentives are often awarded for completion of these screenings/immunizations.    

17   On-Site health care

Actual provision of on-site main care medical services is a growing trend.  The quickly escalating costs of medical care insurance for workers has stimulated this trend.     

Some corporations have found that it’s less expensive to provide primary care services themselves than to fund those services through medical insurance.     

Onsite care also decreases the amount of time workers would otherwise spend away from the worksite getting such services.    

References   

1   Aldana, Steven G.  (2001)   Financial Impact of Wellness Programs -   A Comprehensive Review of the Literature.   Am J Wellness 15(5) - 296-320.

2   Chapman, Larry.  (1998)   the Role of Incentives in Wellness.  The Art of Wellness  2(3) - 1-8.

3   Chapman, Larry.   (2003)   Biometric Screening in Wellness -   is it Really as Important as We Think?  the Art of Wellness  7(2) - 1-12.

4   Chapman, Larry.  (2005)   Meta-Analysis of Corporate Wellness Economic Return Studies -  2005 Update.  The Art of Wellness, July/August, 1-15.

5   Chapman, Larry.   (2006)   Worker Participation in Corporate Wellness and Wellness Programs -   How Important are Incentives, and Which Ones work Best?   North Carolina Medical Journal   67(6) -   431-432.

6   Chapman, Larry, Lesch, Nancy, and Passas Baun, Mary Beth.   (2007)   the Role of Wellness Coaching in Corporate Wellness.   the Art of Wellness, July/August, 1-12.

7   Chapman, Larry.  (2007)   Proof Positive -   an Analysis of the cost-Effectiveness of Corporate Wellness.  Northwest Health Management Publishing, Seattle, WA.

8   Chapman, Larry.  (2007)   an In-Depth Look at the Economic Evidence for Rewarding Health Behavior Change.   Workshop presentation at the World Research Group “Rewarding Healthy Behaviors for Health Plans and Businesss” Conference, Orlando, FL, January 23-24.

9   Edington, Dee.   (2001)   Emerging Research -   A View from One Research Center.  American Journal of Wellness 15(5) -  341-349.

10   Edington, Dee W.  (2007)   Health Management as a Serious Business Strategy.  Presentation at the World Research Group “Rewarding Healthful Behaviors for Health Plans and Businesss” Conference, Orlando, FL, January 23-24.

11   Pelletier, Barbara, Boles, Myde, and Lunch, Wendy.  (2004)  Changes in Health Risks and Make sure to work Productivity.   Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 46(7) -  746-754.

12   Pelletier, Kenneth R.  (2005)   A Review and Analysis of the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness Studies of comprehensive Health and Disease ManagementPrograms at the Worksite -  Update VI 2000-2004.  JOEM 47(10)1051-1058.

13   DeVol, Ross, Bedroussian, Armen, et. al.  (2007)  an Unhealthful America -   the Economic Burden of Chronic Condition.  Report released by the Milken Institute.   www.milkeninstitute.org.

14   Partnership for Prevention.  (2008) Investing in Health -   Proven Wellness Practices for Workplaces.   http - //www.prevent.org/images/stories/2008/investinginhealth_finalfinal.pdf.

As scary as they seem at first glance, complying with HIPAA’s privacy rules may be relatively painless.

Contrary to common belief, the rules - with several key exceptions - apply only to a fraction of the medical information Benefits handles.

As long as the company remains legally “hands off” of employee’s private medical information, you can dodge most of the HIPAA bullet.

For health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy purposes, your firm is considered “hands off” even when you obtain de-identified personal information, aggregate claims data and routine enrollment info.

Bottom line -  If your organization’s health plans are fully insured and the claims administered through a TPA, the insurance business - not your firm - bears the brunt of the HIPAA privacy compliance responsibility.

One major exception -  medical cafeteria plans. In most cases, you have two compliance choices -

• Process reimbursement requests first through your TPA, with the TPA making sure the claim qualifies beneath the terms of the cafeteria plan before your firm reimburses it, or

• Develop a written cafeteria plan privacy policy, issue a notice to employees, appoint a privacy officer and amend your plan documents.

Rarely affects FMLA

A lot of individuals  - including health care providers - misunderstand how health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) affects medical certifications for FMLA leave. the key -  health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) only applies to personal information that filters through your health plan, not certifications obtained from a doctor.

Under FMLA, you’re allowed to obtain the minimum information you need to approve and administer leave. In like fashion, health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) doesn’t apply to most workers’ comp, return-to-work notices or disability claims.

Even so, it compensates to be cautious how you ask for and use the information. Other state and federal privacy laws often protect the same kinds of info people  assume falls under HIPAA.

Following procedures

The health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy rules are heavy on paperwork and procedure.

But as long as your firm follows  the info-gathering process spelled out in your medical plan documents, the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy rules should present few major obstacles.

Analysiss determine the outcome of a Wellness Program. They help you figure out when your goals were met. It’s a good idea to add an analysis component to your Wellness Program.

Investigations may conclude that some interventions didn’t work well. You might find that a well-liked Wellness Program costs too much and didn’t really affect employees’ health.

While these might not be the outcomes you hoped for, without this information you may continue ineffective interventions. Having this information will help you develop better solutions.

When your results are good, it’s magnificent! You can spread the word to staff members and management that your program is achieving its objectives.

Three major areas of an evaluation

• Wellness Program structure - the basic framework of the program

• Wellness Program process - How well the program is run

• Wellness Program outcomes - Whether the program met the set goals

Common questions used to evaluate a Wellness Program

Structure Questions

• What is included in the Wellness Program? What is the intervention?

• Where does the Wellness Program take place?

• How is the Wellness Program delivered? What content is included?

• Who manages the Wellness Program?

Process Questions

• How many people  participate?

• Do participants complete the Wellness Program?

• Are participants satisfied?

• Which aspects of the Wellness Program are best attended?

Outcome Questions

• Does the Wellness Program improve knowledge about health issues?

• Does the Wellness Program change behavior?

• Does the Wellness Program save the corporation money?

• What’s the return on investment (ROI)?

Download a sample program (http - //www.ibx.com/pdfs/custom/wellness_partners/services/turnkey_programs/walking/participant_eval.pdf) evaluation from IBC’s Walking Towards Wellness program.

• Identify through an worker survey what incentives they value.

• Identify what incentives the organization can provide as well as what the budget will allow.

• Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.

• Avoid offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”

• Prevent using food as a reward.

• Use incentives to promote your wellness program, through logos and branding.