Module 8 - Healthy Employees, Healthy Workplace Flashcards
(A) Healthy Employees, Healthy Workplace
A comprehensive workplace wellness program can, over time, produce three key benefits - what are they?
1 - Fewer Absences
2 - Improved Productivity
3 - Worker Satisfaction and Rentention
(B) Designing A Program
The First Step it to Make 2 Decisions
1 - Decide Who Your Program Is For
2 - Decide Which Health Issues to Address
a. Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle for All
b. Targeted responses to actual health risks and conditions facing current employees
(B1) Designing A Program
The Best Approach is structure your program to include 6 key ingredients
1 - Health Screenings 2 - Educational and Self-Help Tools 3 - Organized Activities 4 - Individual Follow Up and Treatment 5 - Incentives 6 - A Supportive Environment
(B1A) Designing A Program
The Best Approach is structure your program to include 6 key ingredients
HEALTH SCREENINGS
1 - Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is a confidential form, prepared and administered by an outside vendor, that employees fill out, answering questions about their health-related behaviors.
2 - Biometric Testing for blood pressure, body fat percentage, cholesterol levels, and other risk factors.
(B1B) Designing A Program
The Best Approach is structure your program to include 6 key ingredients
ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES
-Examples; group walking or back safety classes
(B1C) Designing A Program
The Best Approach is structure your program to include 6 key ingredients
INCENTIVES
- DOUBLE worker participation
- Examples; cash, movie tickets, discounts on medical care or gifts
(B1D) Designing A Program
Which program is best for you?
1 - Traditional; “don’t get worse approach”, focus mostly on high risk employees in order to bring down health costs, usually utilizing HRA’s, on-site counseling, changes in food offered at the workplace, classes, etc.
2 - Comprehensive; expands the program to address low risk employees, with the idea of helping them maintain good health. Employees are asked to form a wellness committee and coaching is made available to everyone
3 - Champion; ultimate programs promote a total culture of workplace health, with visible and committed senior leadership and measurement of program results
(C) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
Federal Standards for Workplace Wellness Programs
- ERISA; makes exceptions for wellness programs to offer premium or cost sharing discounts based on an individuals health status in certain circumstances
- ADA; makes an exception for medical inquiries that are conducted as part of voluntary wellness programs
- GINA; allows an exception for inquiries through voluntary wellness programs
- HIPAA: establishes standards to protect the privacy of personal health information, including information that may be collected by some workplace wellness programs (the ADA and GINA also include certain privacy protections)
(C1) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
ERISA Standards for Health-Contingent Wellness Program Incentives
- ERISA; makes exceptions for wellness programs to offer premium or cost sharing discounts based on an individuals health status in certain circumstances
- known as “health contingent” wellness programs
- must meet 5 standards in order to not discriminate based on health status
1 - maximum rewards 30% of the total cost (employer / employee share) of single coverage
2 - maximum can be increased to 30% of the family cost if spouse and dependents are eligible to participate in the wellness program
3 - maximum can be increased to 50% if tobacco related components are included in the wellness program
4 - must be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease
5 - must meet standards by providing notice participants, providing waivers or alternative ways for participants to earn rewards, and making rewards available to participants at least annually
(C2) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
ERISA Standards for Participatory Wellness Programs
- Participatory wellness programs are those that do not base rewards or penalties on health status
- ADA and GINA apply
(C3) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
ADA and GINA Standards for Wellness Programs
- a wellness program is considered “voluntary” under the ADA “as long as an employer neither requires participation nor penalizes employees who do not participate”
(C4) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
Revised ADA Standards for Wellness Programs Offered- through a Group Health Plan
- requires any wellness program that involves medical inquiries to be reasonably designed, as defined under the ERISA/ACA rule.
- ADA rule specifies that reasonably designed wellness programs must not be designed mainly to shift costs onto employees based on their health status
- reasonably designed wellness programs that collect health information must also provide participants with their results, follow up info, or advise designed to improve health or use collected info to design a program that addresses at least a subset of health conditions identified
- a wellness program will be considered voluntary under the ADA, alone or in combination with incentives offered for health contingent wellness programs, if the amount of an incentive offered for participation does not exceed the maximum of 30% for single coverage (employer / employee cost share)
(C4) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
Revised ADA Standards for Wellness Programs Offered- through a Group Health Plan
TWO new standards relating to financial incentives and notice will apply
1 - employers cannot deny eligibility for group health plan benefits or take adverse employment action, or retaliate against, intimidate, or threaten employees who refuse to participate in the workplace wellness programs
2 - notice requirements apply to health contingent or participatory programs
- if the employer does not offer a group health plan, the maximum incentive would be based on the cost of the second lowest cost silver plan offered for a 40 year old non-smoker in the health insurance exchange located where the employers principal place of business is located
(C5) Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements
Modified GINA Standards for Wellness Programs
- addresses the extent to which an employer may offer inducements to an employees spouse to participate in the workplace wellness program
- permits wellness programs to offer incentives to spouses to provide information about their own health status, though not about results of genetic tests.
- adopts the ERISA/ACA definition of a reasonably designed wellness program as modified by the ADA wellness rule
- amends the standard for voluntary wellness programs to permit a maximum incentive for the spouse to participate int he workplace wellness program
- if the employer does not offer a group health plan, the maximum incentive would be based on the cost of the second lowest cost silver plan in the marketplace
(D) Total Well Being Programs
- address areas such as financial fitness, stress reduction, and emotional resiliency
- Stress management is by far the most popular emotional well being program offered
- Resiliency training helps employees manage setbacks int eh workplace or in life outside of work
- to help employees manage their financial well being, employers offer seminars onsite and/or make a financial coach available to employees
*MOVING AWAY FROM OUTCOME BASED INCENTIVES AND IN FAVOR OF INCENTIVES AWARDED FOR PROGRAM PARTICIPATION**
