Managed Healthcare Executive - February 2009 - (Page 17) data warehouse managers, hoping to effectively integrate data related to employee conditions, utilization and outcomes, as well as data they can use to help monitor employee activity. In addition, they also want insurers to help educate their workers to interpret and use the data. According to Veronneau, plans have the data to help drive provider quality and to a ect member choices, but, to date, it has not been integrated and dispersed e ectively. He suggests health plan employers pilot a data-mining project with their own employee population. “Since a majority of health plans work with broad provider networks, there is an opportunity for them to build a strategy using the provider system to access and collect generic information about their employees’ health status, such as location, condition, age and ethnicity, and use it to more e ectively promote and enhance the health of their workers,” he says. BCBSNC isn’t yet using outcomes Matt Herring/Photodisc/Getty Images data, but does have objective biometric improvement among workers, Dr. Bradley says. “And we are still working on being able to build a real ROI bene t model,” he says. Data from the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) estimates a 3-to-1 ROI for wellness e orts. The estimate does not include savings from increased worker productivity, however. According to the PwC survey, employers said that only 15% of their employees participate in wellness programs and they want better education and incentives to get them to participate. Many employers are nding that wellness programs, including the completion of health risk questionnaires, must be coupled with employee nancial incentives to attract participation and generate results. Each Aetna employee has a $600 incentive available through the insurer’s wellness program. Employees with families can earn $1,200. Its employee program, “Wellness Works,” contains an incentive program that ties nancial incentives to healthy lifestyle activities. Employees can earn up to $600 for their health savings accounts or health reimbursement arrangements for completing/updating their health assessment, making healthy food choices and engaging in regular exercise programs of their choosing. From 2007 to 2008, Aetna has seen a 150% increase in physical tness among “Wellness Works” employee participants. Simple Steps to a Healthier Life, a Webbased personalized and interactive wellness program, launched in 2003. Other wellness o erings include discounts on gym memberships and home tness equipment, discounts on commercial weight management programs, and additional resources for alternative therapies. “Introducing new products to Aetna employees in the initial launch phase lets us use our own company to work out FEBRUARY 2009 17
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