Managed Care - February 2008 - (Page 26) can be delivered. However, health plans say that the risk of providing wellness services to their clients’ workforce is outweighed by the risk of not engaging in them. “You’ve got to go for the greater good of managing the health and wellness of the employer’s employee base in order to have an overall value proposition,” WellPoint’s Kennedy says. “That is a very different way of thinking. I think it’s more risky if you aren’t thinking that way because you will no longer be competitive in the market. We be- lieve that’s where the industry is going.” Some observers say that the enthusiasm of health plan executives is fueled by panic. Specialty wellness vendors are merging, increasing the breadth of services they can offer to employers and encroaching into areas that health plans once owned. The competition “The specialty vendors have started to expand their services to a point where they are not just keeping healthy people healthy and doing disease Consumer-directed plans encourage wellness activities hether consumer-directed health plans are booming or bombing continues to be under debate, but no one argues this point: CDHP-related concepts are all over the health insurance industry today. Offering wellness services to improve a plan member’s health status and using incentives to encourage participation are two shining examples. Both concepts were novelties when CDHP designs emerged. Today, the wellness movement is the hottest trend in town, and incentives are a routine component of plan offerings. For example, Aetna Healthy Actions, launched last fall, combines rewards, discounts and incentive programs. Funded by plan sponsors, incentives range from pedometers and water bottles to credits that can be used to satisfy an employee’s deductible or coinsurance. Aetna also offers discounts on gift certificates for restaurants and other retail purchases to members who receive routine preventive care, complete a health assessment, or engage in other wellness programs. While health plans are offering wellness programs to members in all or most plans, the programs may resonate more with CDHP W members. In a 2007 survey of CDHP members, the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association found that CDHP members were more likely to engage in wellness programs than people in other plans. • Twenty-seven percent of CDHP members participated in nutrition and diet programs, compared to 12 percent of other plan members. • Smoking cessation programs attracted 20 percent of CDHP members, compared to 6 percent of other plan members. • Stress management programs engaged 22 percent of CDHP members, compared to 8 percent of other plan members. • Twenty-nine percent of CDHP members joined exercise programs, compared to 12 percent of other plan members. Consumer-directed plans encourage wellness Workers who are in consumer-directed plans report greater beneficial changes from health and wellness activities than do those in other types of health plans. However, people who have chosen to enroll in consumer plans may differ in motivation and in other ways from people in traditional health plans. Enrollees report their experience with wellness programs 49% 33% 36% 26% 37% 37% 25% 25% 11% 14% 1% Improved Improved fitness diet Lost weight Improved More overall success in health managing stress Quit smoking CDHP members Non-CDHP members 31% Source: 2207 BCBSA CDHP Member Experience Survey 26 MANAGED CARE / FEBRUARY 2008
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