Managed Care - February 2008 - (Page 31) Incentives might hold key to wellness t’s simple: Health plans will almost certainly have to become more involved in wellness because employers have bought into the concept in a big way. “Several things may be in play here,” according to the Integrated Benefits Institute, which studies benefit matters from the employer’s point of view. “First, employers have scarce resources, so they may focus primarily on getting employees involved (after all, it’s hard to have an impact if employees don’t participate). Second, it may be that employers can track participation in a straightforward manner, but they are more challenged by quantifying behavior change and outcomes.” In addition, the legal and regulatory pushback on wellness might best be handled by health plans or third-party administrators because under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers for the most part are not permitted to see specific medical data about individual Workers favor a friendly approach workers. The IBI surveyed over 500 employIncentives Deterrents ers (with roughly 5 million workers) Yes: 18% and found that a majority favors using incentives (i.e., non-monetary gifts, return-to-work benefits) over No: 27% Unsure: 5% penalties (i.e., copayment reduction, benefits reduction). Yes: 72% No: 77% I Unsure: 1% Incentives used Discount Nonmonetary gift Return-to-work benefit Cash equivalent Lottery Return-to-work salary Premium Team prize Flex account Reduced copayment Cash 67% 62% 53% 45% 43% 39% 37% 28% 27% 25% 25% Deterrents used Premium increase Copayment increase Benefit reduction Salary penalty Job sanction Other 65% 43% 31% 11% 11% 10% Note: IBI conducted the poll in partnership with Harris Interactive. The Web survey was open June 11 to July 13, 2007. The final sample includes 500 employers representing roughly 5 million employees. Source: Incentives for Healthy Behavior and Workforce Productivity, Integrated Benefits Institute FEBRUARY 2008 / MANAGED CARE 31
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