A prominent health system is turning to incentives in its wellness program as the next step in its efforts to encourage employee health.
Geisinger Health System serves about 2.6 million Pennsylvania residents and was recognized as a leader in employee health by the National Business Group on Health. Now, the company is extending its efforts, BLR reports. Adding incentives to a five-year wellness program that has depended on education in the past may be the next step in driving employee behavior change.
The organization's wellness program will offer a discount in health insurance premium costs to workers who are in good condition based on their cholesterol levels, body mass index, blood glucose and blood pressure. These metrics will have to meet certain standards or display substantial improvements over time in order to earn lower premiums for the employee the following year.
As wellness programs and incentives become more commonplace, incentives and penalties are being used with greater frequency. Since the same plan can often be structured with an incentive or penalty to the same effect, it may be worth determining whether one or the other has a greater impact on workers psychologically when the financial effects are identical.
Tying wellness to costs
Conducting tests and using their results to evaluate worker health, either over time or against a set standard, may be growing in popularity as a means of determining someone's wellness. It allows the employer to establish a straightforward medical basis for granting or imposing incentives or penalties, which could be difficult through other means. Doing so should help make wellness programs attractive to those who have trouble getting motivated to participate otherwise.
