Not Fit For Work - Provant

0 downloads 119 Views 113KB Size Report
Oct 13, 2016 - There are a number of other changes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced May. 16, includ
Not Fit For Work New Rules Limit Reach and Rewards Of Some Employee Wellness Programs By JOHN COX Originally published October 13, 2016 at 4:13 p.m. inShare

San Diego — For years, the promise of improved health wasn’t the only thing attracting workers to the wellness programs Xavier Serrano helped local employers set up. Cash was a big incentive, as well. Workers who agreed to undergo medical screening and work with a designated health coach on things like diet and exercise qualified for a discount on their health insurance premiums. In some cases, it was 100 percent, meaning the employer bankrolled workers’ health insurance in exchange for their participation in a wellness program. Those days are almost gone. As part of new federal rules taking effect as soon as Jan. 1, financial incentives tied to such programs may not exceed 30 percent of an employee’s personal insurance costs. The idea is to protect workers from discrimination based on their health or genetic makeup. Regulatory Changes There are a number of other changes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced May 16, including new safeguards ensuring that workers’ health information be kept confidential and that wellness programs be voluntary. But for Serrano and others, the 30 percent incentive cap is the biggie because it may reduce employees’ incentive to participate. The San Diego-based benefits consultant at professional services provider CBIZ predicted at least one in five participants will drop out of the wellness programs he works with locally. While there’s always a way to make a program more enticing, Serrano said, “at the end of the day, the biggest motivator for anyone is financial.” The rule changes speak to a delicate balance in a workplace trend that studies have shown lead to better performance, not just individually but for an entire organization. As beneficial as wellness programs may seem, the government has decided businesses may not force employees to work on their health — or penalize them for neglecting it.

Heather Provino

“(Regulators) want to make sure that these programs are voluntary, and I think that’s the crux of everything that the EEOC bases all of the new regulations on,” said Heather Provino, CEO of Rhode Island-based Provant, which administers wellness programs in all 50 states, including some for two San Diego County employers. The wellness programs Provant offers include as many as three components: risk assessment, which may include biometric testing to determine a worker’s cholesterol level, for instance; interventional programs such as coaching; and reward programs based on an analysis of employee health outcomes. She said a key to compliance with the new rules is making sure wellness programs offer a reward for

Rhonda Norton participation but nothing that could be considered a penalty. Because the distinction can come down to semantics, she said, her advice to employers is to hire a specialist to set up a fully compliant wellness program. Taxing the Benefits Health insurance broker Rhonda Norton, with San Diego-based Hughes-Norton Insurance Services Inc., said rewarding employees can present difficulties as well, because the Internal Revenue Service has determined these contributions are taxable. Private gym memberships associated with some wellness programs are also viewed as taxable, she said. Her recommendation, especially in the “landmine” issue of helping workers lose weight, is for employers to leave wellness to physicians by offering a health benefit that includes things like weight-loss counseling. Otherwise, employers hoping to persuade workers to take better care of their health might consider building a gym in the workplace, Norton said. Then employers can build enthusiasm by encouraging groups of people to work out together. “Sometimes, it takes camaraderie to move the needle,” she said. ‘Wellness Points’ Scripps Health has sponsored employee wellness programs for the last 10 years. The San Diego health care system offers its 15,000 employers a robust menu of services ranging from chef-designed nutrition to a wide variety of exercise programs at various locations. Johan Otter, senior director of occupational health and wellness programs, said Scripps has steered clear of the new regulations by avoiding requirements that employees achieve a certain medical outcome.

Xavier Serrano Instead, employees are expected to earn at least 100 “wellness” points per year, out of a possible 230, by doing things as simple as celebrating their own birthday as a way of lowering stress. Those who reach the company’s points goal receive a discount on their annual insurance premium. “Our outcomes are based on, we want our employees to be as healthy as possible,” Otter said. He added the company’s wellness programs have been shown to reduce some employees’ risk factors — high cholesterol or high blood pressure each being examples — from three to about two. The new EEOC rules wouldn’t affect Scripps anyway because the insurance discount extended to employees doesn’t exceed the 30 percent regulatory cap, Otter said. Forced to Change Serrano, the CBIZ benefits consultant, isn’t so lucky. He said a half-dozen local employers he works with are having to change their system of giving insurance discounts to workers participating in highly individualized wellness programs up to and including marathon training. He said many participants will probably want to keep up with their program because of the good it has done them. But it’s a shame others won’t, he said. “For some employees,” he said, “it’s saving their lives.” Provino, the CEO at Provant, was hopeful participation will remain high as employers strive not to save money but to pursue an “altruistic agenda” she said underlines the new federal rules. If an employer’s heart is in the right place, she asserted, savings will follow. “I think that’s a good success model for any business,” she said. ___________________________________________________________________________

About the Rules The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued final rules May 16 requiring that workplace-sponsored employee wellness programs comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and 2008’s Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The rules take effect on the first day of a program beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2017. Generally speaking, the rules say wellness programs must be designed to improve employees’ health, not hide efforts to reduce benefits based on a worker’s health. Employers may conduct medical screenings and ask health-related questions, but only in the aggregate (i.e., not personally identifiable) and only within the context of a voluntary wellness program. Also, all participants should be able to receive the full wellness incentive offered by the employer regardless of the type of program and the health issue at hand. More specifically, the rules require that wellness programs:

About the Rules continued

• Limit employee incentives to 30 percent of the total cost of self-only coverage under the least expensive plan offered by the employer; • Cap incentives discouraging tobacco use to 50 percent of the total cost of self-only coverage; • Use a written notice explaining how employees’ personal health information will be handled; • Refrain from identifying individual participants, except when necessary to administer the program; and • Do not retaliate against or interfere with employees who decline to participate in wellness programs or who do not meet certain health standards; Here is a link to the actual regulations:

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/qanda-ada-wellness-final-rule.cfm Source: Provant