Healthcare Reform Update: Grants for Workplace Wellness Programs
Jan 31, 2011

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) creates a grant program to assist small businesses to provide comprehensive workplace wellness programs. Grants will be awarded to eligible employers to provide their employees with access to new workplace wellness initiatives. The grants will be awarded beginning in 2011 with $200 million appropriated for a five-year period. An eligible employer is an employer that: • Employs fewer than 100 employees who work 25 hours or more per week, and • Did not have a workplace wellness program as of March 23, 2010 (date of PPACA's enactment). The PPACA requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop program criteria that are based on research and best practices. A comprehensive workplace wellness program must be made available to all employees and include • Health awareness initiatives (including health education, preventive screenings, and health risk assessments) • Efforts to maximize employee engagement (including mechanisms to encourage employee participation) • Initiatives to change unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle choices (including counseling, seminars, online programs, and self-help materials) • Supportive environment efforts (including workplace policies to encourage healthy lifestyles, healthy eating, increased physical activity, and improved mental health) Employers may submit applications that include a proposal for a program that meets the criteria and requirements as described in the PPACA and developed by the Secretary. For more articles, tools, and guidance on healthcare reform, please see HR.BLR.com’s Healthcare Reform: A Resource Center for Employers.

Health Reform Gives Wellness Programs A Boost
May 09, 2010

Here's a trend that seems to be emerging after the passage of healthcare reform: Companies saying they'll be cranking up their wellness programs as part of their cost-cutting initiatives.

The new law does offer opportunities to boost the number of companies that offer wellness programs, as well as the number of employees who participate in those programs. The bill also aims to make it easier for companies to track the effects of a wellness program and improve the program's long-term results.

Programs that don't depend on 'health status' factors

Employers that wish to implement a wellness program that doesn't depend on specific "health status" factors of employees - (i.e., overall wellness, fitness and any underlying diseases or injuries), must make the program available to all "similarly situated" individuals.

Under the current healthcare reform bill, here's a breakdown of what wellness programs can and can't offer:

• Can reimburse all - or part of - a fitness center's membership cost
• Can provide a diagnostic testing program that offer rewards for participation in the program - but not for results
• Can encourage preventative care of a specific health condition
• Can reimburse employees the costs of a smoking-cessation program - regardless of the results of the program, and
• Can reward employees for attendance at periodic health-education seminars.

Programs that depend on 'health status' factors

Employers that wish to start wellness programs that depend on specific health factors must meet the following requirements under the reform bill:

• Reward for wellness programs can't exceed 30% of the premium cost of employee-only coverage if the employee is the only individual who is eligible to participate in the program (20% under current HIPAA regs)
• When wellness programs are available to dependents, reward cannot exceed 30% of the premium cost of the dependent's coverage (20% under current HIPAA regs)
• Administrative agencies can reward wellness program participants up to 50% of the premium cost of coverage if they determine the increase is appropriate
• All wellness programs must have a "reasonable" chance of improving participating individuals' health or preventing disease (programs cannot be "overly burdensome," used as a way to discriminate against employees based on health status factors or be "highly suspect" in terms of the method chosen to promote health and prevent disease)
• Must give participants the chance to qualify for the reward at least once per year
• Must offer a reasonable alternative standard to the wellness program if the program is "unreasonably difficult" because of an employee's medical condition or because the program is "medically inadvisable."

Source: hrmorning.com

How will President Obama's health care policies affect the health and wellness industry?
May 09, 2010

President Obama and Vice President Biden stated the program would:

• Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
• Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.
• Lower costs for business by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.
• Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.
• Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees' health care.
• Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public health plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.
• Ensure everyone who needs it will recieve a tax credit for their premiums.

President Obama and Vice President Biden also plan to promote health and wellness.

Source: www.mbsconnect.com