1) While incentives can motivate healthy behaviors in the short term, their long term effectiveness depends on design. Simply rewarding participation is less effective than rewarding achievement of health goals.
2) Education alone is not enough to change behaviors like smoking and exercise. Nudges and framing techniques can influence behaviors by addressing cognitive biases.
3) Incentives come in intrinsic and extrinsic forms, but extrinsic rewards may undermine intrinsic motivation if not designed properly. Immediate rewards for stepping stone behaviors linked to long term goals tend to be most effective.
4) Penalties present challenges and risks to employee relations and reputation that may outweigh benefits compared to positive incentives.
Wellness programs are an effective method to maintain group health plan costs, motivate employees to take control of their health, while assisting employees lead happier, healthier and more productive lives. Employers seek solutions by offering incentives that are tangible, easily accessible and tailored to the employees work/life balance for voluntary participation.
Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, navigating the legal landscape of wellness programs and incentives could be treacherous. However, the Affordable Care Act seemed to be a clear endorsement of standards-based wellness programs by the government. PPACA generated even more opportunities to get creative with these wellness programs, but it is important to understand the risks.
This educational webinar, outlined the key legal requirements that need to be considered when implementing a corporate wellness program. We will discuss successful ways that companies have developed communication with their population, to not only get them engaged, but to get them fully on board.
The rules and regulations required by HIPAA, GINA, the ADEA and the ADA will be addressed, as well as the changes brought about by PPACA. This webinar will provide the knowledge and guidance needed by first time - and long time - managers of corporate wellness programs.
This webinar will address health care reform, its effects on the corporate wellness industry, and the use of incentives and new incentive strategies to engage employees. With the changing health care market, a greater focus will be in prevention of disease and in encouraging a healthy labor force. The results of the recent healthcare reform law will have an impact on how health insurance is administered and how wellness programs will operate. New incentive strategies, using gift cards, will be a tool to get employees involved in a wellness program and to actively engage in their well being. With employee and employers working for health, they will not be as susceptible to the effects of healthcare reform.
The webinar will present the following information:
• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its effects on wellness
• Information about using gift cards as incentives
• Case studies that show the success of gift cards from various industries including Manufacturing, Nonprofit, Healthcare, Insurance, and Utility and Energy.
The complementary webinar, produced by the Corporate Wellness Magazine, on behalf of the Corporate Health and Wellness Association and Healthcare Reform Magazine. We will explore the benefits of incentives programs; whether you want improve efficiency and increase productivity.
Vanessa Cullerton,Senior Employee Wellness Manager of The Hillshire Brands Company (formerly Sara Lee) and Stacey Nelson, Manager of Health and Welfare from Sprint discusses the evolution of their wellness program and the innovative ways they engage employees in offering gifts cards to encourage employee participation.
Wellness programs are an effective method to maintain group health plan costs, motivate employees to take control of their health, while assisting employees lead happier, healthier and more productive lives. Employers seek solutions by offering incentives that are tangible, easily accessible and tailored to the employees work/life balance for voluntary participation.
Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, navigating the legal landscape of wellness programs and incentives could be treacherous. However, the Affordable Care Act seemed to be a clear endorsement of standards-based wellness programs by the government. PPACA generated even more opportunities to get creative with these wellness programs, but it is important to understand the risks.
This educational webinar, outlined the key legal requirements that need to be considered when implementing a corporate wellness program. We will discuss successful ways that companies have developed communication with their population, to not only get them engaged, but to get them fully on board.
The rules and regulations required by HIPAA, GINA, the ADEA and the ADA will be addressed, as well as the changes brought about by PPACA. This webinar will provide the knowledge and guidance needed by first time - and long time - managers of corporate wellness programs.
This webinar will address health care reform, its effects on the corporate wellness industry, and the use of incentives and new incentive strategies to engage employees. With the changing health care market, a greater focus will be in prevention of disease and in encouraging a healthy labor force. The results of the recent healthcare reform law will have an impact on how health insurance is administered and how wellness programs will operate. New incentive strategies, using gift cards, will be a tool to get employees involved in a wellness program and to actively engage in their well being. With employee and employers working for health, they will not be as susceptible to the effects of healthcare reform.
The webinar will present the following information:
• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its effects on wellness
• Information about using gift cards as incentives
• Case studies that show the success of gift cards from various industries including Manufacturing, Nonprofit, Healthcare, Insurance, and Utility and Energy.
The complementary webinar, produced by the Corporate Wellness Magazine, on behalf of the Corporate Health and Wellness Association and Healthcare Reform Magazine. We will explore the benefits of incentives programs; whether you want improve efficiency and increase productivity.
Vanessa Cullerton,Senior Employee Wellness Manager of The Hillshire Brands Company (formerly Sara Lee) and Stacey Nelson, Manager of Health and Welfare from Sprint discusses the evolution of their wellness program and the innovative ways they engage employees in offering gifts cards to encourage employee participation.
Our message is simple: RETHINK the way you view healthcare. Welcome to eHealth Companion, a Personal Healthcare Management System designed to help companies' of all sizes and their employees successfully transition to Consumer Directed Health Plans.
Learn best practices for designing wellness incentives that drive and sustain desired behaviors, benchmarks on the type and amount of incentives provided by employers, legal requirements for compliant incentives under the ACA, GINA, and ADA, and examples of effective incentive designs and evolutions to continue to drive better health and outcomes.
This document will explain how a comprehensive wellness program works and how much money you should budget in order to have one. If you are ready to kick start health in your organization this is the right place to start.
Our message is simple: RETHINK the way you view healthcare. Welcome to eHealth Companion, a Personal Healthcare Management System designed to help companies' of all sizes and their employees successfully transition to Consumer Directed Health Plans.
Learn best practices for designing wellness incentives that drive and sustain desired behaviors, benchmarks on the type and amount of incentives provided by employers, legal requirements for compliant incentives under the ACA, GINA, and ADA, and examples of effective incentive designs and evolutions to continue to drive better health and outcomes.
This document will explain how a comprehensive wellness program works and how much money you should budget in order to have one. If you are ready to kick start health in your organization this is the right place to start.
Seriously Good is the first ice cream with health benefits to hit the market. It's delicious and packed full of fiber. We gave Seriously Good a brand, developed a holistic launch campaign, and enjoyed a little too much ice cream throughout the process.
Check out these steps to making a better and more effective wellness program for your work environment. For more information visit http://www.wellsource.com/
http://www.wellsource.com/home.html | By actively providing wellness activities and developing a culture of health at your organization, you are investing in the greatest asset in your company – the health and well-being of your staff. It will pay rich dividends in goodwill, increased productivity, and ultimately lower healthcare costs.
Improve Patient Engagement with Five Public Health-Inspired PrinciplesHealth Catalyst
Patient engagement is critical as we move toward population health—as patients who engage in their own care by following medical recommendations and making healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices will have better outcomes and experiences.
There isn’t, however, a clear path to successful patient engagement. Fortunately, public health can lend several established principles that may help us better involve patients in their own care:
Using systematic, population-level solutions that require less individual effort.
Engaging patients on interpersonal and community levels as well as personal.
Identifying root-cause, assessing and capitalizing on strengths, and engaging stakeholders.
Using strategies from behavioral economics to help individuals make good choices.
Anticipating failure and learning from it.
Easy Ways to Segment Your Customers and Create Actionsimagine.GO
Health care reform created millions of new health care shoppers. Many of whom visited your website for the first time. You've did the work to support the new health care consumer on your site, but did you converting visitors into shoppers, and shoppers into repeated customers? You can find the deck associated with this presentation here.
During this session we discussed:
1. How do you create and execute an effective segmentation strategy for health insurance shoppers?
2. Why Segment?
3. What Models?
4. What Methods?
5. What Results?
6. What Next?
How Financial Incentives/Disincentives Undermine WellnessHES
Making wellness rewarding without rewards
- Examine why paying employees to get healthy is a bad idea
- Learn 20 ways to foster intrinsic motivation, the linchpin for lasting behavior change
- Confirm your commitment to build a culture of health in your organization.
A very unique health and wellness movement which has developed a Corporate Wellness Program that can make a huge impact to your bottom line AND make your employees more productive through better health
Today's companies must begin to look at employee health, not as a cost, but an investment. Data show conclusively that the health status of a company's employees is directly correlated to the profitibility and competitiveness of the company. This is not an American challenge, but a global challenge and responsibility. This was a keynote address to a dozen major US corporations in May, 2008. I'm happy to discuss with anyone of interest.
Five years in, and the Affordable Care Act continues to command conversation in the benefits landscape. Industry players are still scrambling to implement new provisions, keep healthcare costs down, create infrastructure to support new reporting requirements, and develop new payer, provider and care delivery models.
This has, in turn pushed the respective hands of health plans, who have had to change their strategies to fit both the consumerization of insurance and the standards set forth under the ACA.
With end-users in the forefront, health plans must take the strategy implemented 15 years ago with the rise of the internet, and push the marketing and communication initiatives into overdrive to gain and retain customers.
Health plans are shifting their mentality and communication, ant the best of the best are putting time, money, and energy into literacy and new business initiatives.
To simplify, a health plan needs to put the consumer at the center of every decision it makes.
However, in order to plan, communicate, and effectively market to consumers, your health plan must know the consumer, the technology, and the future.
If you’re looking to grow your health plan, we have just released a new guide to help your health plan leverage trends in the post-reform consumer marketplace.
In our latest whitepaper, we share the keys to success for health plans, including the following:
Consumer Trends: Top 5 Healthcare Executive Consumer Strategy Points, Today’s Healthcare Consumers: Six Types of Consumers You Need to Know, Millennial Consumers Special Report
Technology Trends: Big Data, Administration Technology, Payment Technology, mHealth and more.
Future Trends: Accountable Care Organizations, The Future of Telehealth, Continues Rise of Private Exchanges
All of this, and insights on how to make it work for your health plan.
Download this detailed guide, Health Plans: Your Guide to Leveraging Trends in the Post-Reform Consumer Marketplace, free from the Healthcare Trends Institute.
http://www.evolution1.com/health-plans-your-guide-to-leveraging-trends-in-the-post-reform-consumer-marketplace.html
Our Workplace Wellness PowerPoint addresses the concerns of today's businesses and how WillPowerUSA's Workplace Wellness Programs can reduce health care costs and disability claims, and increase productivity and workplace morale.
1. Change for the Better
Do wellness incentives work? It depends on the design.
BenefitsCanada • March 2015 / 17
istock
A
s much as 70% of costs and
80% of the incidence of
chronic disease are preventable
(per The New England Journal of
Medicine and the World Health
Organization, respectively). So it makes
sense for companies to invest in
prevention to save avoidable employee
suffering and business costs. Incentives
motivate or encourage a person to take
action, and research shows they can
improve lifestyle behaviours.
Incentives have been part of
workplace compensation strategies for a
long time. Particularly for sales
professionals and executives, well-
designed bonus structures drive effort,
performance and alignment with
corporate goals. Done well, incentives in
workplace health promotion can
influence and change behaviour and may
improve outcomes, at least in the short
term. As a result, more companies
are implementing them—but
expectations of success may have outrun
the evidence.
Knowledge Is Only
Half the Battle
Improving lifestyle behaviours has
traditionally revolved around education.
Consider the success of public health
campaigns, particularly against tobacco
use. In 1963, Canada’s federal Minister of
National Health and Welfare declared,
“cigarette smoking is a contributory cause
of lung cancer.” At that time, about half
of Canadian adults smoked: 61% of men
and 38% of women. Fifty years later, just
16% smoke.
But education alone isn’t enough to
get many to quit smoking, stop eating
doughnuts or visit the gym. In 2008,
economist Richard Thaler and lawyer Cass
Sunstein published Nudge, which says
there are many cognitive tendencies that
make people’s behaviour both predictable
and, often, irrational. For example, present
bias suggests people tend to value
immediate gratification over long-term
gains. And framing is a nudging technique
using the connotations of language to help
people see options in a different light.
By Chris Bonnett
Change for the Better
b e n e f i t s
2. 18 / March 2015 • BenefitsCanada
How Incentives Work
Incentives come in two forms: extrinsic
(external) and intrinsic (internal).The
premise is, extrinsic motivators—such as
cash, discounts, gift cards and financial
penalties—can cause people to adopt
healthy behaviours.Then internal
motivation kicks in, and those nudges are
no longer needed. However, poorly
designed external rewards can harm
self-esteem and crowd out the intrinsic
motivation a person might otherwise
develop.
In the U.S., employers bet heavily on
incentives to influence and direct
employee behaviour.Towers Watson,
Aon Hewitt and the Kaiser Family
Foundation all report the majority of
U.S. employers offer their employees
positive incentives to participate in
health programs, and most extend these
programs to dependents as well.The cost
is significant, averaging almost US$50
per month per employee.
Increasingly, employers are basing
incentives on outcomes rather than just
participation. And the use of penalties is
growing. However,Towers Watson
reports very few employers communicate
the underlying strategy behind these
tactics, so employees may not understand
the purpose of the payments and charges.
Designing Your
Incentive Program
How can employers use incentives most
effectively? In 2013, Marc Mitchell, a
PhD candidate at the University of
Toronto and president of Incentive
Avenue Inc., published a systematic
review of the links between financial
incentives and exercise.The review
suggests incenting behaviours linked to
long-term gains may be better than
recognizing short-term outcomes.
“One example,” he said, “is to reward
employees for weighing in, rather than
paying for weight loss that may not last.”
In other words, employers should track
and pay for the “stepping-stone”
behaviours more likely to accomplish a
long-term goal.
Here are some important considera
tions in planning, implementing and
evaluating an incentive program.
• Incentives are more effective when
they’re awarded immediately after
achieving a goal and when they are
certain (e.g., a gift card) rather than left
to chance (e.g., a draw or lottery). Also,
rewards and punishments may be less
visible and effective when they’re part
of an expensive benefits program.
It’s better to separately identify the
incentive so it isn’t lost in the cost and
complexity of the benefits plan.
• Behaviour changes usually revert
to previous levels shortly after the
incentive is withdrawn.
• The vast majority of available evidence
is for interventions of six months or
less.The effectiveness of longer-term
incentives or those for complex
behaviours, such as smoking cessation,
is inconclusive.
• Not all health issues are related to a
person’s lifestyle, and incentives
shouldn’t be reserved just for the
able-bodied. Everyone should have a
roughly equal chance to gain rewards
and minimize losses.
• Incentives should be as simple as
possible, tailored to the age, gender,
income, education and activity of the
targeted employees.
• The incentive amount should be
perceived as about equal to, or perhaps
1)Consider your corporate
philosophy toward
compensation, benefits and health
promotion. Align and link these
elements to present a clear and
complete message to employees.
2)Consult and communicate
with employees and their
representatives. Incentive design
should help support both employer
and employee goals and reflect the
workplace environment.
3)Set an initial budget.
Understand it will be easier to
see the costs than the benefits.
Many benefits are intangible. Be
patient—results may take two or
more years to appear.
4)Do your homework to avoid a
trial-and-error approach, and
monitor your incentive program to
determine where adjustments may
be needed.
5)Use penalties selectively,
given the potential risks to
the company’s reputation with
employees, unions and the outside
community.
5Tips for
Implementing
Incentives
Behaviour changes usually
revert to previous levels
shortly after the incentive
is withdrawn
3. agenda topics include:
• Drug plan management
• Biologics education
• Prostate cancer: What it means for your male workforce
• Chronic disease and wellness
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
CALGARY MARRIOTT DOWNTOWN 110 9th Avenue SE, Calgary
benefitscanada.com/calgary-benefits-summit
SPONSORED BY
20152015
CALGARY
BENEFITS
CALGARY
BENEFITS Register Now!Register Now!
FOR AGeNDA INFO
416-764-4144 / reid.mckay@rci.rogers.com
FOR spONsORshIp INFO
416-764-3833 / francesca.gibson@rci.rogers.com
FOR eveNT LOGIsTICs
416-764-3836 / wendy.morrison1@rci.rogers.com
Who should attend?
The Calgary Benefits Summit is free for employers
responsible for wellness, HR, corporate health, drug plans
and benefits, as well as brokers and benefits consultants.
CBSummit15-halfpg ad Mar.indd 1 2015-02-13 1:04 PM
slightly more than, the required effort
or risk. When rewards are too small,
people assume the desired behaviour
isn’t very important. If the incentive is
too high, they may perceive the goal
as too risky or difficult.
• Incentives are more appropriate for
rewarding simple or one-time
behaviours (e.g., completing a health
risk assessment or getting vaccinated).
This also makes it easier to validate
what’s been done.
Employers have traditionally used
incentives to spark participation in an
activity (e.g., offering cash for enrolling
in a fitness program). Increasingly,
they’re implementing rewards based
on accomplishment, and practice may
evolve again to reward adherence over
time. A combination of the three
A’s works best.
What about penalties? They may be
more efficient because they specifically
target those with an unwanted behaviour.
However, they present several challenges
that may outweigh the benefits.
Penalties can seem manipulative—
even coercive—if an entitlement, such
as health benefits, is at risk. Penalties
can be unfairly onerous, breed
resentment and even trigger union
Even a serious medical condition
may not be enough to change
behaviour. A recent Statistics
Canada study looked at changes in
smoking, physical activity, alcohol
consumption and diet among
5,404 Canadians age 50 or older
with heart disease, cancer, stroke,
respiratory disease or diabetes.
Participants were questioned every
two years between 1994/95 and
2006/07.
After being diagnosed, participants
made surprisingly few behaviour
changes. Three-quarters of smokers
didn’t quit, few people changed their
diet, and the number who were
physically active didn’t change
(except among those with diabetes).
Alcohol consumption declined,
but the reductions were rarely
statistically significant.
Bad habits
The incentive amount should
be perceived as about equal to,
or perhaps slightly more than,
the required effort or risk
4. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 58. Not a candidate for surgery or radiation, I accepted
the opportunity to participate in a new clinical trial. My cancer has responded well. I’ve lived with
cancer for 8 years, and thanks to targeted research and innovative medicines, there’s a chance
that I’ll be around for 15 or 20 more years. Innovative medicines give people like me the chance
to continue living fully, and I continue to work with others living with prostate cancer to create
awareness, educate, and instill hope.
www.canadapharma.org/hope
my family is
MY LIFE
MY MEDICINE
is my hope
My name is
Stewart Campbell
I’m from Cochrane
and I live with
prostate cancer
grievances. They can reinforce personal
failure rather than build confidence.
They can also increase the risks of
stigma and discrimination (e.g., when
targeting overweight employees). In
the U.S., penalties communicated
outside a workplace have created
reputational, media and legal issues for
employers. (See “Employers May Pay
for Pushing Penalties,” right.)
Employers should work to make healthy
choices simpler, easier, more available and
less expensive. In the meantime, positive
incentives are an effective tool to
encourage behaviour change.Their high
penetration rate and rapid growth
suggest U.S. employers generally find
them useful, but implementation among
Canadian employers isn’t widespread.
And context matters: organizations
should first have a culture and work
environment supporting trust, fairness,
progressive management, reasonable
workloads and strong peer relations.
As Mitchell notes, “Incentives are an
incredibly promising approach
if they’re thoughtfully designed and
delivered. And just like drugs and
exercise, everyone’s prescription should
be a little different.”
To be successful, incentives need to
reflect both experience and evidence as
part of a comprehensive health promotion
and HR strategy.
Chris Bonnett is president of H3 Consulting.
chris@hthree.ca
A large lawn-care company in the U.S. made the cover of Businessweek (now
Bloomberg Business) in 2007 when one of its newly hired employees sued the
company after being terminated for violating that company’s no smoking policy.
(That lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 2009.) The U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission has sued two employers for alleged violations of the
federal Americans with Disabilities Act. One of the defendants had a wellness
program that required employees to have medical examinations and asked a
disability-related question on a health risk assessment (HRA). The other defendant
required medical testing and a mandatory HRA. Those who refused faced
disciplinary action and a requirement to pay the full cost of their medical insurance.
Employers May Pay for Pushing Penalties