I Can Benefit

Why should our organization host a corporate health fair?

Do you work in your corporation’s human resources department? Are you looking for events to plan for your company this year? If so, it’d be a excellent idea to look into hosting a corporate health fair. Corporate health fairs are valuable to both the company and the employee because they promote overall health, awareness and prevention.

What kind of providers are at a health fair?

There are numerous providers to pick from when bringing a corporate wellness fair to your organization.  The most popular providers include dentists, massage therapists, chiropractors, nutritionists and the American Red Cross. These few popular providers are a part of a long list available to attend wellness fairs.

Exactly how do we pick which vendors to include in the health fair?

While most vendors are excellent for all workforce, there are some vendors available for companies with a specific demographic. for  instance, if your company has a lot of pregnant women or women of child bearing age, it could be a good idea to have a vendor specifically talking about prenatal care.

When there are a lot of smokers at your corporation, you might want to have the American Lung Association present. Try to select vendors that meet your employees’ needs. Don’t forget that hosting a corporate health fair is meant to be beneficial to them.

When should we hold a health fair?

Anytime is a excellent time to host a wellness fair. However, you might want to consider not scheduling around holidays or busy seasons so that you can maximize participation. Another excellent option is having the corporate wellness fair on a weekend and making it family friendly. Corporate wellness fairs help keep everyone healthy, consequently increasing work productivity.

Not only does hosting a corporate wellness fair promote health, it also builds camaraderie between coworkers, bettering team building and communication in the office. It is a win-win for both the corporation and the employee!

Wellness programs have been proven to reduce rates of absenteeism, staff member turnover rates, and health care costs. It’s a key piece of a company’s success.  The results of these wellness programs lead to higher productivity, which in the end leads to a more profitable company.

In order for these wellness programs to run properly and produce results they must have a clear operating plan with an attainable and measurable goal.  The wellness programs must also encourage all staff members to lead a healthful lifestyle while at work and at home.

Wellness programs have been introduced to companies all over the United States in an effort to make employees healthier and in turn happier. Businesses which implement these wellness programs do so to varying degrees. Some simply offer literature about how to live a healthy lifestyle and reduce stress while at work.

Many organizations offer biometric testings and health risk appraisals for free during the year to help workers understand what is going on with their health and what they can do to improve it.

At the top of the list, there are the companies that offerfree, on-site gyms and aerobics programs to be used at lunch breaks or after work. No matter what is offered it’d be a waste not to take advantage of these health promotion programs.

It requires cautious planning and thought to start health promotion programs. Once a health promotion program is put into place it is very important to reassess and analyze it a few times for reach the main goal -  healthier workforce.

All the wellness programs that are put in place ought to be investigated after a determined time frame to help the organization understand what needs to be changed or kept in place to maintain corporate wellness.

Everyone knows today that working in corporate America may be a stressful situation. It seems that employees are expected to work longer hours and spend more time away from home. Long commutes and big amounts of work are taking its toll on U.S. office staff members. Something should be done; organization wellness is a good way to start to help all those stressed out staff members.

Starting company health promotion programs can help create a healthful culture. There ought to be an incentive program set up to drive interest to wanting to be more health conscious. Making good decisions that affect health now and in the future ought to be rewarded as individual’s goals are met.

There are a number of health promotion program ideas that a corporation health promotion program can help plan for. Some ideas include giving out maps of walking or jogging trails located near the worksite. It is a good idea to post a steps accumulated map on the worksite wall where all staff can log their steps or miles.

Make sure to help encourage joggers, walkers, and those who enjoy other forms of exercise to form fitness groups to meet before work, during lunchtime, or after work.

In a business environment, relationship development is also an area where aligning cultural touch points are necessary. Make sure to work culture affects health practices.

Workers will either form personal relationships in a bad way, like smoking in the break room, or they will form relationships doing something more physical like going for a round of golf for relaxation and developing friendships with fellow employees. Be certain to work must be done to create healthful venues to create specialist friendships and relationships.

There are so many good benefits for a organization choosing  to make organization wellness a priority. Employees who take part in health promotion programs are more likely to be the best employees.

Peer relationships in the workplace are important to building a healthy lifestyle culture that lasts.  As an added bonus, overall job satisfaction is better if personnel are feeling well and healthy while doing their work.

Employee wellness is among the most crucial investments which a corporation will make. Organizations which commence wellness programs are not only investing in the physical health and wellness, safety, and psychological health of their workers, but are additionally taking preventive measures by building a much healthier atmosphere.

By establishing a health promotion program, businesses have the ability to enhance the overall productivity and have the ability to cut costs on health care expenses. Typically, businesses are concerned regarding the actual wellness Return On Investment though the fact is that by stimulating healthier life choices, businesses are building healthier staff who’ll work more diligently and miss fewer days of work because of disease.

It’s crucial that businesses not only provide company health promotion options for their employees, but that they also maintain ongoing information about wellness and safety techniques. Companys need to keep current on health statistics and stay alert to methods to encourage specific wellness challenges like smoking cessation or weight reduction.

It is often ideal for a corporation to talk with doctors who participate in medical Continuing Medical Education to ensure that they are current with how they may assist their staff to maintain wellness.

In addition, if a corporation maintains an on-site fitness club, it’s necessary that the corporation employs individuals that have obtained the appropriate training and certification, that makes up the fitness club management, to assist staff members with exercising safely.

Although businesses may establish a comprehensive wellness program with many alternatives, an incentive wellness program is often necessary for encourage employees to actually take part in the programs.

Regardless of whether one is creating a company wellness Chicago or a company wellness small-town Nebraska program, the issue that companies often have in common, is the lack of motivation of staff to actually participate. Providing incentives for staff, like a free lunch or gift cards, could  be simple enough rewards to encourage staff to participate in company wellness.

Do you know the fastest-growing reason for employee assistance program use since 2003?

It isn’t for substance abuse or depression. Actually, it’s financial in nature. Over the last five years, there’s been a announced 69% jump in worker employee assistance program (EAP) use related to personal financial concerns.

The trend isn’t all that surprising in this era of salary freezes, high deductibles and cost-sharing of benefits premiums.

Statistics show that, for the first time since the Great Depression, the average American has negative savings â.” in other words, debt exceeds income â.” in a average month.

A lot of staff members are racking up high credit card debt, make the problem worse.

Troubling trends

Here are some ominous numbers from a recent worker survey -

o  27 percent of respondents said they were “one major setback away from financial disaster”

o  22 percent say they were “worse off than last year, with less take-home income and more debt”

o  40% say their business is “insensitive to their employees’ financial needs,” and

o  only 6 percent said they felt comfortable with their current financial situation and ability to manage their debts.

The majority of personal-finance related employee assistance program use arises from concerns over debt management, household refinancing and/or failed investments.

———–

Authorizing staff members to bring camera phones to work can carry hidden legal risks.

But should you tackle this issue aggressively or trust your personnel to do the right thing?  Every business wants to create an environment where personnel feel trusted by management. But there’s also the need to stay protected legally, and it isn’t always easy to balance the two.

The cell phone issue is particularly delicate since most workforce carry them nowadays, and improper use at work is a non-issue for the vast majority. But there are always several bad apples in every bunch.

Growing number of complaints

There has been an explosion of lawsuits â.” and complaints to upper-level management â.” about staff taking inappropriate photos at work with their cell phone cameras.

Most cases revolve around embarassing or expliclit photos of colleagues (sometimes but not always posted on the Internet or e-mailed to others in the office). However, a handful of lawsuits have arisen from staff taking photos of confidential documents or other internal information.

As most benefits and HR veterans would tell you, the most valuable benefit an organization can offer its employees is a workplace where they feel trusted and valued. On the contrary, it only takes one “joke” gone too far to stir up a hornet’s nest of trouble.  And no company is immune from this risk.

Three options

One step every employer ought to take is circulating a memo or having a face-to-face meeting with staff about the need to restrict camera phone use at work, says labor lawyer William Hannum.

This is the time to answer questions and make clear that the policy is a matter of a legal concern, not a case of Big Brother watching over employees’ shoulders. for added legal protection, you may want to create a formal camera phone policy to be written employee handbooks.

Some companys have gone so far as to take the step of banning camera phone (or personal cell phone) use at work and prohibiting individuals  from posting personal photos or videos from corporation computers.

Nevertheless, these policies are challenging to enforce and run the risk of alienating the majority of employees who use the devices responsibly.

As an alternative, a few firms that haven’t banned camera phones have had workers sign a policy that gives managers permission to review photos or videos on the phone if there’s a complaint. When you go down either of these routes, remember -

o  The policy ought to be enforced consistently

o  your policy must describe specific steps for filing and investigating  a complaint, and

o  The policy should obviously describe the disciplinary steps for violations.

The enforcement aspect is particularly tricky. In cases where the phones are company property, employers obviously have the right to control non-work use â.” which includes requiring staff to turn over the contents stored on the phone in cases of suspected abuse. Employees have no legal expectation of privacy in such cases.

Nonetheless, there’s a slippery slope when the phone is an employee’s property.  As a rule of thumb, corporations generally have the right to inspect the contents as they pertain to alleged inappropriate behavior within the worksite.

Where it gets tricky is dealing with behavior that takes places on the employee’s private time, but overlaps with the worksite (e.g., staff go out socializing at a bar after work, and potentially embarassing camera phone photos get spread around the worksite). Legal specialists caution corporations to tread very carefully in these cases.

Where does your corporation stand?

Does your organization have â.” or is considering a policy on staff member camera phones? Do you think such policies are workable or even appropriate?

In my conversations with attendees at the SHRM conference in Chicago, HR and benefits managers appear to be divided on the issue.

In a value-based plan, the idea is to reward personnel for seeking treatments that promote wellness.

The more clinically viable the treatment, the less an staff member compensates out of pocket for it.

Example -  Women over 40 and younger workforce with a family history of breast cancer pay less for a each year mammogram than workforce for whom the test isn’t as necessary.

Value-based plans often work better than high-deductible plans when used in combination with standard wellness program features such as health risk appraisals.

Five target areas

As reported by the May 2008 issue of Simply Well, there are four quality-of-care criteria that have emerged as key benchmarks of the quality of care - health care management, preventive screenings and treatments, member service and access to care.

Areas of care that are of particular concern -

o  Employees’ dependents receiving appropriate and timely childhood/adolescent immunizations

o  Breast cancer screenings for female medical plan enrollees, ages 52 to 64

o  Diabetic workers receiving hemoglobin A1C and LDL-C testing

o  Members receiving proper referrals and treatment for mental health issues (e.g., primary care doctor refers a patient to a professional to ensure proper prescription and management of an anti-depressant medication)

o  Pregnant staff receivig time and appropriate prenatal and postpartum care, and avoidance of antibiotic treatment in adults with acute bronchitis.

The quality of care for a lot of of the aforementioned issues can suffer when workers foot too much of the bill out of their own pockets.

The hope for value-based plans is that staff get some cost relief and obtain treatments that will reduce costs in the long run.

As scary as they seem at first glance, complying with HIPAA’s privacy rules may be relatively painless.

Contrary to common belief, the rules â.” with a few key exceptions â.” apply only to a fraction of the health information Benefits handles.

As long as the company remains legally “hands off” of employee’s private medical information, you can dodge most of the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) bullet.

For HIPAA privacy purposes, your firm is considered “hands off” even when you obtain de-identified personal information, aggregate claims data and routine enrollment info.

Bottom line - When your organization’s health care programs are fully insured and the claims administered through a TPA, the insurance organization â.” not your firm â.” bears the brunt of the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) privacy compliance responsibility.

One major exception -  medical cafeteria plans. In most cases, you’ve two compliance choices -

o  Process reimbursement requests first through your TPA, with the TPA making sure the claim qualifies below the terms of the cafeteria plan before your firm reimburses it, or

o  Create a written cafeteria plan privacy policy, issue a notice to staff, appoint a privacy officer and amend your plan documents.

Rarely affects FMLA

Many people  â.” including health care providers â.” misunderstand how HIPAA affects medical certifications for FMLA leave.  The key - HIPAA only applies to personal information that filters through your health plan, not certifications obtained from a physician.

Under FMLA, you’re permitted to obtain the minimum information you need to approve and administer leave. In like fashion, HIPAA does not apply to most workers’ comp, return-to-work notices or disability claims.

Even so, it pays to be careful how you ask for and use the information. Other state and federal privacy laws often protect the same kinds of info individuals  assume falls under HIPAA.

Following procedures

The HIPAA privacy rules are heavy on paperwork and procedure.

But as long as your firm follows  the info-gathering process spelled out in your medical plan documents, the HIPAA privacy rules should present few major obstacles.

A lot of firms are still missing an opportunity to trim some medical plan expenses.

Generic versions of high-cholesterol drug Zocor have been on market for two years now, but a fair share of business pharmacy plans have yet to make the switch.

If your PBM gives generic Zocor favored status on the formulary, now’s a good time to remind employees -

o  most individuals  on cholesterol-control meds will get the same therapeutic value from generic Zocor as from the label brand and the more potent â.” and still patented â.” Lipitor

o   they are able to save $10 to $50 (or more, depending on your drug plan design) on their co-payment by switching, but

o   they ought to ask their physician first. Individuals  with cholesterol levels over 200 and/or family histories of  ultra-high cholesterol could  be better off staying on Lipitor.

Reason -  It takes four times the amount of a Zocor-type medication  to equal one dose of Lipitor.

When it comes to health-coverage laws, there’s often a domino effect.

As individual states require insurers â.” and in some cases, employers â.” to cover or offer coverage of specific people  and procedures, similar laws can spread rapidly to other states.

The effect on plan sponsors -  Some mandates can increase your costs by 20% to 45%.

Small firms targeted, too

States are no longer targeting  just the Wal-Marts and other giant companies anymore.  The pressure has increased on corporations of all sizes.

That’s specifically true for the new “universal coverage” laws passed in Massachusetts and Vermont.

The Massachusetts law requires every firm with 11 or more workforce either to cover or contribute toward everybody’s health coverage, or else pay an annual fee of $295 per employee to a state fund.

Vermont’s similar version sets the yearly fee at $365 per full-time equivalent staff member.  The Vermont law also requires all uninsured, low-income hourly staff members to have access to a state-subsidized plan (called Catamount Health) sold through private insurance corporations.

It’s up to businesss to deduct the monthly premiums â.” $60 to $135, depending on the person’s wages â.” and send it to the state.

There are rumblings in at least 10 states about lawmakers pushing for universal-coverage laws. A few have formed committees to study the Massachusetts law and see when a version can be adapted to their state.

Here are three proactive steps to consider now. These could potentially save money, time and compliance headaches later -

o  look into offering mini-med or similar lower-cost programs to satisfy minimum coverage requirements for uninsured employees. Monthly premiums range from about $25 to $200

o  educate low-income workforce about the earned income-tax (EIT) credit the federal government offers. This could make a mini-med plan free or almost free to eligible workforce, and

o  use flexible spending accounts to develop a tax savings on premiums for other workers and your firm.

Required procedures

The universal-coverage laws draw national headlines, but far more employers are currently affected by state laws requiring coverage for certain kinds of procedures. Three of the biggies -

o  diabetes self-management. Nineteen states require your health plan to cover all the steps employees with diabetes take to control their condition, including nutritional therapy (if prescribed by a doctor)

o  in vitro fertilization. This large ticket service adds 3 percent to 5 percent to your premiums, and is now a required benefit in 15 states, and

o  cervical cancer screenings. In the last year, four more states have required all company plans to cover annually cervical cancer screenings for all covered female personnel, spouses and dependents age 18 and older. That brings the sum to 24 states.

The good news about the diabetes management and cervical cancer mandates is they can reduce your  long-term costs, even if they increase them in the short-term.

Here’s a good resource  for keeping abreast of mandatory coverage trends around the United States.  The site also features  state-by-state breakdowns of changes in insurance laws  mandating the coverage of different treatments and conditions.

For example, this report from 2006 is the most extensive coverage-mandate study that I’ve ever seen.