Here’s more evidence that wellness programs pay for themselves:

Over the last two years, one organization in five has seen significant improvement in employees’ health status – and started to stabilize their costs – according to one study.

Among firms noting improvement, nearly two-thirds (64%) feature wellness programs offering incentives for healthier lifestyles.

Here are three twists on traditional incentives that’re getting good results:

1. Health coach outreach

Many firms require employees to work with a personal health coach in order to get a discount on monthly premiums or earn cash incentives.

The most common set-up: On a regular basis, the employee must set up appointments with and report to (either over the phone or face to face) his or her health coach.

But experience has shown there’s often a high dropout rate.

People get off to a great start – and they’re enthusiastic about the incentive – but once they realize there’s some effort involved, they lose interest.

The good news: Firms have found a simple-to-arrange alternative that keeps  people on the right track. Rather than requiring employees to contact the health coach, a growing number of organizations require participants to take calls from the health coach.

Potential result: Fewer folks fall off the wagon. There’s no outreach effort involved, and the health coach keeps people accountable.

2. Nutritional education/therapy

A newer – and cost-effective – feature in the battle against employee obesity: offering an employee nutrition-education program administered by a professional nutritionist.

Just 11% of organizations – 18%  of large employers and 7.5% of small to medium ones – have such programs, according to SHRM’s most recent benefits survey.

Even fewer offer (via their EAPs) nutritional therapy for people with eating disorders. But available data on these programs shows they usually pay for themselves.

The stronger the firm’s emphasis on teaching healthy eating, the faster and more dramatic the reduction in major health claims.

Common plan features: lunch-and-learns featuring healthy food choices, giving out nutrition-linked gift cards and extending obesity-prevention incentives to people’s family members.

3. Aggressive smoking cessation

A small, but rapidly growing number of employers are taking more aggressive measures to avoid the costs associated with employees who smoke.

The step can be broken down into three levels of aggressiveness and potential risk/reward.

Level one: The employer installs a wellness program in which non-smoking employees and those who commit to maintaining a healthy weight receive financial incentives that lower their share of monthly premiums.

Level two: The employer disqualifies job candidates who smoke from hiring consideration. Alternatively, some firms require health risks assessments as a condition of being hired.

Level three: The employer docks pay or fires employees who fail to control their lifestyle-related health risks.

Example: Clarian Health made news last fall for sending notice to employees that as of Jan. 1,  2009, people who smoke or chew tobacco would start be charged $5 per paycheck.

Are these strategies legal? At level one, the answer is a qualified yes. HIPAAs non-discrimination rules permit such incentives within limits.

In a nutshell, it’s legal to reward employees who quit smoking but illegal to punish those who try and fail. If an employee tries but fails to quit smoking, you’re still legally obligated to give them another shot next year.

Also keep in mind that, by law, the size of the reward or penalty under your wellness program can’t exceed 20% of the total cost of coverage.

At levels two and three, it remains to be seen if such policies would hold up in court. Proceed with caution.

Tags: wellness programs