HealthyU Wellness Rewards Program
What Is It?
Rather than simply providing short-term campaigns focused on specific health habits, this program will be a comprehensive, holistic long-term approach to supporting employees in making healthy choices. In addition, with more and more health care costs being shifted to employees, NWHSU wants to provide employees with the support and information they need to most effectively manage their healthcare dollars available to them.
What Are the Program Components?
- Health Risk Assessments and Coaching
The program starts with a confidential Health Risk Assessment (HRA) that will be available to all benefits-eligible employees and required for those wishing to enroll in the University’s health plan. This is an important first step in increasing your awareness of the impact your current health behaviors have on your future well-being and helps the University determine where to focus efforts for programming. Optional voluntary coaching sessions will be available to assist you in making behavior changes.
- Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors
The program itself will take place January 1 through October 31,
2008. Employees who complete 8 of 14 established criteria by Oct.
31 will receive an additional monetary contribution into their VEBA account. Employees
who do not complete this program will not be penalized and will still receive
the standard VEBA contribution. However, the hope is that the financial
incentive and the support structure created will motivate employees to take
that next step in living a healthy, more balanced life.
- Ongoing Support and Communication
Health care providers are now required to be more transparent about their costs, but sifting through it all can be a challenge. Each month employees will be provided with helpful information pertaining to their health plan and the benefits available to them to assist them in making the best decisions for themselves and to best manage their VEBA accounts.
Contact Lisa Franczak in Human Resources at ext. 170 or lfranczak@nwhealth.edu for questions or more information.
Employees of Northwestern Health Sciences University are protected under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which ensures that medical information that they voluntarily provide to Human Resources and/or the Institute of Health and Wellness will be kept private and, if it is medically inadvisable or unreasonable for them to attempt any standard of the program, that another method will be designed so that the employee can earn an equivalent reward. If you need to discuss another method, please contact Lisa Franczak at ext. 170.
"Do"
“Do” is a social-marketing campaign put together by Blue Cross Blue Shield and the American Heart Association with the help of a marketing and public relations firm. The campaign reinforces how easy it is to “groove your body” 3 times a day for 10-minutes to promote health benefits and decrease various health risks associated with inactivity. You have likely seen billboards and TV commercials promoting the do> messages. NWHSU is ending it's official campaign as of August 31 but still encourages you to keep grooving your body 3 times a day!
Face it, we all have times when we’re too busy to exercise. And even if you exercise regularly, there are probably days when you don’t exercise that you get hardly any activity at all. “Do” provides fun, point-of-decision marketing to remind you to make choices throughout the day to be healthy and add activity into your day. Above all – it can be FUN! So go ahead, groove your body! For more information and to learn the do>dance, visit www.do-groove.com.
- do>Summer– Click here to download the pdf file of ideas to keep active this spring.
- Remember to “do” with a special screensaver - Help remind yourself to take time to move during the day. Change your screensaver to a fabulously fun do>screen saver under the “do>more” tab.
- Do Walking Buttons - The weather is bad and you want to try out the indoor walking routes, but there’s a problem…people keep wanting to stop you in the hall to discuss work. The solution??? Wear a do>walking button (see Rosie Ward if you haven’t received one yet).
When you decide to take a much needed walking break, wear your button. If people want to talk to you, they need to either join you and walk with you or leave you alone and find you at another time. Likewise, if you see someone wearing the bright orange button, it’s your clue to join them on a walk or find them later.
The buttons can also come in handy if you decide to take a do>break at your desk with the do>dance. Bottom line, wear your button when you’re taking your 10-minute groove breaks – it might make it easier for the do>crews to spot you!
- do>Walk Indoor walking routes (click on the links
to download the pdf files).
