Workplace wellness programs are increasingly common, with many offering financial incentives, social networking support and coaching to encourage employees to participate in various activities – from donning fitness wearables and using apps to quitting smoking, to monitoring their blood pressure and engaging more often with their insurer.
While most of these programs are voluntary, some say they...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has set limits on the monetary value of incentives that employers offer to employees and their spouses to convince them to contribute specific health information to a wellness program, according to the commission's final rules released this week. The rules take effect at the start of 2017.
The final rules explain how employers that offer wellness...
Employee wellness programs have the potential to save money for companies and reduce hospitalizations for employees, so provisions in the Affordable Care Act encourage businesses to implement them. But if those programs include mandatory or incentivized health screenings, they can conflict with another, older federal statute: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers...
Seventy one percent of consumers want their employer or health plan to offer a program or a set of guidelines that helps them manage their health, according to a recent Survey Sampling International poll of 562 consumers with company-sponsored health plans. The survey was commissioned by San Francisco-based HealthMine, which offers employers and health plans a white-label health improvement...
Employers are turning more and more to preventative wellness programs to keep down their employee's eventual healthcare costs, including biometric screenings to determine early risk factors. But when those screenings are mandatory, and incentivized through sanctions for opting out rather than rewards for opting in, does that cross the line into violating employee's privacy? Has the employer...
