Introduction
Wellness incentive programs are important because they are regarded as a key benchmark for the success of a wellness program. Wellness incentives serve as a form of inspiration to participate in them. Some of the incentives in existence facilitate the use of lower medical plan payments. Other incentives are such as reduced co-pay or deductible requirements and access to better medical plan thus offering a higher level of coverage than the wellness incentive programs which are available to those who do not participate in health promotion.
Wellness incentive plans
Some insurance companies offer wellness incentive plans to their customers. This is done with the thought of rewarding patients who take care of their health and provide them with even more motivation to continue doing the same. This, for instance, can be done through allowing customers to collect ‘wellness points’ which can later on be cashed in for discounts at gyms or fitness clubs, or even be used to apply toward free gift cards. There are many incentive plans offered by various companies I order to attract people on their side. The business was very small at first and people were very skeptical, but in time things changed and more and more people choose to have insurance.
Typed of wellness incentives
There is the pay-for-performance incentives which is offered by the Integrated Health Association. This is directed at physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. The incentive is then rewarded according to the number of criteria, which is inclusive of clinical quality and patient experience as well as the embracing of health information technology. This sort of incentive helps to motivate the improvement of quality and collaborative learning as well.
Also, when it comes to wellness incentives, a majority of health care plans offer either preferred provider organization plans (PPO) or health maintenance organization plans (HMO). This is usually left to the discretion of the clients. PPO offers more choices but is also more expensive while HMO is more restrictive but costs less
There are also incentives for long term and short term disabilities.
Wellness incentive program application
Wellness programs such as smoking cessation and weight loss may be accessible to employees covered under group health insurance. Companies can add these benefits to the existing coverage with a health insurance company in order to offer wellness programs to their staff. These help employees to alter their behavior and make useful lifestyle adjustments which eventually lead to a better life health wise and also lead to the prevention of diseases.
Others are such as weight loss and healthy eating which require lifestyle adjustments as well in order for this to happen. These wellness incentive programs are geared toward helping the employees lose weight if they are overweight. This is worked towards by a health coach on a one on one basis. The health coach here is basically a registered dietician or a nurse working in conjunction with a dietician.
Stress management is also offered by trained coaches who work with the employees on techniques that can be used to avoid stress, or alternatively reduce stress. Here they shall act as motivators and help shed light on the harmful effects of high stress levels, as well as introduce ways in which can help reduce stress levels.
