Wellness Program For State Workers Tries To Boost Participation

Forget about eating right and exercising, just going through the initial steps of a wellness program can be daunting.

While some workplace wellness programs boast having a 70-percent participation rate, the Well Wisconsin program offered to state and local employees failed to muster 30 percent participation in 2017.

More people have utilized the program since the state started the effort in 2014. But not enough to satisfy Deputy Insurance Commissioner J.P. Wieske: “We haven’t gotten great participation yet. We’re at about 28 percent. So I think that’s something we as a state have to focus on as an employer.”

The state employee health plan tries to boost participation in its workplace wellness program by offering $150 to participants each year. One of the requirements is completing an online health survey. Before the state made changes, there were complaints the online health survey was complicated and took too much time.

“Some people couldn’t tell when it ended. And they felt like it went on and on and on,” said Sarah Bradley. She manages wellness initiatives for the state employee health program. Other users couldn’t find the website or didn’t know how to log on, she added.

In an effort to make it easier for participants and to control marketing, the state decided to go with one company to administer their wellness program, instead of having health insurers offer their own wellness incentives.

“So with StayWell now being the single administrator, they have a short and easy health survey that takes less than 10 minutes,” she said.

A health screening is also required for those wanting the incentive. But some don’t want the state to have their personal health data.

“It is very personal information but its data that is protected by HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act),” Bradley said. “That is one of the areas we are trying to be more transparent in communicating with our participants.”

The information that’s shared with the Group Insurance Board is aggregate data; no names or identifying characteristics are included.

But even if people are willing to get a health screening, they may find it inconvenient to go to a location outside their office. To overcome that challenge, the state is trying to change that.

“If someone can go down from the office, get their blood drawn, have their blood pressure checked in less than a 20 minute appointment and go back to the portal in a few days and redeem their incentive, that’s a much nicer incentive experience for the participant than not really knowing when they’ve met the requirements and when their incentive will show up,” Bradley said.

This is where the rubber meets the road.

The incentive money and knowledge of their health condition is supposed to get employees to control high blood pressure, lose weight or tackle other health problem. Studies are mixed on how much an employer can do to change lifestyle habits that effect health.

“It really looks like using monetary incentives to kick-start habits really is not very effective for most people,” said Justin Sydnor, associate professor with the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. “The problem doesn’t boil down to initial motivation and getting started. The problem really is finding a way to keep motivation day in and day out”

This story is Part 3 of a three-part series exploring worker wellness across the state of Wisconsin. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.