top

Your participation in Health Connections begins when you take 20 minutes to answer a series of online questions about your health history, nutrition, physical activity and more. The UPlan Wellness Assessment is voluntary and confidential. When you complete for the first time or re-take the wellness assessment by April 30, 2008, you can receive a taxable, lump sum reward of $65. If your spouse or same-sex domestic partner is also a UPlan member, he or she can also earn a $65 wellness reward.

A Health Connections participant (and his/her spouse or partner) can earn another $65 reward upon completion of one or more of the following health improvement programs:

• work with a health coach over the phone or in person to change your lifestyle and reduce your health risks
• learn to manage your disease or chronic condition with support and instruction from a health coach who is a registered nurse or registered dietician
• enroll in online, self-paced Healthy Living programs to eat right, get fit, reduce stress, etc.
• participate in the UPlan-sponsored HealthCare Choices program available online

top

Health Connections is designed for UPlan Medical Program members who are active University employees, as well as an employee's spouse/same-sex domestic partner and dependents. Participation is also open to UPlan members who are early retirees, disabled or COBRA participants. Only active employees who elected healthcare coverage through the UPlan Medical Program (and their UPlan Medical Program covered spouse/same-sex domestic partner) can qualify to receive the financial rewards for participation in this health improvement initiative. 

More Information on Eligibility (pdf)

top

top

You, in fact, may not be eligible for participation in Health Connections due to one of the following possibilities:

• You waived UPlan Medical Program coverage because you are covered by another health plan.
• You are an employee of the federal government who works at the University of Minnesota, but are not actually on the University of Minnesota payroll.
• You are a new employee so your benefits and health plan coverage may not have taken effect yet, therefore you will need to be certain that you are a UPlan Medical Program member at the time you try to take the assessment. Benefit eligibility files are transferred to StayWell Health Management (the online host for the UPlan Wellness Assessment) by about the 3rd of each month, so you should call again the following month. Call StayWell Health Management at 1-800-926-5455 if you seem to be having difficulties accessing the wellness assessment.

top

To earn a second $65 financial reward and improve your health and well-being, your wellness assessment results can point you in to one of the following "next steps:"

Lifestyle Management

You are eligible to enroll in the Lifestyle Management Program:

• When you have completed the UPlan Wellness Assessment and received a report of your results. The report details one's personal health status and offers information about where there is room for improvement. The report may recommend using the health improvement tools available on StayWell's Web site.
• If your wellness assessment indicates that you have one or more or a combination of health risk factors (high blood pressure, overweight, mildly-elevated cholesterol level, minimal exercise), you will be called by a health coach from Healthways and invited to participate in a Lifestyle Management Program.

A 6-month program will be offered to you if your health risk is moderate; a 12-month program will be offered to you if you are at high risk for developing illness or disease.

If you are eager to proceed and take the next step after you take the wellness assessment, call Healthways, Inc. at 1-877-247-9204 and you can get connected to a health coach right away! In-person health coaching is also available on three University campuses -- Twin Cities, Duluth and Morris.

Disease Management

If your UPlan Wellness Assessment or your health claims data reveal that you have a chronic condition or disease such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, etc. and you want to work with a health coach (a registered nurse or registered dietician) over the phone to help manage your condition, there are also two different ways to get involved:

• Option A: Healthways will call you directly, and give you the chance to work with a health coach by phone to address your health issue. During this program, you'll work with a health coach over a 12-month period. This Disease Management Program closely resembles the opportunity previously offered to employees through HealthPartners disease management program.
• Option B: If you're ready to start right away, and would rather not wait for Healthways to call, you can call them directly at 1-877-247-9204.

Self-Paced, Online Instruction for Healthier Living

If you would like to reduce your cholesterol, exercise more or improve your nutrition or lifestyle, but would rather use an Internet-based program to help you change for the better, revisit the UPlan Wellness Assessment home page and select the Healthy Living Programs for UPlan Members at the upper-right hand corner of the page.

Participate in a UPlan Health Action Program

Throughout the year, UPlan Wellness will sponsor a health action program such HealthPartners 10,000 Steps® program. When you (or your UPlan Medical Program-covered partner) successfully complete one follow-up health improvement program, you and your partner can each earn a second $65 reward. This fall, HealthCare Choices, a three-part interactive program is available. The Web-based learning tool is designed to help you squeeze the most out of your health care dollars. How? By exploring your UPlan health care options, improving your abilities to navigate the health care landscape, and by providing you, as a consumer of health care, with a tool to measure health care quality in Minnesota.

top

top

If the results of your wellness assessment reveal you have one or more or a combination of health risk factors, you may be eligible to participate in a Lifestyle Management Program from Healthways, offered on behalf of UPlan Wellness. If health risk factors are evident in your wellness assessment information, you may expect to receive a call from a health coach at Healthways, to invite you to participate in a Lifestyle Management Program. The program is confidential, voluntary and no additional cost.

If you would like to work with a health coach on a lifestyle issues, you can talk to the coach about enrolling in the program and scheduling future health coaching telephone appointments. If you are not interested, you can just let the coach know you would rather not participate.

top

If your UPlan Wellness Assessment results show that you have a chronic condition or medical disease, you are eligible to participate in a Disease Management Program from Healthways, Inc., the administrator of Health Connections on behalf of UPlan Wellness. You may expect to receive a call from a registered nurse or dietician at Healthways, Inc., to invite you to participate in a Disease Management Program. The program is confidential, voluntary, and available at no additional cost. If you would like to work with a nurse or dietician on a chronic condition or serious medical matter, you may talk to the nurse about enrolling in the Disease Management Program and schedule future health coaching calls. If you are not interested, you can just let the coach know you would rather not participate.

If your UPlan Medical Program claims indicate you have or are being treated for a chronic condition or disease you will be invited (first by letter, then by telephone) to participate in the Disease Management Program. If you would like to work with registered nurse or dietician on one of these issues, you can talk to the nurse about enrolling in the program and schedule future health coaching calls. The disease management program is confidential, has no additional cost, and is voluntary. You decide whether you want to participate. Inquire about the availability of face-to-face health coaching for you or your partner as well.

top

Health Connections is being administered by Healthways, Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, and its network of service providers (StayWell Health Management, Miavita, Inc., and Ask Mayo Clinic).

Within the University community there is a significant amount of concern from employees about the confidentiality of the data individuals are required to submit to participate in wellness and health improvement programs. The concern over privacy and confidentiality has always been of significant importance to UPlan members.

By contracting with an outside, independent company (Healthways, Inc., formerly known as Harris HealthTrends, Inc. of Toledo, Ohio) and its network of service providers (StayWell Health Management Inc., Miavita, Inc., and Ask Mayo Clinic) to administer and deliver Health Connections to active University employees, we are demonstrating our commitment to privacy. We can further assure employees that the University or its representatives will not have access to an employee's personal and private health information.

Healthways, Inc. and its network of service providers are required by law and under the terms of our contract with them to comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of l996 (HIPAA). That said, many University employees use University physicians, dentists, and other care providers, and trust the confidentiality of their relationship with them.

top

Healthways is a privately-held company that was founded in l987; the company offers telephonic and Web-based employee health improvement services, onsite wellness programs and health screenings. The company is based in Toledo, Ohio. The company's clients include governmental agencies like the State of Tennessee, King County (Seattle) Washington, and companies such as General Motors, Ford, Dell, and Honeywell, to name a few.

top

The Healthways health coaches for lifestyle management include: nurses, dieticians, health educators, exercise physiologists, licensed social workers and licensed mental health counselors.

Healthways health coaches for disease management are registered nurses or registered dieticians.

top

The contract between the University and Healthways provides that the University will receive reports containing aggregate, de-indentified data (data concerning numbers of participants, etc. without including names of the individual participant on our program, so we can monitor the program and assure that it is working effectively. No data concerning individual participants or their health status will be shared with the University. Only the names of Health Connections participants will be shared with the U of M Payroll Department so that employees who have completed the wellness assessment and follow-up health improvement programs can be financially rewarded for their efforts.

top

top

The University wanted to offer as many UPlan members as possible the opportunity to participate in the health coaching programs. Since many employees don't have home numbers listed in their University records, the University provided Healthways with both your work and your home phone number (if available) so that you could be invited to participate in the Health Connections' Lifestyle and Disease Management Programs.

The health coaches from Healthways will work with you to identify the most confidential place and most convenient time in your schedule. The coaches who are based in Toledo, Ohio, work beyond normal business hours. The coaches are available:

top

Based on calculations from Healthways, Inc., the third-party administrator for Health Connections, it is reasonable to predict:

If the University experiences a five percent reduction in the number of risk factors affecting Health Connections participants, then the University will have a two to one return on investment. In other words, the University will save two dollars for every dollar it invests in health promotion and prevention. Source: John Harris, Principal and CEO, Harris HealthTrends, Inc.

The University is self-insured, meaning the institution bears the risk and costs of providing healthcare coverage for its employees. The employees themselves – through co-payments and their share of health plan premiums – also share the cost of healthcare coverage. Because employees pay 10 to 15 percent of the cost for the base plan (and a higher percentage for more expensive plans), employees will directly share in the cost savings achieved through Health Connections.

Based on Harris HealthTrends' 18-years of experience in the business of integrated health promotion and wellness strategies, we believe we can achieve the following:

Of the participants in Health Connections who (based on the results of the UPlan Wellness Assessment) are overweight and are encouraged through this initiative to lose weight, four out of ten, or 40-percent, will lose weight and keep it off. Among those who do lose weight, over one half will eliminate "excess weight" as a health risk factor. Similar success has been demonstrated with exercise, nutrition, smoking and reduced total cholesterol. Source: John Harris, Principal and CEO, Harris HealthTrends, Inc.

top

Employees choose to work at a new organization based on salary, benefits location, and other major recruiting factors. Well-developed wellness programs have been shown to be a factor that employees believe to be important as they make their decision on which employer to select. In addition, if employees actively participate in the wellness program and we are successful at minimizing health care cost increases, a less costly medical program is also an important recruiting factor.

More than 300 studies have tracked the impact of health promotion in the workplace, mostly in the United States, and the results have shown real benefits including significant increases in productivity and energy, decreases in absenteeism and workplace injury, improved employee satisfaction, engagement and culture and positive lifestyle changes. On average benefits outweighed costs by a ratio of 2.92 to 1 and medical costs dropped by an average of $393 per person. Improved health has also been linked with reduced "presenteeism". Source: Lynette Hoffman "Companies Today Keep the Doctor Away," Human Resources Magazine, September 20, 2005

top