Method of Reducing Employer Health Related Costs While Promoting Employee Wellness and Health Benefit Plan Strategy for Same

• Main Author: SHORT DOUGLAS J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 30.06.2011
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONTECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING ORPROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA; INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTEDFOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS; PHYSICS; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

In an effort to reduce employer health insurance related costs, at least one benefit under a health benefit plan is conditional on the employee voluntarily participating in a wellness program. The wellness program could include wellness categories such as a tobacco free category, normal blood pressure category, regular exercise category, a non-overweight category, a healthy cholesterol level category, a healthy blood glucose level category, and possibly even a category for participation in a health risk assessment. The invention may be implemented by an employer adopting a health plan with a higher deductible over a previous year, and providing credits against that deductible for employees who satisfy requirements regarding each of a variety of wellness categories. This should enable the employer to realize an immediate savings in the year that the invention is implemented, and future savings in years thereafter from healthier employees having lesser numbers of claims and smaller dollar claims.