HEALTH RISK APPRAISAL (HRA)
CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
What is a HRA?
A HRA is an on-line tool that enables a County employee and spouse to identify their personal health risks. By answering an on-line questionnaire, the HRA tool provides a rating score to enable you to monitor your overall health but also lists the areas of your personal health that may require closer monitoring or actual improvement. It also assists medical management staff at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (BCBSKC) to identify existing medical programs such as disease management or health coaching that may benefit you. If you are contacted by BCBSKC, please listen to their suggestions.
Background:
The County has been offering the HRA campaign since 2005. Initially, employees were encouraged to take the HRA for personal information and knowledge with prize drawings as an incentive. After relatively low participation rates of 15% for 2005 and 2006, the County provided an incentive to employees in 2007 in the amount of $120 spread over 24 payperiods. This incentive directly contributed to about a 300% increase in the number of employees that took the HRA when compared to 2006. To receive the Incentive, an employee had to covered under the County’s medical plan. Employees not covered under the medical plan are eligible for prize drawings.
On February 21, 2008, the Board of County Commissioners
unanimously adopted a resolution formalizing the HRA incentive program and
extending the incentive to include spouses covered under the County’s medical
plan. The Incentive for spouses is $60
annually or $2.50 over 24 payperiods.
The program was approved for three years: 2009, 2010 and 2011. An employee must complete to wellness
activities to be eligible for the Incentive and record these activities on an
Activity Log available under
Purpose:
The HRA is intended to provide a consistent tool to enable employees to monitor their health status and personal health risks. Since your physical and mental health can change from year to year, the County’s Wellness Committee encourages you to take the Health Risk Appraisal each year and use the results to identify potential new health risks and monitor existing ones.
Criteria to Qualify for Incentive:
The Incentive is awarded in the year following the year the HRA was taken.
The following criteria or rules apply:
When:
To qualify for the HRA Incentive in 2010, current employees must take the HRA by July 12, 2009. Although the HRA campaign does not technically begin until May 12 (the start of the annual Wellness Fairs), many employees took the HRA early to qualify for use of on-site fitness facilities or because they wanted to measure current health status. As long as the HRA was taken on or after January 1 through July 12, 2009, it will be counted.
New employees hired or employees transferring from a noncovered to a medical plan eligible category (e.g. part-time to full-time) after June 1 but before October 1 have until November 1 to take the HRA.
How:
There are two sets of guidelines included with this summary that provide a detailed explanation of how to take the HRA through the BCBSKC secured web-site at www.bcbskc.com. Which set of instructions is applicable to you depends on whether you are covered under the County’s medical plan or whether you are not. In addition to the Wellness Fairs, there are 10 additional sites where the County offers free health screenings and HRA kiosks staffed by BCBSKC personnel to assist you with taking the HRA. Take advantage of their technical expertise and attend a kiosk for personal guidance and attention.
Where:
The HRA can be taken form your personal computer at home, your computer at work or one of the 12 sites where free health screenings and HRA kiosks are provided.
What:
To take the HRA, it is recommended, but not mandatory, that you have recent lab results (specifically cholesterol and glucose and blood pressure screening). To obtain these lab results you can use the ones received during an annual physical examination or other physician’s visit within the preceding six months or receive a free health screening at one of the scheduled free screenings offered by the County.
Incentive:
In addition to receiving important information regarding your
personal health risks, you will receive or be eligible to receive an Incentive.
As you know, in 2008, the County is paying employees that took the HRA in 2007
up to $120 per year. To expand on this
encouraging trend and encourage more health plan participants to take the HRA, the County has extended and expanded the
HRA Incentive Program as follows:
An additional condition
is the employee participates in and records at least two wellness programs. A personalized Activity Log
is available through the Wellness U web-site to use for this purpose and for their own tracking needs.
annual incentive of $60 ($2.50 per pay period). The additional income is paid to the employee. The employee must take the HRA in order
for the spouse to be able to receive the Incentive.
several fitness self help tolls but also two (2) $250 gift cards for Southwest Air.
If you have questions regarding the program, please ask your departmental Wellness Coordinator or call Cameron Ahrens at 715-0704.