Your Plan for Health Rewards Healthy Habits
Acoyia Grove
YPFH Communications
Ohio State employees can now join Your Plan for Health’s 2008 Faculty and Staff Incentive Program to earn points for making healthy choices! The revamped incentive program will offer many of the same health-related activities as before along with a few new ones.
How Does It Work?
All benefit-eligible faculty and staff can earn a maximum of 125 points by engaging in health-related activities. Each activity has been assigned a point value based on its potential impact on overall health and the personal effort required to participate. Accumulated points will be converted into an equivalent dollar value (1 point = $1 dollar) and will be paid directly to you through payroll (less payroll taxes. Refer to the web site for payout amounts). Points will be awarded based on participation, not on outcomes or individual health status.
One important change to the Incentive Program for 2008 is completion of the Personal Health Assessment (PHA) is required for Incentive Program participation, but is no longer a points-eligible activity (faculty and staff now will pay a reduced premium on medical plans for taking the PHA).
Last year’s incentive program helped motivate C. J. Moncrief, Senior R & D Engineering Technician for the Electro Science Laboratory, to live healthier. “A sedentary lifestyle had resulted in my being overweight, out of shape, and experiencing other chronic health condition associated with my age,” Moncrief said. “It was a no-brainer to take advantage of some of the many benefits available through the program to get healthy while enjoying a monetary reward at the same time.” C.J. earned points for completing the PHA, getting a physical, dental, and vision examinations, and exercising daily. He is also currently making arrangements to work with a health coach. “These incentive activities have helped me to feel better,” explains C.J. “I plan to participate in the 2008 Incentive Program to help keep me on track.”
Who’s Eligible?
- All benefits-eligible faculty and staff can participate in the 2008 Incentive Program
- Enrollment in a university medical plan is not required for participation
- Affiliated groups who are enrolled in a university medical plan can join the program
- Participants must be employed at Ohio State at the time of payout to receive incentive
- Dependents are not eligible unless they also work for the university and are benefit-eligible
Joining Is Easy
All benefit-eligible faculty and staff who have completed the PHA can access their points-tracking profile for the incentive program by visiting yourplanforhealth.com. Once on the points tracking site, first-time participants must go to the “First Time Here” box to create a personal profile using their OSU eight-digit employee ID number. Creating a profile is required before any incentive points can be tracked.
Participants who created a points tracking profile for the 2007 Incentive Program can access their existing account by entering their OSU username and password in the “Already Have a Profile?” box. Participants who can’t remember their password can click the “Forgot your password?” link to retrieve it.
Once logged in, click on the “Points Tracking System” link on the left to confidentially track incentive points online through Matria Healthcare, a third-party provider of health and wellness programs who provides administration to enable tracking of points for the Incentive Program.
Want to Know More?
Visit yourplanforhealth.com for further guidelines and a complete list of qualifying wellness activities. For questions or comments e-mail yourplanforhealth@hr.osu.edu or call (614) 292-1050, 1-800-678-6010.
Complete PHA to Receive Medical Plan Premium Reduction for 2008
In 2007, more than 10,900 faculty and staff took the Personal Health Assessment (PHA) to learn about their potential health risks. This year, completing the PHA can help Ohio State employees get a complete picture of their health and reduce medical plan premiums. Faculty and staff who complete the PHA can save $10 monthly or $4.61 biweekly on medical plan premiums for 2008. The PHA must be completed annually to maintain the reduction on future medical plan premiums.
Follow three simple steps to complete your PHA:
Step 1: Set up a PatientLink account at patientlink.osumc.edu. PatientLink is an OSU Medical Center web site that provides access to the PHA.
Step 2: Log on to yourplanforhealth.com and select "Assessing Your Health Risks" to choose a location, date, and time for a free, on-campus health screening to get the data needed for the PHA. (Participants may also use health data obtained from their physician within the last 12 months.)
Step 3: After your health screening, complete your PHA via the PatientLink web site. If you attended a free, on-campus health screening your data should be automatically entered into the questionnaire. Be sure to print PHA results or save them to a secure device so you can refer to this information at a later date.