Joint Health Care Committee
Subcommittee to Identify Wellness Incentive Options
January 23, 2009 Meeting Notes
Face-to-face meeting in Anchorage.
Present
Union: John O. Riley (UNAC), Tim Powers (UAFT)
University: Beth Behner, Mike Humphrey
Staff: Cyndee West, UNAC contract administrator
WIN for Alaska, Summer and Shannon
Absent
Union: J. Sowell (Local 6070)
The group continued its discussion of wellness incentives and other wellness-related
topics with WIN for Alaska.
WIN for Alaska showed the subcommittee how its Get the Point system could track
wellness activities and eligibility for incentives.
After much discussion the committee settled on:
 Working with WIN for Alaska to promote mass biometric screenings with the
hope of getting 50% of UA’s health plan eligible employees screened
 Rewarding employees with a $50 a cash card if they put their biometrics into the
Get the Point system by April 30, 2009. If employees can’t attend a screening put
on by WIN for Alaska they may obtain their screening from a health care provider
using the preventive benefit.
 Employees who enter their biometric information into the Get the Point system
will be eligible for an additional $50 (for a total of $100) if they track their
wellness activities in the Get the Point system for 2 months. Just tracking
wellness activities for 2 months does not qualify an employee for the $50 cash
card. The subcommittee discussed that all tracking of activities related to these
incentive programs must be completed by the end of May.
 Cash cards would be issued to participating employees in June, at the end of the
special wellness incentive programs.
The committee discussed the financial impact of these incentives. Participation in the
special incentive program by 3,000 employees would expend the full $300,000. The
committee also discussed that if more than 3000 employees participated, the program
would exceed the allotted amount of $300,000. The group thought that it would still be
beneficial to have as many people participate as possible, therefore, if costs exceed the
$300,000, it would be appropriate to take them out of next year’s $300,000. In addition,
the committee was informed that there is no provision for carrying over funds if the entire
$300,000 is not spent in FY09.
Beth expressed that the Get the Point incentives should be integrated with the
committee’s decisions on the use of the $300,000 amount. The impact of the new
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Joint Health Care Committee
Subcommittee to Identify Wellness Incentive Options
January 23, 2009 Meeting Notes
programs that the subcommittee is recommending have to be considered in the context of
offerings that WIN for Alaska has planned within the new Get the Point incentive
program, because all of these prizes and incentives are part of our wellness incentive
program. In addition to the subcommittee’s ideas for having incentives for employees
who enter biometrics information and participate in tracking 2 months of wellness
activities online, WIN for Alaska has identified other types of incentives that are at
higher levels than has existed in the past for prizes. The subcommittee looked at the
offerings in the 4 tiers of wellness point achievement, ranging from pedometers at the
low end to iPod Touch or GPS prizes at the top end. WIN informed the committee that
cash cards and other prizes for the first round of the Get the Point program cost in excess
of $21,000. WIN for Alaska also told the committee during this meeting that it had not
billed the university for these costs and planned to absorb the cost of these prizes.
However, going forward, WIN for Alaska stated that the university would need to fund
the cost of the prizes. The University asked WIN for Alaska to provide an estimate of the
costs for the current prizes, so that the JHCC may consider this amount within the
wellness incentive expenditure.
The group then discussed the additional website feature that would be desired to set up
the incentive program for the biometrics and activity tracking. The WIN for Alaska
website will require special programming in order to offer the features we are seeking.
The committee asked WIN for Alaska to identify what the additional programming costs
will be for this new incentive program, because those costs would need to come out of
the $300,000.
The meeting adjourned and no further meetings were set for the subcommittee.
Meeting Adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
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