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Chalk one up for companies that are making a difference in enforcing Wellness in the Workplace. I wrote about my opinion that wellness should determine health benefits more than a year ago and this week I found out that Clarian is answering this clarion call!

clarian health logo Clarian Health, a large provider of health care services to the residents of Indianapolis, Indiana began 2007 with a new Mission Strategy, “A Call To Change”, urging the residents of the Hoosier State to take charge of bettering their health. In addition, Clarian is boldly going where pretty much no other company has gone before. Putting it’s money where its mouth is, the company is tying employee compensation and benefits with the individual’s health and habits.

Clarian Health is announcing changes to employee medical insurance plans in order to promote healthier lifestyles. Beginning in 2008, all employees wishing to enroll in Clarian-sponsored plans will have to report all potential health risks, including whether they use tobacco. A health risk charge of $5 per paycheck will be assessed to employees who have used tobacco within six months of their health risk assessment completion date. Beginning in 2009, employees will also have to participate in a complete health screening.

-Inside Indiana Business

Now, that’s what I call getting serious about making people value their health insurance (often provided free or at reduced premiums). When the individual employee realizes that there are no rights without corresponding responsibilities, everyone benefits. It goes without saying that a company’s group insurance premiums would reduce considerably if the average health-levels of its members increased and if no member smoked or was overly obese.

Workers who were moderately obese had health-care costs that were 21 percent, or $670 a year, higher than workers with normal weight, according to a recent study by Thomson Health Care. For those with severe obesity, annual health-care costs rose 75 percent, or $2,441 per person.

- IndyStar

From 2009, Clarian will begin to charge employees $30 every two weeks if certain serious issues are not brought under control. Employees will be screened for 5 major health indicators: Body Mass Index, LDL (bad) Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar (Glycemia) and Smoking Status. While the company will provide for free smoking-cessation and wellness programs, employees who still don;t make an effort will see themselves being hit where it hurts the most - their paycheck.

But is it legal? Well, while employees cannot be discriminated against (by being provided less coverage than others), …

employers, who typically pay the bulk of employee health insurance premiums, are allowed by law to use financial incentives in wellness programs to motivate workers to adopt more healthy lifestyles, said Mike MacLean, a partner at Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels.

Kudos to Clarian for leading the way for large companies that are making an exceptional effort to bring America’s workforce onto the fitness bandwagon.

As always, it looks like nothing will make a person sit up and listen like money can!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, exercise, overweight, obesity, Clarian Health, workplace wellness

Fitness Mantra del.icio.us page Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

In the highly-encouraging-news-item-of-the-week category, children playing football soccer rugby chalk down this little gem: doctors could soon write out prescriptions to patients that read like their gym class schedules.

In Rx: Get Active, one of my favorite columnists, Sally Squires of the Washington Post writes that doctors from two large and influential medical groups: The American College of Sports Medicine and The American Medical Association are trying to encourage doctors to literally “prescribe fitness” by encouraging their patients to exercise regularly.

More than half of Americans fail to get the 30 minutes of physical activity recommended daily to provide health benefits, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cars, elevators, remote controls and other modern devices all help to engineer physical activity out of daily life. Extended work days and long commutes add to the problem.

Sedentary Death Syndrome? Well that’s a new term doctors have come up with to describe the life-threatening effect of leading highly inactive lives. Did you also know that by some estimates close to 250000 lives are annually affected by this problem? Or that, on average, a sedentary person spends $1500 more than his active counterpart?

It’s absolutely no wonder, then, that Dr. Robert Sallis, a California physician who recently became president of the American College of Sports Medicine, says:

“Exercise is medicine. We know that it works very well. We just don’t have the proper way to administer it.”

While you get a refill on your prescription to get active today, read some of the week’s top health and fitness stories:

Way to Shrink, Grow Fat Is Found: Scientists reported yesterday that they have uncovered a biological switch by which stress can promote obesity
Exercise Stimulates The Formation Of New Brain Cells: Experiment studies show both exercise and antidepressants increase the formation of new cells in an area of the brain that is important to memory and learning.
Late starters can live longer if they get moving: Even in middle age, adopting a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk for heart disease and premature death within years of changing habits, researchers reported on Thursday.
Pill to make dieters ‘feel full’: Italian scientists have developed a pill that expands in the stomach to make dieters feel full. They liken the effect to eating a bowl of spaghetti and say the pill can stop hunger for a few hours.
Superfood ‘ban’ comes into effect: Products claiming to be superfoods will be banned under new EU rules coming into effect on Sunday - unless the claim can be proved.
Dietary calcium protects bones better: Which source is better: calcium-rich foods or supplements? A preliminary study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine suggests dietary calcium may be better at protecting bone health.
Vitamin C ‘benefits diabetics’: Vitamin C could help reduce some of the complications associated with diabetes, research suggests.
Obesity to fuel Alzheimer’s rise: Rising rates of obesity will lead to dramatic increases in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease, experts have predicted.
The myth of the weekend warrior: The new findings may just be one more sign that we really are a nation of slugs.
No trans fats? No problem for NYC: Across the city, most fast food chains say they’ve already made the switch days before the July 1 deadline, which is Sunday.
Spike in kids’ health issues foretells problems: More time in front of the television and use of other electronic media, decreased physical activity, increased time spent indoors, increased consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and changes in parenting are all likely to blame
U.S. Diabetes Rate Soars: The U.S. diabetes epidemic is picking up speed like a “runaway train,” the CDC says
Sugary Drinks Fattening Up Preschoolers: Canadian researchers found that 2- to 4-year-olds who regularly drank sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks and fruit drinks between meals were more than twice as likely to be overweight at age 4 1/2, compared to kids who didn’t drink these bevera
Americans doing better managing diabetes: Americans appear to be doing a better job of managing diabetes, with more than half of diabetics reaching recommended targets for controlling blood sugar last year
Whole grains may help heart: Eating plenty of whole grains can help keep your arteries healthy, potentially warding off heart disease and stroke, a new study shows.
Soy to boost bone density?: Italian researchers found that a combination of genistein, calcium and vitamin D helped protect postmenopausal women’s bone density better than calcium and vitamin D alone.
FDA urged to review sweetener’s safety: Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame, widely used in soft drinks, might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats.
Rx: Get Active: “We’re trying to get every physician to prescribe exercise at every visit.”
Plate aids diabetes weight loss: Using a simple portion control dinner plate can help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and decrease reliance on medication, research shows.
American Kids Shaping Up With Trainers: With many high school students not getting exercise at school unless they play a sport, more parents are turning to trainers to help their children stay fit
Can Shots Safely ‘Melt Away Fat’?: A growing number of doctors, nurses and even spa personnel are offering the procedure known in medical circles as injection lipolysis — and more colloquially as the “flab jab.”