Posts Tagged ‘employer wellness’

When a Wellness Program Is Unwell

November 7, 2017 — Wellness is certainly a noble pursuit. Plenty of companies are genuinely interested in promoting the wellbeing of their workforce. And in the eight billion dollar wellness industry, some of the vendors are quite scrupulous about selling well-designed programs. But not all. Our friend Al Lewis began a series yesterday to remind us how wellness program […]

An Action Gap in the Chronic Disease of Obesity

November 3, 2017 — Four years after the American Medical Association decided to regard obesity as a chronic disease, we have a serious action gap. Research published this week in Obesity and presented at ObesityWeek makes it clear. Three major groups all regard obesity as a disease: people who have it, healthcare providers, and employers. Yet they leave it […]

Making Wellness Programs Genuinely Voluntary

August 27, 2017 — Employers who want to impose wellness on their employees received a setback last week. A federal judge ruled that if employees lose money unless they participate, it’s not voluntary. AARP Victory on Privacy Rights This ruling came in a lawsuit filed by AARP to contest EEOC rules about protecting privacy. By law, employers are not […]

Trouble in the Paradise of Workplace Wellness

March 18, 2017 — Workplace wellness has been creating headlines this week, due to legislation about genetic testing in these programs. In a guest blog today, our friend Al Lewis writes about his concerns with the industry. This week, Fortune published a generally very skeptical review of workplace wellness, highlighting one of the few major companies (Cummins) to be moving […]

Will Corporate Wellness Save Fitbit?

March 15, 2017 — Is it time to feel a bit of pity for Fitbit? For that matter, maybe the corporate wellness industry deserves some sympathy. Both of them have hit some bumps lately and some observers are suggesting they can help each other out. The Motley Fool says corporate wellness programs “could be a game changer” for Fitbit. […]

Penalties for Health and Genetic Privacy at Work

March 12, 2017 — All is not well in certain parts of the wellness industry. Employers are shying away from intrusive and coercive wellness programs that employees resent. So the wellness industry is looking for a bigger stick. They’re quietly pushing a bill that would make it easier to levy big penalties on employees who don’t want their employers […]

The Perception Gap in Obesity Care

January 12, 2017 — When does a benefit not feel like a benefit? In the case of obesity care, that feeling comes with the perception that it’s just out of reach. Even though insurance coverage for obesity care is improving, a significant gap remains. And part of the problem is a perception gap. A new study published in Obesity […]

Top 10 Advances of 2016 in Obesity and Health

December 26, 2016 — If you’re looking for signs of progress in obesity and health, you can find it in 2016. Obesity is a tough nut to crack, so we don’t have breakthroughs and cures to report – yet. What we have is solid advances that will make life and health better for people concerned about obesity. Here’s our […]

AARP Sues to Stop Wellness Penalties

October 26, 2016 — AARP is asking a federal court to strike down rules from the EEOC that smooth the way for wellness penalties. Those penalties can add up to thousands of dollars a year if an employee does not hand over confidential medical information to an employer’s wellness program. The next step in many of these programs is […]

A Simple Code of Conduct for Wellness Programs

August 21, 2016 — We now have enough regulations on the subject of employer wellness programs to make your head spin. EEOC recently released final regs for wellness programs to comply with the ADA, GINA, and ACA. Some in the wellness industry complain that it’s too hard now to penalize people with chronic diseases for failing to make themselves […]