Get started on your individual action plan, if you haven’t already

If you’ve completed your wellness assessment or if you complete it by Feb. 12, you are eligible to complete an individual action plan by June 29, 2012, to earn gold for your 2013 out-of-pocket medical expenses. If you’ve already begun your individual action plan, congratulations on getting started early on the road to gold while also working to improve your health. If you don’t complete your wellness assessment by Feb. 12, you can still complete it by June 29 to earn silver.

To begin your individual action plan or complete the wellness assessment, go to www.kchealthyincentives.com , log in and take “Your Next Step.” If you need help, please refer to the contact information on the Healthy Incentives^SM contact information page.

To earn gold for next year, select from last year’s five individual action plan options or from two new ones—King County Parks Big Backyard Fitness Challenge or Group Health’s Living Well with Chronic Conditions which offer you even more choices for improving and managing your health. Learn more about your individual action plan options at the County’s Healthy Incentives website. If you’d prefer a paper version of the WebMD online individual action plan, contact WebMD before April 20, 2012, at 1-866-584-6813 (include the "1" when calling this number).

As a reminder, journaling and coaching are not individual action plans, but coaching can be used by anyone who would like free, personal health coaching or feels the need for extra support in completing an individual action plan. If you would like to discuss your personal wellness assessment report with a health coach or get assistance in completing an individual action plan, call 1-866-584-6813 (include the "1" when calling this number).

Improvements to WebMD online individual action plan

If you choose the online WebMD individual action plan after completing the wellness assessment by Feb. 12, you will no longer have to wait for confirmation that you have met your weekly goal and earned gold—you will receive immediate notification on your Healthy Incentives Road to Gold Rewards Page.

If you choose one of the non-WebMD individual action plans, you will see a delay in confirmation that you have received gold. Because the other individual action plans are not part of the WebMD program, it takes longer to process your completion and report it on the Healthy Incentives Road to Gold Rewards Page.

You earn gold by completing 10 weekly goals using any combination of the following options. You must begin your first week of activity no later than April 21 and complete your 10th week no later than June 29, 2012. To meet a weekly goal, you must complete and record a minimum of three activities during the week—each week runs from Saturday through Friday.

• Make an entry in a planner. You may use one planner or any combination of planners to make three entries to meet your weekly goal of three activities. Planners include stress management, walking, exercise and meal planners.
• Complete a phase of readings in one of the Lifestyle Improvement Programs—weight management, nutrition, exercise, and stress management. Complete all seven steps and the quiz in one phase of readings to receive credit for one of the three activities you need to reach your weekly goal.
• Make an entry in a tracker. Health trackers help you track specific personal health measures and activities such as blood pressure, cholesterol and resting heart rate. Each entry counts as one of the three activities you need to reach your weekly goal.
• Read a King County Health Matters newsletter article. Each month, you can read one article from the Health Matters newsletter as credit for one of the three activities you need to meet your weekly goal. After you have read an article, you cannot earn additional points for reading the same article.
• Create a personal health record. Create a personal health record so all of the information you need to manage your health is in one place. Each entry you make counts as one of the three activities you need to reach your weekly goal. When you create your personal health record, you will find that it conveniently contains information you already entered in your wellness assessment. 

Changing your individual action plan

Anytime you want to change your individual action plan, click on the “Rewards (check status)” link at the top of any page to return to your Healthy Incentives Road to Gold Rewards Page. On that page, click on the “Change my Individual Action Plan” link located just above “Actions Available.”

If you do change to another individual action plan, be sure you have enough time to complete it before June 29, 2012. When you switch to another individual action plan, you are starting all over and will not receive credit for activities you’ve completed for your previous individual action plan.

Earning your family color

If you and your spouse or domestic partner are both covered under a King County medical plan, you each need to complete the wellness assessment by Feb. 12, 2012, and you each need to complete an individual action plan by June 29, 2012, to earn gold for your family. If one of you only completes the wellness assessment, your family color will be silver. If one of you does not complete the wellness assessment, your family color will be bronze.