Get started on the 2011 Healthy IncentivesSM program  Improvements mean more time on your health, less time at the computerYou’ve received your blue letter with information on how to go for gold this year. Now you can take advantage of programs that will support your goals for good health. How?
First, begin by completing the wellness assessment by Friday, March 4, 2011. Go to www.kchealthyincentives.com and follow the directions in your blue letter to log in. The first thing you see upon logging in is your home page, which tells you what your current benefit status is (gold, silver or bronze) and what your next step is on the road to gold. As you move from bronze to silver to gold, this page will reflect that progress and will take you directly to what you need to do next. After taking the wellness assessment, you may notice that your score is lower than last year. This won’t affect your gold status, but reflects a new formula that better predicts your future health based on the lifestyle you lead now. When asked why good health is important, most county employees talk about the benefits of future good health, such as being healthy for retirement or having more time with family. This new scoring formula is a more accurate predictor of future health, providing participants with the information they need to take action to have the healthy future they value. Then, complete an individual action plan by Friday, July 1, 2011. This year, there are five individual action plan options to choose from, which you’ll find on the page with your score: - The much improved WebMD online individual action plan with more choices and more flexibility
- Free and Clear Quit for Life® tobacco cessation, which requires five coaching calls
- Weight Watchers at Work®, which requires you to attend 10 sessions at county worksites—this one is for employees only
- Live Well Challenge, the same 10-week program as last year but beginning Jan. 31 this year
- A “No Thanks” option, reminding you that you will remain silver if you don’t complete an individual action plan by July 1, 2011.
If you want to know more about the requirements of any option, click the “Tell me more” link next to the option you’re interested in. Then, make your selection and click on the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. After you make your selection, you will be taken to a page where you can begin your individual action plan. As a reminder, coaching by itself is not an individual action plan, but it 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. WebMD online individual action plan If you select the WebMD online individual action plan, you will be taken to the Healthy Incentives Road to Gold Rewards Page where you will find many more options and much more flexibility in completing your activities to meet the requirements for gold. You will also find all of the instructions for successfully completing an online individual action plan on that page—if you don’t understand the instructions, call Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations at 206-684-1556 or e-mail kc.benefits@kingcounty.gov. In short, you earn gold by recording 3 activities a week—your weekly goal—for 10 weeks using any combination of the following options, beginning your first week of activity no later than April 23 and completing it no later than July 1, 2011: - 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.
Each week, you can choose from any of the activities to meet your weekly goal. For example, one week you can make 2 planner entries and make one tracker entry, and the second week you can make three entries in your personal health record, and so on. After you’ve completed your three entries for the week, click on the “Rewards (check status)” link at the top of the page to return to your updated Healthy Incentives Road to Gold Rewards Page. At your Rewards page, you will be able to see a record of your three entries with the dates on which you recorded them. At noon on Tuesday the following week, you can return to your Rewards page to verify whether you successfully met the weekly goal for that week. After you’ve successfully completed your 10th week of activity, you can return to your home page at noon the following Tuesday to confirm that you’re gold. 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 July 1, 2011. 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 County medical plan, you each need to complete the wellness assessment by Jan. 31, 2011, and you each need to complete an individual action plan by July 1, 2011, 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.
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