HIPAA Blog

[ Wednesday, April 02, 2008 ]

 

Wellness Plans: According to this article, they might not be as useful as some people think. Why is this on-topic? Well, one of the potential weak spots for wellness plans (where a company or insurer offers some benefit to employees or beneficiaries who live healthy lifestyles -- since those healthy lifestyles reduce health insurance costs) is the HIPAA non-discriminition rule. A health plan can't discriminate against beneficiaries (or potential beneficiaries) based on the likelihood they'll need care, and if you reward people for healthy behavior, you run the risk of punishing people for bad health conditions. Which would be discrimination. Bottom line, if you're running a wellness plan, make sure you meet the HIPAA nondiscrimination requirements, in addition to the privacy and security requirements.

Jeff [10:19 AM]

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