By Gina Peebles, Assistant County Manager/Chief of Staff, Alachua County and Amy Childs, Assistant Risk Manager, Alachua County
As the wise Benjamin Franklin once said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Both public and private sector employers have come to expect annual health care insurance cost increases. Alachua County is no different, but has implemented a variety of programs to lessen the financial burden to our General Fund budget.
Recently, we used our American Relief Plan (ARP) funds to incentivize employees to receive COVID vaccine shots, as hospitalized employees on ventilators are very expensive for a self-insured program. Instead of mandating vaccines, we have implemented a “carrot, rather than a stick” approach, by offering a $500 cash incentive to employees who received at least one shot (of a two-shot series) by September 15. Furthermore, we also offered a $10 per month health insurance premium reduction from October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022 for each family plan member who provided proof of vaccination (not to exceed $50 per month). Our employees overwhelmingly responded in a positive way to the prospect of an extra $1,100 in their pockets for simply rolling up their sleeve and taking a shot!
Employee Health and Wellness Center
Opened in 2015 to provide complete primary care and occupational health to Alachua County employees on the County’s Health Plan. After five years, the claims experience showed a one million dollar per year reduction in claims for Primary Care services versus the period of time before the Health Center. The Health Center provides no cost primary care and generic medications to help control acute and chronic conditions. They also provide wellness and health coaching resources for patients. The long-term goal is to see a reduction in high dollar claims due to poor management of chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
Employee Wellness Incentive Program
In partnership with our insurer we offer employees a premium reduction for successfully completing a points-based Wellness program. If the employee reaches the required point value they receive a $480/year credit back on their health insurance premium. The program is app and website based to make it accessible to employees regardless of location and shift. The program includes a variety of activities including a personal health assessment, health education, walking challenges, and behavior modification tools.
Peerfit
County employees have access to a fitness program called Peerfit. We partnered with this vendor to provide employees monthly credits that can be used at participating gyms and fitness studios throughout the area and state. Employees can use the credits to purchase a single fitness class or redeem for a membership at participating locations. Fitness studios range from yoga, to CrossFit to Barre. We invest approximately $120,000 per year (and growing) for the 2,100 participating employees. The cost/benefit analysis is indirect as fitness is calculated over a lifetime.
Nicotine Replacement Program
The Wellness program offers employees access to tobacco cessation classes and Nicotine Replacement products to assist with quitting tobacco products. The program is offered to employees and their dependents. We invest $3,000 annually with an average of 25 participants. Our six-month success rate is 25% (the national average is 9%) with a lifetime savings of $9,000 per year in cost avoidance to our health plan and indirect employer costs (such as absenteeism).
These programs and incentives are available to all employees on the county’s health insurance plan including the staff of our five Constitutional Officers (Clerk of Court, Property Appraiser, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, and Tax Collector) who also participate in our health insurance plan. As a gentle reminder, if you have unionized employees, you may need to bargain with them on many (if not all) of these programs.
