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By Jason Embry
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Legislator wants to create wellness program for state workers
The perks of working for the state could soon include cholesterol tests, nutrition seminars and even a little yoga.
House Public Health Committee Chairwoman Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, said Wednesday that she wants to create a statewide wellness program for state employees.
Delisi's still working on the details of what the state would offer to employees who choose to participate, but workplace wellness programs often include tests, information classes and fitness activities.
With health insurance premiums expected to increase 7 percent to 10 percent per year in 2008 and 2009, staff members at the Legislative Budget Board said in a recommendation last week that a wellness program could reduce health care costs, absenteeism and disability claims.
Estimates say a plan could save Texas $80 million in the first three to five years.
The budget board also recommended that the state charge employees who bypass the program. The board suggested a charge of up to 1 percent of employees' salaries, capped at $420 per year, to encourage participation.
Groups representing state employees have panned that provision, and Delisi's not crazy about it.
"I'm not interested in this wellness surcharge," she said. "I like a positive incentive."
State employee health insurance costs the state more than $3 billion per year. A law encouraging fitness among state employees has been on the books since 1983, but few agencies consistently offer wellness programs.
The Department of State Health Services has offered its employees several wellness programs in recent years.
Cafeteria foods are marked with green, yellow and red tags to show which are healthy and which are not, and there's an exercise room at the department's offices.
The agency has allowed employees to take a half-day off work to get physicals and rewarded those who did so with eight hours of leave time.
Spokesman Doug McBride said 30 percent of employees participated.
"I probably would have gone anyway, but I have put it off in some years when things got too hot and harried," said Reuben Leslie, a programs specialist at the department and member of the Texas State Employees Union.
Leslie said he'd like to see healthier food choices around the office, and he thinks there should be a reward for participating in a statewide program, instead of a penalty for not participating.
"Being in bad health and out of shape is a bad enough penalty," he said.
Delisi wrote a 2005 law that, on a pilot basis, stationed a nurse practitioner clinic on the North Austin campus of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
A state review said that the clinic made workers more productive because they could get medical care without leaving campus but that it did not draw enough patients to give the state a net savings.
The City of Austin offers free health tests and classes on nutrition and preventative health for employees and encourages employees to participate in fitness activities.
One of the most popular is the city's P.E. Department, in which employees can sign up for 12-week walking or running programs organized by RunTex.
The program has boosted employees' confidence and productivity, City Manager Toby Futrell said.
"You should see our kickoff meetings," she said. "You would think you're at a tent revival."
Futrell said surveys of 300 of the 1,000 city employees who have participated in the program show that they shed 10 pounds on average, took four fewer hours of sick leave over six months and saved $40,000 in health costs.
Futrell said she hasn't considered requiring employees to participate.: "What works right now is the pure encouragement and camaraderie that goes with it."