Today

Q: What is Healthy@Hopkins?
A: Healthy@Hopkins is a program designed to help you manage your personal health. It includes offerings that can help keep you well, ranging from an initial Health Risk Assessment to a variety of care management programs. There is no requirement for you to participate. But if you do, we believe that you can improve your health. If you complete the HRA, you may also benefit financially by receiving an allocation of 100 extra benefit dollars for 2008. Of course, in the long run, we hope you will save even more by reducing the amount you need to spend on medical care.

Q: What is a Health Risk Assessment (HRA)?
A: An HRA is a confidential survey about your current health and lifestyle. If you choose to complete it, you'll answer some questions about your health and lifestyle — for example, how often you eat breakfast and if you have ever smoked. The process will take about 15 minutes or less. Based on your responses to the questions, you'll immediately receive a Personal Wellness Profile. You and your doctor can use the suggestions in the profile to develop strategies for improving your health.

Q: Why is the university asking employees to complete an HRA?
A: The HRA can raise your awareness about the implications of your health and lifestyle choices. By paying attention to your health now and taking action to improve it, there's a good chance that you can avoid some serious health issues later on. The HRA helps employees recognize health risks they are taking and choices they can make to become healthier.

Q: Why does the amount of my "benefit dollars" depend on whether I choose to complete an HRA? Why would you penalize me for not choosing to submit one?
A: It's not a penalty for doing something wrong; it's an extra incentive to do something that will benefit you. Every employee has the opportunity to avail themselves of the extra $100, and we hope each one will do so. We feel very strongly, however, about the importance of preventive health care. So we chose to use 100 of your possible benefit dollar allocation to provide you with an incentive to spend just a few minutes of extra time and complete the HRA.

Q: What do I need to do to qualify for the extra $100 allocation in benefit dollars?
A: All you have to do is think about your lifestyle, answer a few questions about it, and, in return, receive an assessment of your health risks and suggestions for reducing those risks. That's it. Once you get that assessment back, it's your decision whether you want to accept the recommendations and do anything to improve your health. We hope you will.

Q: Why should the university care if I'm healthy?
A: Your health is important to you, obviously. It is also, frankly, important to the university as your employer. If you are healthy, you have the opportunity to live a longer, happier and more satisfying life than you might otherwise. That's good for you. It's also true that healthy employees generate lower health care costs and take fewer sick days. That's good for the university — and, incidentally, also for you. It helps to keep down the cost of health insurance, a cost that is shared between the university and its employees, including you.

Q: Will my responses to the HRA be used to determine my health insurance premiums, to determine the cost of my other employee benefits, or to determine my eligibility for continued employment at Johns Hopkins?
A: No.

Q: Will my boss or other supervisors see my HRA responses?
A: No. Your responses will be kept confidential, just as your health plan claims data is kept confidential. The HRA is administered by two companies, Wellsource and Johns Hopkins Health Care. Neither Wellsource nor Johns Hopkins Health Care (which is half-owned by the university) will share your responses with the university. Neither your supervisors nor anyone directly employed by the university will have any access to those responses. Wellsource and Johns Hopkins Health Care are subject to all legal requirements for protecting the confidentiality of personal health information, including all HIPAA requirements. They will maintain the confidentiality of your data. Your employer will never see your individual data.

Q: What happens to my HRA information once I complete the survey?
A: You will receive a Personal Wellness Profile, an individualized report with suggestions for improving your health. Johns Hopkins Health Care may also use your responses to formulate care management options and to offer those options to participants in the Employer Health Plan, or EHP. Participation in care management programs is completely voluntary. In fact, even if you do fill out the HRA, you have the opportunity at the bottom of that survey to opt out of receiving information about future programs. Your decision to participate or not will not affect the cost of your health insurance or other benefits. The university will not be told whether you have been offered care management options. The university will not be told whether you choose to participate.
   Johns Hopkins Health Care will also combine the responses of everyone who submits an HRA. It will use the aggregated data — with no personally identifiable information — to provide the university with reports about our workforce as a whole. We will use those reports in planning wellness programs and offerings. For instance, if we find that a large number of our employees are smokers, we may choose to offer more voluntary smoking cessation assistance. If we find that a large number of employees want assistance in losing weight, we may look at programs that can help.

Q: How do I complete the HRA?
A: From the benefits enrollment page at www.benefits.jhu.edu click on "Health Risk Assessment" in the "Find it Fast" section. Read and agree to the terms of use, then supply your name, birth date and the last four digits of your Social Security number for authentication purposes and proceed to the questions. It should take you 15 minutes or less.

Q: If I do choose to complete the HRA, when will the extra 100 benefit dollars be credited to me?
A: If you complete the HRA and then go to the annual enrollment system to select your 2008 benefits, you will not at that time see the additional benefit dollars credited against your costs. The extra 100 dollars will be credited in 2008 and reflected in your pay statements.

Q: Do I have to complete the HRA by the Nov. 19 close of enrollment in order to qualify for the extra benefit dollars?
A: No. You may submit an HRA even after benefits enrollment closes. You will still qualify for the extra benefit dollars. We do encourage you to submit an HRA now, while the information in this FAQ is fresh in your mind.

Q: How do I find out more about my health plan's care management programs?
A: If you are a member of EHP, call 410-762-5213. If you are a member of CareFirst, call 1-866-520-6099.

 
[14Nov07]