Few people enjoy reading or talking about tax issues, but they do arise in workplace wellness programs, particularly when those programs offer incentives. If your wellness program offers cash or cash equivalent incentives (such as gift cards), premium reimbursements or other incentives, this blog post is for you. Generally speaking, expenses for “medical care” are…

I get this question very often, and the answer is, “it depends.” Specifically, it depends on whether the wellness program is part of an employer’s group health plan, or if it is a stand-alone program offered directly by the employer. Many providers of wellness services contract with group health plans as well as employers directly,…

One of the greatest pieces of advice that my mother has ever given me was that “Life is all about perspective.” My mother has been my biggest role model and although she grew up in the home of an alcoholic, lost her birth mother at the age of 4, and sometimes didn’t have much food…

I wake up every day and am incredibly grateful that my career and the company I work for has one sole purpose – to help improve the lives of all working people. In fact, our vison at WELCOA is to “Be a transformative force that improves the health and well-being of all working people.” To…

Regardless of your politics, you may wonder what happens next for wellness initiatives under new leadership. Professor Tim Jost wrote a very helpful blog post on the possible fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Although no one at this point knows what avenues the new administration might take regarding the ACA, change is almost…

On Saturday November 5th, my friend, colleague and well known health promotion professional, Bill Baun, departed this world. Bill had been thriving for years as he battled cancer, in fact just days before his passing was busy planning his next efforts to help improve the lives of others. Years ago, as a new leader in…

When it comes to health behaviors, the wellness industry is quite familiar with the concept of levels of risk. Some people, despite knowing about the safer health choices, choose riskier health behaviors. They may choose to smoke, eat fatty foods, to not exercise, or to manage stress in self-destructive ways. Those choices are not necessarily…

WELCOA is happy to announce our results from the 2016 national On the Move Challenge. The program was designed to engage employees in physical activity, help better manage their stress levels and promote long-term behavior changes. Eighty-four companies representing almost 80,000 employees participated in this 12-week online challenge spanning from April to June of this year. The challenge…

In our national initiative to provide training to employees on how to physically and mentally thrive, we have been exploring the mind-body connection. How does moving physically help move us in other areas of our lives? As Dr. Daniel Amen told us in a recent WELCOA Expert Interview (publishing later this month), “It is the…

What do health and happiness have in common? If you asked me this question prior to July 5th my answer would have been everything. Today my answer is a bit different. July 5th, 2016 my world changed drastically as my two daughters Elliott and Luca were born at 31 weeks, much sooner than my wife,…