Personal Health Assessment (PHA)

Fasting (nothing other than water for at least 8 hours) prior to your screening is not required. If you prefer to obtain fasting results, please schedule your appointment at a time that would allow you to fast for at least 8 hours but no longer than 12 hours.

We know it can be challenging to find time to schedule your biometric screening.  Our team can set up a clinic in your department, office, or building (dependent on local health guidelines).

Request a clinic

The employee wellness program is a trusted resource to conveniently get your biometric numbers — at no cost to you— to help you achieve your optimum level of health. If you prefer, you can also use numbers obtained from your doctor in the current calendar year by asking them to fill out the provider lab form.

The form includes all the values you will need in order to complete your PHA. Please note that lab values received from a doctor’s appointment may be subject to co-pays or other associated fees, and must be from the current calendar year.

The medical components of the Well-U program (including the Personal Health Assessment, which consists of the online health survey 1, the online health survey 2, and a biometric screening; lifestyle management program; condition management coaching; and Behavioral Health Partners) are a grouping of voluntary wellness programs available to all employees enrolled in the University of Rochester’s Health Care Plan.

Other components of Well-U, such as UR Medicine EAP and Wellness Programs, are available to all University employees regardless of Health
Care Plan enrollment.

The Well-U program also offers financial rewards for employees, spouses, and domestic partners enrolled in a University Health Care Plan who participate in voluntary health management programs, as described below.

The Well-U program is administered in compliance with federal laws—including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), among others—which permit employers to sponsor wellness programs that seek to improve employee health or prevent disease. This notice is intended to comply with requirements of those laws and to explain your legal rights and how your health information will be
protected.

Program Components and Financial Rewards

The Well-U Personal Health Assessment (PHA) program includes the online health survey 1, the online health survey 2, and a biometric screening program. The PHA’s online health survey 1 asks a series of questions about your household and demographic information, health-related activities and behaviors, personal satisfaction and stress, physical activity levels, nutritional habits, sleep habits, and health goals. The PHA’s online health survey 2 includes a series of questions about whether you have or had certain medical conditions including, but not limited to cancer, asthma, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, coronary artery disease, depression and anxiety, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome/inflammatory bowel disease, low back pain, menopause, osteoarthritis, stroke, and weight loss. The PHA program also offers on-site biometric screenings, which will include your height, weight, body mass index (BMI), abdominal girth, heart rate, and blood pressure as well as cholesterol and glucose levels (which requires a finger prick to obtain a small sample of blood).

The information from your online health survey 2 and the results from your biometric screening will be used to provide you with information to help you understand your current health and potential risks and may also be used to offer you services through other components of the Well-U program, such as lifestyle management, condition management coaching, or Behavioral Health Partners. You are also encouraged to share your results or concerns with your own doctor. The results of your biometric screenings will be entered into your electronic health record, where they can be accessed by your personal physician for treatment purposes (if your physician participates in the University’s network).

Enrolled employees, spouses, and domestic partners who complete the completely voluntary online health survey 1 will receive a taxable cash incentive of $150. Participants are not required to complete the online health survey 2 or participate in the biometric screenings.

No financial incentive will be paid for completing the online health survey 2 or participating in the biometric screening. Enrolled children are not eligible to participate in the PHA’s online health survey 1 or the online health survey 2 nor the biometric screening, nor are they eligible for the cash incentive.

Additional cash incentives of up to $300 may be available for enrolled employees, spouses, and domestic partners who participate in certain health management activities. Employees, spouses, and domestic partners may each earn $150 for completion of a lifestyle management program and an additional $150 for completion of a condition management coaching program.

Lifestyle management program options include individual programs for cholesterol management, nutrition, physical activity, or tobacco cessation and group programs for weight loss, stress reduction, mindfulness-based stress reduction, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles.

The condition management coaching program helps employees manage certain chronic health conditions including, but not limited to asthma, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, coronary artery disease, depression coaching and self-management, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome/inflammatory bowel disease, low back pain, menopause, osteoarthritis, stroke, and weight loss.

There are no direct cash incentives for seeing a Behavioral Health Partners (BHP) provider (for treatment of stress, anxiety, depression, or ADHD), but employee cost sharing is generally waived for BHP providers as part of the health plan design (except that employees enrolled in the HSA-Eligible Plan must first satisfy the plan deductible).

If you are unable to participate in any of the activities required to earn an incentive, you may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation or an alternative standard. You may request a reasonable accommodation or an alternative standard by contacting the University Office of Total Rewards at (585) 275-2084. Recommendations of your personal physician will also be accommodated.

Protections from Disclosure of Medical Information

The information you share in the Well-U program is kept confidential and is protected by several laws, including HIPAA and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the University’s internal policies. Although the Well-U program and the University may use aggregate information it collects to design a program based on identified health risks in the workplace, the Well-U program will never disclose any of your personal information either publicly or to the parts of the University considered to be your employer (except as necessary to respond to a request from you for a reasonable accommodation needed to participate in the wellness program or as expressly permitted by law). Medical information that personally identifies you that is provided in connection with the Well-U program will not be provided to your supervisors or managers and may never be used to make decisions regarding your employment.

The information you share in the Well-U program will be used only to promote your health and may be forwarded to your personal physician or to other University health plans for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations. Specifically, the University of Rochester Health Care Plan (including the lifestyle management program, the condition management coaching program, Behavioral Health Partners, and Accountable Health Partners) and UR Medicine EAP are part of an Organized Health Care Arrangement, which means that protected health information can be shared among those plan components for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations without the need for your consent or authorization to use or disclose your health information to carry out these functions.

Only University employees and vendors responsible for administering or providing treatment services under the Health Care Plan and UR Medicine EAP, such as employees who work in the Office of Total Rewards, the School of Nursing, Center for Community Health and Prevention, Behavioral Health Partners, or Accountable Health Partners, have access to the Well-U program protected health information. This includes individuals with medical training such as physicians, internists, lipidologists, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, registered dietitians, exercise specialists/physiologists, tobacco cessation counselors, and certified wellness coaches.

All medical information obtained through the Well-U program will be maintained separate from your personnel records. Information that is stored electronically will be secured when at rest and encrypted when in transit, and no information you provide as part of the Well-U program will be used in making any employment decision. All individuals handling protected health information are trained in HIPAA privacy and security rules and subject to disciplinary action (up to and including termination of employment) if they inappropriately use or disclose your protected health information. Appropriate precautions will be taken to avoid any data breach, and in the event a data breach occurs involving information you provide in connection with the wellness program, we will notify you within the timeframes required by law and our HIPAA policies. Your health information will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or otherwise disclosed except to the extent permitted by law to carry out specific activities related to the Well-U program and your medical treatment, and you will not be asked or required to waive the confidentiality of your health information as a condition of participating in the wellness program or receiving an incentive. Anyone who receives your information for purposes of providing you services as part of the Well-U program will abide by the same confidentiality requirements.

You may not be discriminated against in employment because of the medical information you provide as part of participating in the wellness program, nor may you be subjected to retaliation if you choose not to participate. If you have questions or concerns regarding this notice or about protections against discrimination and retaliation, please contact the University Office of Total Rewards at (585) 275-2084.

The University reserves the right to amend or terminate Well-U programs at any time. Additional information on the programs may be found at rochester.edu/well-u and the Summary Plan Description for the University of Rochester Welfare Benefits. Notice of Nondiscrimination and Availability of Language Assistance Services Discrimination is Against the Law The University of Rochester Health Plans comply with applicable Federal civil rights laws and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), age, disability, or sex (consistent with the scope of sex discrimination described at 45 CFR § 92.101(a)(2)). The University of Rochester Health Plans do not exclude people or treat them less favorably because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. The University of Rochester Health Plans:

• Provide people with disabilities reasonable modifications and free appropriate auxiliary aids and services to communicate effectively with us, such as:
  • Qualified sign language interpreters
  • Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats).
• Provide free language assistance services to people whose primary language is not English, which may include:
  • Qualified interpreters
  • Information written in other languages.

If you need reasonable modifications, appropriate auxiliary aids and services, or language

assistance services, contact Interpreter Services at (585) 275-4778.

If you believe that the University of Rochester Health Plans have failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can obtain a copy of the grievance procedure and/or file a grievance with:

Office of Total Rewards

60 Corporate Woods, Suite 310

PO Box 270453

Rochester, NY 14627

Phone: (585) 275-2084

Fax: (585) 272-0227

Email: totalrewards@rochester.edu.

You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax, or email. If you need help filing a grievance, the Office of Total Rewards is available to help you.

You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available here, or by mail or phone at:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, SW

Room 509F, HHH Building

Washington, D.C. 20201

1-800-368-1019

800-537-7697 (TDD)

Complaint forms are available here.

This notice is available at the University of Rochester Health Plans website.