Many companies have been operating wellness programs under the belief that when a participant’s medical history is used, no incentives/penalties can be tied to the program. Now the feds are saying that’s not the case.
In a recent informal guidance letter, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says employers and other entities covered by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) …
“may use the genetic information voluntarily provided by an individual to guide that individual into an appropriate disease management program.”
As far as incentives go:
“If that program offers financial incentives for participation and/or for achieving certain health outcomes, the program must also be open to employees with current health conditions and/or to individuals whose lifestyle choices put them at increased risk of developing a condition.”
This is good news for employers. It means you can collect genetic info (a.k.a., family medical history) and use it to help employees improve their health.
The catch: It has to be done on a voluntary basis. Employers must first obtain written authorization from a plan participant before requesting the individual’s genetic information.
In addition, while individualized genetic information may be provided to an individual receiving health services — and to his/her service providers — employers can only obtain genetic info in aggregate form (meaning it must be lumped together with other individuals’ info and not reveal the identity of specific participants).
Finally, employers cannot offer any financial inducement (rewards/penalties) for individuals to provide genetic info.
Health-risk assessments
Employers can offer financial inducements for completing health-risk assessments that include questions about genetic info/family medical history. But it must be clear that the inducement will be given whether or not the participant answers those questions.
If participants feel they’ll be penalized in any way if they don’t answer questions related to genetic information, the feds could deem that a violation of GINA and come down hard on you.
Tip: When using a health questionnaire, design a two-part form that separates genetic info-related questions from everything else.
The first section should ask for non-genetic info. Any incentives/rewards should then be tied to the completion of this section only.
The second section can then pose questions about employees’ genetic or family history — again, as long as you state that these are optional.
During your free trial, you can cancel at any time with a single click on your “Account” page. It’s that easy.
