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November 7, 2007

Outcomes: Corey Dillon shouldn't wait by the phone; Company reverses plan to dock workers for bad medical tests

Catching up on a couple of stories that changed:

Last week I noted (Corey Dillon hopes for a callback from the Patriots) reports that Corey Dillon was getting in shape in case the Patriots called him back to replace Sammy Morris, the running back who's out for the season with a chest injury.

The Boston Herald reports (Belichick: Dillon is not in plans) that Belichick was gracious in his rejection:

“I don’t think that’s really in the plans right now,” he said. “We’re going with the four backs we have.”

Belichick said the decision boiled down to special teams, particularly the contributions of reserve running backs Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel.

“It would be hard to lose their special teams play,” he said. “Laurence has given us some good play at the running back position and Kevin (Faulk) has given us some runs on some third down and he’s also returning for us. It’s hard to fit in another back there that wouldn’t be a special teams player.”

Clarian won't dock workers who fail to meet health marks. Indy Star.

Clarian Health apparently has decided the punitive approach may not be the best way to motivate employees to shape up.

The Indianapolis hospital system has abruptly ended a plan — which Clarian had touted on national TV just months before — to dock workers up to $30 out of their paychecks every two weeks if they did not control certain risk factors such as body-mass index, high cholesterol and high blood sugar.

The plan, set to take effect in 2009, featured mandatory health-risk assessments for all employees enrolling for health insurance.

Now the program, which still starts in 2009, is purely voluntary. And workers who do participate in the “wellness tract” will be paid bonuses of up to $30 per pay period if they don’t use tobacco and meet certain measurements for body-mass index, LDL “bad” cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure....

The money quote:

Sheriee Ladd, Clarian’s vice president of human resources, said focus groups and staff meetings revealed that many workers were so focused on the potential increases to their insurance premiums that they could not focus on the wellness initiatives and behavior changes that Clarian was trying to encourage.

Well, yeah... carrots, sticks, etc.

Also dubious: You could be perfectly healthy, not cost them anything besides a yearly checkup, get a clean bill of health but have high numbers: Pay up.

Is a new industry in the wings that would help employees fake cholesterol test results?

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 4:25 AM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: joyce on November 7, 2007 6:33 AM