Today, Med-Vision issued a press release that provides important news for small businesses. This summer, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will begin reviewing applications for grants to fund employee wellness programs.
As the wellness experts, we at Med-Vision are ready to establish initiatives for small businesses applying for their share of the $200 million in funding.
The grant program is a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a piece of healthcare reform affecting small businesses that didn’t have wellness plans in place prior to the bill’s signing in March and which employ fewer than 100 workers averaging 25+ hours weekly.
The grants are to be awarded to qualified employers producing plans that establish health awareness initiatives, mechanisms to encourage participation, health education programs, and workplace policies for promoting a healthy environment.
It’s Med-Vision’s specialty to interpret employer-specific data and to create wellness strategies that boost financial and productivity results. The goal of our wellness programming is to encourage truly meaningful lifestyle changes that result in stronger workforces.
Med-Vision creates disease management programs and wellness strategies that improve quality of care for employees while lowering healthcare costs. Cost saving strategies could include everything from smoking cessation programs to medication monitoring for employees at risk for chronic illness.
My general recommendations for meeting federal grant criteria:
s Deem the plan a comprehensive business strategy.
s Consult with a wellness expert to perform an analysis and define objectives.
s Create customized programs that will engage employees.
s Install a tracking mechanism for success metrics.
Please contact me for additional information on wellness consulting or speaking to your audience on this subject.