Federal officials have released final rules that limit how employers can offer workers financial incentives to join wellness programs.
Here are seven things to know about the final rules.
1. The rules were finalized Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
2. Under the rules, employers may set financial rewards — or penalties — of up to 30 percent of the cost for an individual in the company's health insurance plan to get workers to participate in wellness programs and provide medical information, according Kaiser Health News.
3. Since these programs are considered voluntary, the incentives or penalties do not violate federal laws protecting patient confidentiality.
4. The rules aim "to provide consistency with HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act rules on wellness program incentives, while also ensuring that incentives would not be so high as to become coercive and render participation in the program involuntary," the EEOC said.
5. The EEOC said the rules also aim to ensure wellness programs promote good health rather than just being used to collect or sell sensitive medical information about employees and family members or to unallowably shift health insurance costs to them, according to Kaiser Health News.
6. Some groups have expressed concerns about the final rules. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said he would push work with other Republican lawmakers to reverse the rules, according to Reuters. Additionally, some health and workers' rights groups argue that the rules penalize employees who decline to join wellness programs and hand over private medical information, reports Reuters.
7. The rules will go into effect in January.
More articles on workforce and labor management:
Stanford Health Care, Lucile Packard nurses ratify union contract: 4 things to know
Violence reportedly continues at Bergen Regional Medical Center after OSHA sanction
Hospitals will have to publicize workplace injury, illness data: 7 things to know