Comprehensive Wellness Accreditation Standards Summary

Accreditation Overview

The growing popularity of Wellness programs comes as more and more employers continue looking at innovative ways to control escalating health care costs for their employees. Employers know that improving healthy behavior early before conditions reach chronic stages will ultimately save costs, versus trying to manage these conditions in an acute stage. The difficulty, however, facing the employer has been in choosing a wellness solution and feeling confident that the tools and methodologies used are sound and follow best practices for this growing industry.

With URAC’s introduction of its new wellness accreditation standards and measures, organizations now have a tool to evaluate sound business and evidence-based practices.

Program Scope and Objectives

The standards require a comprehensive wellness organization to develop documents that address the risk types and interventions associated with the wellness program, and define the expected outcomes. The wellness organization provides communication materials about the wellness program to potential program participants

Assessment

Includes risk identification and risk awareness program components, such as the use of Health Risk Assessments.

Intervention

Addresses overall program design, health coaching, and use of consumer participation incentives, education and communications aspects of wellness programs.

Integration

Focuses on an organization’s ability and willingness to coordinate with other organizations, operations, and programs already in place.

Evaluation

Focuses on how the wellness organization calculates, measures, and reports participant progress and overall clinical and financial program success to the client.

Measurement

Focuses on producing and reporting to purchasers and the public on a specified set of performance measures.

Created by Matrix Group International, Inc