Sheriff’s department makes being healthy pay [Star-News, Wilmington, N.C.]

May 19--The challenge: Negotiate the obstacle course before the time runs out and win a prize.

But this is no game show. It is the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office's latest effort to boost employees' health.

Hoping to improve his staff's fitness, Sheriff Ed McMahon awards deputies a $1,000 bonus for completing an obstacle course famous among law enforcement as a punishing test of strength and endurance.

The program, announced in a memo to deputies last month, represents McMahon's take on a growing trend of employers and insurance providers trying to rein in rising medical costs by motivating workers to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Increasingly, that encouragement comes in the form of money, merchandise and even vacations -- rewards doled out for exercising and eating right as public and private employers try to prevent expensive chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

In the process, employees are learning that better lifestyle choices affect their wallets as well as their waistlines.

"The vast majority of employers are really eager to encourage wellness in the workplace and provide employees with the opportunity to be as healthy and productive as possible as well as make their health coverage more affordable," Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, said in a phone interview. "What we're seeing are a lot of innovative and great programs that are really helping people."

The recent federal health care overhaul is expected to further this practice by giving companies greater latitude to incentivize their workforce.

While experts say the jury is still out on whether such programs lead to long-term benefits, the practice of persuading employees with big payouts and lower insurance premiums has already caught on.

Progress Energy offers workers $500 each year they meet certain wellness goals, such as healthy levels of cholesterol and glucose, and $250 if they fail the assessment but are actively trying to improve their standing by engaging in exercise, getting more sleep or making smarter food choices, among other activities.

"We've worked very hard to educate our employees that maintaining a healthy lifestyle and following these steps is just as important as the safety steps we do on the job," said Jeff Brooks, a spokesman for the Raleigh-based company.

Millions of insured workers are taking advantage of these offerings, viewing it as a way to boost their pay and acquire additional time off.

"As companies downsize ... and people work more and more, vacation time has become one of the most coveted kinds of rewards," said Sean Slovenski, vice president of health and productivity solutions for Humana, a national health insurance provider.

For some workers, the growing pool of available options has prompted habit changes.

New Hanover County offers its employees the opportunity to earn lower insurance premiums for undergoing a personal health evaluation and making appropriate follow-up visits with the doctor.

Debbie Nash, the county's benefits manager, said the insurance plan put her in touch with a nutritionist and she began attending 30-minute workout sessions offered in the county administrative building for only $50 per quarter. She changed her eating habits, and in the first three months of this year, she lost 7 pounds.

"We're trying to change behaviors and encourage healthy choices for diet and more physical activity in whatever it is you want to be active in," Nash said.

Insurance companies have joined in, furnishing workers with pedometers and other gadgets to help them get in shape.

Humana gives iPods, movie tickets and hotel rooms in the Bahamas to customers who increase their physical activity, manage stress and attend online educational sessions. About 1.4 million people are enrolled in the rewards program but the company expects that figure to top 2 million by the end of this year, making it one of the largest incentive plans in the country, Slovenski said.

The phenomenon comes as many employers struggle with growing health care costs. In 2011, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance was $15,073 for family coverage, a 9 percent jump over the year before, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study.

But some experts remain dubious, saying the idea has led to discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Critics also say the practice unfairly disadvantages low-income workers who are particularly vulnerable to certain diseases.

"The concern is that these programs could end up being a subterfuge for health status discrimination, which is what the whole health care reform law that passed in 2010 was trying to eliminate," said Corlette, the Georgetown professor.

Laura Linnan, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has studied incentive programs, said a vast majority of employers have failed to incorporate into their plans key elements that influence long-term health and provide a return on their investment.

"There's a lot of employers doing what's called a spray-and-pray approach," she said. "They'll do a few things here and there and say they offer wellness programs for their employees, but they don't measure anything about what's happening with those programs or encourage participation.

"Then they expect to have an outcome on their health care costs, but there's just no way that's going to happen," she added.

While employers across all sectors have attempted similar approaches, experts say preventative action is particularly important in demanding, high-stress jobs like law enforcement, where injury and mortality rates run higher than the average profession.

"I had officers that had to go out on retirement because they were overweight and they might have tripped, stumbled and messed up their knee and couldn't come back to work," said George Erwin Jr., executive director of the N.C. Association of Chiefs of Police and a former sheriff in Henderson County. "If your officers are working out and staying in shape, you start reducing downtime and heart attacks and everything else."

But unlike the private sector, public agencies like the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office are governed by politicians at a time when budget constraints and calls for fiscal conservatism have made selling these initiatives to taxpayers more difficult.

In an interview, McMahon acknowledged that his program comes during a sensitive time, when words like "bonus" have almost become synonymous with wasteful spending. In addition, officers in most jurisdictions have gone years without a pay raise. But he also defended his record as a frugal leader, pointing out that the sheriff's office has trimmed down under his administration and is expected to absorb this new program into its existing budget.

"I'm not asking for any more money, and I don't plan on asking for any more money," he said. "But with the money I have, let me try to make us better."

McMahon is betting that a fitter force makes a safer community.

"They're going to live longer, and they're going to be more productive," McMahon said. "There's just so many benefits."

To get the bonus, deputies must pass the same physical test given to academy recruits. It consists of a series of obstacles designed to test varying degrees of fitness.

For example, deputies must drag a 150-pound dummy several yards, crawl through a tunnel and force their way through a heavy door built to symbolize a barricade. Wearing full garb and bulky equipment, deputies must complete the course in less than 7 seven minutes and 20 seconds. If they pass for three consecutive years, the bonus jumps from $1,000 to $1,500.

On Monday morning, a class of about 18 deputies took turns running the course behind the sheriff's headquarters off Castle Hayne Road. As they finished one after another, some within the time frame and some outside of it, they made a beeline for the air-conditioned trailer parked nearby.

Deputy Christopher Miles, 29, ran the course in 6 minutes, 51 seconds. Even though he jogs regularly and does between 150 and 200 push-ups every other day, the obstacles proved challenging, prompting Miles to rethink his workout plan.

"It was a tad bit harder than when I did it in B.L.E.T.," he said, referring to Basic Law Enforcement Training, which all law enforcement officers must undergo to become certified. "I was in better shape then."

What are his plans for the $1,000 bonus? "Bills."

Brian Freskos: 343-2327

On Twitter: @BrianFreskos

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