Public school and state employees who get mammograms, blood-pressure tests or other preventative health screenings by Nov. 1 will get a $75 discount on their monthly insurance premiums next year, a state board decided Thursday.

Bob Alexander, director of the state Department of Finance and Administration's Employee Benefits Division, called the incentive a "first baby step" toward a more extensive wellness program that will be aimed at improving employee health and the finances of the insurance plans.

The plans cover about 47,000 teachers and other school employees, and about 28,000 state employees.

"We really want people to go to the doctor," Alexander said. "We want them to have a doctor, because if they don't go to the doctor, they go to the emergency room."

The State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Board and a legislative task force are studying possible changes to the plans to avoid a 35 percent premium increase for the public school employee plans.

Among the changes recommended by the task force last week were dropping part-time employees from the plan and excluding from coverage employees' spouses who have access to insurance from their own employers.

Alexander said he hopes to have the board set rates for next year by July 1.

The discount will be awarded to employees who have visited their doctors to have some type preventative screening since Jan. 1, 2013, while they were enrolled in one of the state plans.

Those who haven't had such screenings will have until Nov. 1 to get them if they want the discount. Alexander said he will develop rules to ensure that recently hired employees will also qualify for the discount next year even if they haven't had time to get exams.

The health-screenings discount initially won't be available to retirees or employees' spouses or dependents.

Although the plans cover preventative screenings without charge, as required under the 2010 federal health-care overhaul law, only 24 percent of employees had wellness exams last year, Alexander said.

Some employees may have had preventative tests that weren't listed as wellness exams, he added. Those employees will still be given credit for the screenings under the initiative approved by the board Thursday.

Alexander said he didn't know what the initiative will cost. He said he didn't expect it to reduce medical costs next year but does expect savings in future years as the program is refined.

In the future, he said, the initiative will include recommended screenings based on employees' sexes and ages. Employees also will be rewarded for participating in a program to quit smoking or to lose weight, among other types of health-improvement programs.

In the meantime, he said, the initiative will help providers manage the care of employees who have chronic health problems, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

Under the state's "patient-centered medical home" initiative, the plan makes upfront payments to doctors who agree to take steps to coordinate patient care, but "medical homes don't do one bit of good if nobody goes to the doctor," Alexander said.

Arkansas Surgeon General Joe Thompson, a member of the board, said that specifying what tests qualify an employee for the discounted rate would improve the program.

Tests such as mammograms or cholesterol screenings might help prevent future medical costs, but "a physical exam by itself has never been shown to save any money or make anybody healthier," he said.

Peggy Nabors, director of research and legal services for the Arkansas Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, said the initiative "incentivizes people to do what they should be doing to take care of their health."

"It may take a month or two to get into a doctor in some places, but if they know about it early on, it gives them some time," Nabors said.

A Section on 05/23/2014