Bill Text: NJ S67 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires State Health Benefits Commission advertise and annually review NJWELL program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-14 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S67 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S67-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires State Health Benefits Commission advertise and annually review NJWELL program.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the NJWELL program for public employees and supplementing P.L.1961, c.49 (C.52:14-17.25 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Legislature finds and declares that:
The State of New Jersey cares about employee wellness because an employee's health and wellbeing impact morale, safety, productivity, absenteeism, recruitment, and retention, as well as health care costs.
The NJWELL program promotes and provides the skills that people need to have healthy behaviors. The program rewards actively employed members of the State Health Benefits Program and their covered spouses for completing various health assessments and wellness activities.
To encourage the participation, the NJWELL program should be more widely advertised to reach all public employees, and streamlined so that it is more user-friendly. A well-advertised and easy to use website will encourage more public employees to take advantage of the program and to participate on an annual basis.
b. The State Health Benefits Commission shall develop and implement a program for extensive advertising of NJWELL through electronic mail, flyers, health fairs, promotional videos and speakers, and through any means as shall be deemed appropriate and suitable to increase the utilization by members of the State Health Benefits Program.
The State Health Benefits Commission shall conduct an annual review of the NJWELL program and prepare a written report of the review. The report shall include, but need not be limited to, the number of persons utilizing the program, ease of use and access to the website, and ease of reporting completion of the program's required tasks. The report shall be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1).
The State Health Benefits Commission shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this section including, but not limited to, the prescribing of administrative and notification procedures in order to fulfill the requirements of this section.
2. This act shall take
effect 90 days next following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
The State of New Jersey cares about employee wellness because an employee's health and wellbeing impact morale, safety, productivity, absenteeism, recruitment, and retention, as well as health care costs.
Wellness programs use health risk appraisals, biometric screenings, email notifications, text messages, Internet sites, educational lunches, special speakers, and many other forms of communication to create wellness awareness.
The NJWELL wellness program rewards actively employed members of the State Health Benefits Program and their covered spouses for completing an online health assessment, a biometric health screening, and other wellness activities. The program promotes and provides the skills that public employees need to have healthy behaviors.
To encourage the participation, the NJWELL program should be more widely advertised to reach all public employees, and streamlined so that it is more user-friendly. A well-advertised and easy to use website will encourage more people to take advantage of the program, and to participate on an annual basis.
In addition, this bill requires the State Health Benefits Commission to conduct an annual review of the NJWELL program. The report of the annual review, at a minimum, will include the number of persons utilizing the program, ease of use and access to the website, and ease of reporting completion of the program's required tasks. The report will be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature.
