Wellness pays: new state wellness tax credit provides small businesses multiple benefits. Many are unaware of it.(Health & WELLN

Added incentives. Lou Ann Brinkley, team specialist for Health and Wellness at Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne, part of the Lutheran Health Network, sees that more companies are providing incentives to employees who participate in wellness programs. "Many times companies will reduce [participants'] co-pays," she says. "We are working with a company right now which offers a $250 reduction in their health insurance."

Dupont recently invested in an online program that is included in its Corporate Wellness Program, and has applied to be a registered vendor. Wellness experts go onsite to show employees how to use the self-help online computer program, do health screenings and provide education, such as "lunch-and-learns" on specific topics. Brinkley stays in touch with wellness champions in each company on a monthly basis. Six self-help programs (nutrition, exercise, stress management, weight management, smoking cessation and a one-year individualized program) are available. Embedded in the downloadable health risk assessments are individual goal and actions plans.

Dupont's Corporate Wellness online program also provides free access to spouses, significant others and dependants over the age of 18. "That's rare," Brinkley says. "We believe in a whole family opportunity here, because if the family gets well, the employee will get well."

Deaconess Health System in Evansville has been offering corporate wellness programs for nine years. The Deaconess LifeQuest program provides health screenings--typically checking body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar and whether or not employees use tobacco--and then puts programs in place that meet those needs.

"Wellness is the big buzzword now, especially with this new tax credit," says Jill Waiters, wellness manager.

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A fitness retreat

Corporate wellness specialist Lou Ann Binkley at Dupont Hospital, part of Fort Wayne's Lutheran Health Network, conducts a session for employees of the First Bank of Berne.

Keep them smiling

South Bend Memorial's Center for Occupational Health assists are business. A state-certified wellness program could mean a tax credit of up to 50 percent of the cost.

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