Welcome to the first edition of the HERO newsletter, HERO ON HEALTH. This quarterly publication is designed to help keep HERO members informed and connected with HERO activities and to provide a vehicle for members and staff to share thoughts, ideas and learning. Each issue will feature an article written by a HERO member on a topic of interest and importance in the world of employee wellness. This first issue features a guest column authored by John Harris, Vice Chair of the HERO Board, and a highly regarded industry expert. We asked John to write a column on the timely and important subject of the use of incentives in a worksite wellness program.
Along with the regular guest column, we will provide an update on HERO research efforts, the latest news related to the HERO Scorecard in collaboration with Mercer, happenings at HERO and a welcome to new members. Periodically, HERO ON HEALTH will spotlight member organizations whose programs successfully utilize employee health management best practices.
Getting back the topic of the use of incentives as a component of a comprehensive wellness program, HERO has been active in engaging a number of our members to serve together on an ad hoc committee, the HERO Incentives Study Committee. This group has been meeting monthly to discuss this subject of incentives with the goal of creating a document that represents HERO’s guidance to employers on the appropriate use of incentives. We are engaged in this work now and have created a document outline to guide our work.
In the midst of this effort, we were contacted by representatives from American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and American Diabetes Association to see if members of these groups could meet with a small group of HERO members that included a cross section of employers, providers and consultants to determine if we can find common ground in our positions on the subject of the appropriate use of financial incentives linked to the employer health plan. The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has also been invited to send representatives to this gathering. I am hopeful that this meeting will provide a forum to unite these groups in their positions and provide thoughtful guidance to the employer community on this important subject. Stay tuned for more reports.
For members who plan to attend the HERO Think Tank Roundtable, February 29 through March 1, in Tampa, Fla., the subject of incentives will be a topic at the meeting.
Thanks to all our members for their great work in providing leadership and support to HERO.
Here’s to a healthy 2012,
Jerry Noyce
President and CEOHERO
il such time that the value to the recipient is internalized (intrinsic value) and thus, sustained. When it comes to health, many employers use incentives in the hopes that their employees will internalize the need to be healthy and achieve lasting behavior change, which ultimately creates a healthier and more productive work force with lower health care costs. 
