Additional Articles

Step one
The first step to meeting the MyHealth requirement is to read and acknowledge a wellness pledge, a simple affirmation that you wish to take steps to maintain or improve your health. After clicking on this pledge, you can access the MyHealth questionnaire, which you can complete for the first time or update with current health information. For your convenience, several of the questions will be prepopulated with data from your prior MyHealth questionnaires and personal health record.

Step two
Once you have completed the questionnaire, you will access a screen showing the “healthy steps” available to you. Completing just one of these steps — in addition to the pledge and questionnaire — results in satisfying the 2009 MyHealth deductible credit requirement.

If you have never had a biometric screening, which is a baseline requirement for MyHealth, you will have the option to participate in one of many free screenings to be held in locations convenient to all UPMC business units this May, June, and July — or to visit your doctor for a screening that includes height, weight, a lipid panel (cholesterol and triglyceride measurements) and a blood glucose test.

If you need to complete your biometric screening, you should have received a letter that includes dates, times, and locations of the UPMC screenings. If you have never had a biometric screening, completing a screening at either a UPMC site or your physician’s office will result in your completion of one of the two steps required for the 2009 MyHealth deductible credit.

If you have already had a biometric screening, you can select your additional healthy step from several activities, including:

• having a screening test for which you’re due, such as a mammogram or colonoscopy
• getting a flu shot in the fall
• participating in a health coaching program on any one of these topics: smoking cessation, weight management, physical activity, nutrition, stress management, lower back strengthening, or diabetes management
• completing an online program on smoking cessation, weight management, physical activity, nutrition, or stress management
• attending a MyHealth worksite program on any of a variety of health topics
• participating in a MyHealth on-site event, such as the MyHealth Weight Race
• taking a fitness class sponsored by the YMCA at UPMC

Certain activities you may have participated in between January 1 and June 1 will count as completed “healthy steps,” and employees who have completed these activities will see that they have received credit for them when they visit the Take a Healthy Step website after June 1. Of course, everyone is invited and encouraged to go “well” beyond the single healthy step needed to fulfill their MyHealth deductible requirement. During the year ahead, the Take a Healthy Step theme will unite many exciting opportunities for UPMC employees to maintain and improve their health. Watch your mail, e-mail, work location, and upcoming issues of Extra! for details.

Healthy Living Rewards
If you have health benefits through UPMC Health Plan, you can take advantage of value-added benefits through the Healthy Living Rewards and Healthy Living Rewards for Kids programs. These initiatives, exclusive to UPMC Health Plan members, help promote health and wellness throughout western Pennsylvania.

To view the more than 500 participating vendors, log in to www.upmchealthplan.com. If you’d like to nominate a vendor, send e-mail with the vendor information to hlrProdDev@upmc.edu or call the Product Development Healthy Living Rewards line at 412-454-8810.