No, I’m not referring to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” …
From the cached pages of the Federal Register /Vol. 74, No. 189/Thursday, October 1, 2009/Notices:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: Office of the Secretary Military Health Risk Management Demonstration Project
AGENCY : Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs/ TRICARE Management Activity, Department of Defense.
ACTION : Notice of a Military Health Risk Management demonstration project.
SUMMARY : This notice is to advise interested parties of a Military Health System (MHS) demonstration project entitled ''Military Health Risk Management Demonstration Project''. This demonstration project, which will be available for participation by select non-Medicare eligible, retired TRICARE- eligible beneficiaries, and their family members, is designed to evaluate the efficacy of providing incentives to encourage healthy behaviors on the part of these MHS beneficiaries.
DATES : Effective Date: This demonstration will be effective from October 1, 2009, until February 28, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT : Dr. Barry Cohen, Director of Healthcare Operations—TRICARE Management Activity, 5111 Leesburg Pike, Suite 810, Falls Church, VA 22041-3206; telephone (703) 681-7515
Background
Health Risk Management involves utilizing a self-reported health risk assessment to identify areas where TRICARE beneficiaries may be at risk to develop certain chronic illnesses. The questionnaire covers a wide range of lifestyle behaviors and health issues. In addition, physiological and biometric measures such as blood pressure, glucose level, lipids, nicotine use, and weight are also considered to aid in determining the overall level of risk for chronic disease. This demonstration project will assess the effects of providing incentives along with wellness programs and healthy behaviors and lifestyle practices among non-Medicare-eligible retired beneficiaries and their family members who are enrolled in TRICARE Prime.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2009 (Congress I might add) required the Department of Defense to “develop a wellness assessment to be offered to beneficiaries enrolled in the demonstration project” and allowed for the demonstration project to “evaluate whether monetary incentives in conjunction with wellness programs will encourage healthy behaviors among non-Medicare-eligible retired beneficiaries and their family members who are enrolled in TRICARE Prime and reside in the demonstration project service areas.
The monetary incentive described is a $230 family/ $115 individual payment (50% of the TRICARE annual fee.
And what do the retired Military members and/or the families need to do in order to receive this “payment”?
Turn over their health data records.
The experiment is underway ….
Does anyone really believe our military member’s information will be kept private?
Flashback:
May 2006: VA Data Breach Stirs Washington
May 20, 2010: 3,800 vets affected by latest VA data breaches
While United States Senator John Cornyn – Texas is investigating the right of the military to vote, I might suggest he pay attention to their right to privacy…