YP4H Incentive Program

During the program year (January 1 through December 31, 2024), you have many opportunities to earn points every day, which can quickly accumulate to help you complete up to four incentive levels each quarter. As you advance through the incentive levels, you earn rewards. You can also earn bonus rewards for participating in some of our featured programs.

Download the 2024 Program Overview

The incentive program available to you depends on your medical benefit enrollment and employment status:

  • If you’re enrolled in an Ohio State medical plan (this includes faculty/staff and spouses), you can earn premium credit and Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) credits.
  • Employees who are eligible for Ohio State benefits but not enrolled in an Ohio State medical plan can earn PulseCash.
Activity Incentive  Amount for Enrolled Faculty/Staff and Spouse Amount for Faculty/Staff Not Enrolled
Complete PHA & Biometric Health Screening Premium Credit Employee: $25/month
Spouse: $15/month
N/A
Level 1 – 2,500 points Quarterly Reward $10 HRA $5 PulseCash
Level 2 – 5,000 points Quarterly Reward $20 HRA $5 PulseCash
Level 3 – 10,000 points Quarterly Reward $30 HRA $5 PulseCash
Level 4 – 25,000 points Quarterly Reward $40 HRA $10 PulseCash
Complete 2 qualifying activities Bonus $100 HRA $20 PulseCash

The quarterly program will reset on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. The rewards you earn are dependent upon your medical plan enrollment status reflected in the YP4H portal at the time you reach each incentive level. A spouse is eligible when their medical enrollment first becomes effective.

Before choosing to participate in the wellness program, please review our notice on voluntary participation, privacy, and security.

A summary of point earning opportunities can be printed here.

To earn premium credit, you must complete a Personal Health and Well-being Assessment (PHA) and a verified Biometric Screening. Enrolled faculty and staff can reduce the cost of medical contributions by $25 per month, or by $40 per month if an enrolled spouse also completes these steps.

  • To receive the full premium credit for 2025, complete the PHA and biometric screening verification by December 31, 2024.
  • While you have until December 31 to complete the PHA in the Virgin Pulse portal, verification of biometric screenings has additional deadline criteria, based upon your method of verification. Please see the timeline information on the biometric screening page.

 

New Hires / Newly Eligible

If you were newly hired, became eligible for benefits in 2024, OR missed the 2023 deadline, you have the opportunity to begin earning premium credit once you complete the PHA and screening.

  • Once you complete both the PHA and a screening in 2024, you will begin to see the premium credit applied to your pay within 30 days.
  • This credit will be applied prospectively until the end of the calendar year AND through the duration of the 2025 calendar year while you’re enrolled in an Ohio State medical plan.

 

Spouses

Spouses have a unique requirement regarding consent. A spouse must complete the consent that is displayed to them when completing the PHA before they start earning rewards. This consent allows permission for secure data to flow from the OSU Health Plan (OSUHP) to Virgin Pulse, to comply with current regulations when offering wellness services and programming to spouses. This means anything that the OSUHP is responsible for administering, including biometric health screening status, biometric health value reporting, participating in health plan programs (e.g. coaching, care coordination, etc.), will not be sent to Virgin Pulse until the PHA and corresponding consent is completed, thus delaying when points appear for spouses.

 

Checking For Completion

When your 2024 PHA and verified biometric screening have been processed, they will be reflected as complete in your Virgin Pulse account on the “Rewards” page (under “Home” tab) with a checkmark.

To confirm you are receiving the premium credit, look at your pay stub in the Before Tax Deductions section. If you are receiving the premium credit you will see “Benefit Credit Advantage” or “Benefit Credit Choice” listed (depending on which medical plan you are enrolled under).

  • The employee premium credit amount is $25/monthly pay or $12.50/biweekly pay and the spouse premium credit amount is $15/monthly pay or $7.50/biweekly pay.
  • If you are receiving the employee and spouse credit, the total you’re receiving will be combined on one line.

screenshot of paycheck showing credit of $12.50 on the Benefit Credit Advantage line

Enrolled participants can earn up to $500 in HRA credits each. If you do not use all of your HRA credits during the year in which you earn them, the funds will roll over to the following year to pay for future health care costs. Learn more about HRA credits.

Non-enrolled participants can earn up to $120 in PulseCash. PulseCash is available for you to purchase health and wellness items in the Virgin Pulse online store, to redeem for gift cards, or to donate to a designated charitable organization. PulseCash is subject to taxation at the time it is earned.

When two of the following activities are completed, those enrolled in a medical plan will receive a $100 HRA credit bonus. Benefits-eligible faculty and staff not enrolled in a medical plan will receive a $20 PulseCash bonus. Click on the ‘Learn more’ links for each program below to review completion requirements.

 

Looking to achieve a healthy weight or reduce your risk of diabetes?

VP Transform is a 12-month, highly personalized, free and confidential program that will help you build healthier habits one small step at a time, with plenty of support along the way. If you qualify for VP Transform, you’ll work with your own personal health coach, have access to a state-of-the-art app, receive a free wireless scale, and you can earn a Fitbit® activity tracker along the way.

Learn more about Transform

 

Want to be more mindful? Improve your focus? Be more resilient?

RethinkCare (formerly Whil) has been one of our most popular programs when it comes to learning about mindfulness and improving stress coping skills. There are nearly 1,500 mini-courses with audio and video sessions, tips, articles, and exercises. You can explore categories like Be Happier, Manage Career Stress, Take One-Minute Breaks, and many, many more.

Learn more about RethinkCare

 

Need help staying on top of your preventive care?

My Care Checklist helps you keep track of your healthcare visits and get friendly reminders so you don’t miss an important checkup. Your checklist will be tailored to your particular health needs and will remind you when you are due for well visits, routine screenings, and vaccinations.

Learn more about My Care Checklist

 

How to track your progress towards the bonus reward

  1. Log in to your Virgin Pulse account
  2. Hover on the “Home” tab, and select the “Rewards” page
  3. Scroll down to the section titled “Additional Ways to Earn: Complete 2 out of 3”
  4. When your bonus reward activity completion has been processed, it will be reflected as complete with a checkmark next to the associated activity