MILITARY HEALTH RISK MANAGEMENT DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

SEC. 712. MILITARY HEALTH RISK MANAGEMENT DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.(a) Demonstration Project Required.—The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a demonstration project designed to evaluate the efficacy of providing incentives to encourage healthy behaviors on the part of eligible military health system beneficiaries.(b) Elements of Demonstration Project.—(1) Wellness assessment.—The Secretary shall develop a wellness assessment to be offered to beneficiaries enrolled in the demonstration project. The wellness assessment shall incorporate nationally recognized standards for health and healthy behaviors and shall be offered to determine a baseline and at appropriate intervals determined by the Secretary. The wellness assessment shall include the following:(A) A self-reported health risk assessment.(B) Physiological and biometric measures, including at least—(i) blood pressure;(ii) glucose level;(iii) lipids;(iv) nicotine use; and(v) weight.(2) Population enrolled.—Non-medicare eligible retired beneficiaries of the military health system and their dependents who are enrolled in TRICARE Prime and who reside in the demonstration project service area shall be offered the opportunity to enroll in the demonstration project.(3) Geographic coverage of demonstration project.—The demonstration project shall be conducted in at least three geographic areas within the United States where TRICARE 122 STAT. 4502 Prime is offered, as determined by the Secretary. The area covered by the project shall be referred to as the demonstration project service area.(4) Programs.—The Secretary shall develop programs to assist enrollees to improve healthy behaviors, as identified by the wellness assessment.(5) Inclusion of incentives required.—For the purpose of conducting the demonstration project, the Secretary may offer monetary and non-monetary incentives to enrollees to encourage participation in the demonstration project.(c) Evaluation of Demonstration Project.—The Secretary shall annually evaluate the demonstration project for the following:(1) The extent to which the health risk assessment and the physiological and biometric measures of beneficiaries are improved from the baseline (as determined in the wellness assessment).(2) In the case of baseline health risk assessments and physiological and biometric measures that reflect healthy behaviors, the extent to which the measures are maintained.(d) Implementation Plan.—The Secretary of Defense shall submit a plan to implement the health risk management demonstration project required by this section not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.(e) Duration of Project.—The health risk management demonstration project shall be implemented for a period of three years, beginning not later than March 1, 2009, and ending three years after that date.(f) Report.—(1) In general.—The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives an annual report on the effectiveness of the health risk management demonstration project in improving the health risk measures of military health system beneficiaries enrolled in the demonstration project. The first report shall be submitted not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and subsequent reports shall be submitted for each year of the demonstration project with the final report being submitted not later than 90 days after the termination of the demonstration project.(2) Matters covered.—Each report shall address, at a minimum, the following:(A) The number of beneficiaries who were enrolled in the project.(B) The number of enrolled beneficiaries who participate in the project.(C) The incentives to encourage healthy behaviors that were provided to the beneficiaries in each beneficiary category, and the extent to which the incentives encouraged healthy behaviors.(D) An assessment of the effectiveness of the demonstration project.(E) Recommendations for adjustments to the demonstration project.(F) The estimated costs avoided as a result of decreased health risk conditions on the part of each of the beneficiary categories.122 STAT. 4503(G) Recommendations for extending the demonstration project or implementing a permanent wellness assessment program.(H) Identification of legislative authorities required to implement a permanent program.