Health Risk Assessment

Q. What is the Health Risk Assessment or HRA?

A. The Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is a confidential, questionnaire designed to assess your health status.You can complete it online. (Please disconnect or send to the regence/group health sites) It takes about 15 minutes to complete. Answers to health and lifestyle questions are analyzed and compiled into a confidential and personalized health profile that calculates healthstyle and health risks and recommends preventative procedures and lifestyle changes to improve your health and reduce your risks.

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Q. I eat healthy, exercise and feel fine. Why do I need to take the HRA?

A. While eating healthy and by exercising regularly can reduce your risk of disease, it cannot guarantee that you don't have any underlying health problems. An HRA helps you identify your current health and future health risks. Many conditions are present with no obvious symptoms. They can be more successfully treated when detected early.

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Q. What do I have to do to complete the Health Risk Assessment online?

A. If you are a Regence BlueShield member, you can complete the HRA by registering at www.myregence.com. After registering, go to My Health and click Health Tools and take the General Health Assessment. If you are a Group Health member, you need to register with My Group Health (www.ghc.org) and request to upgrade your account. You should receive a code by U. S. mail in 2-5 days and will then need to log back in to the site. Enter the code on the home page, and follow the instructions. Once you have done this, you will be able to select "Health Profile" from the left navigation column and complete the Health Profile.

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Q. When do I have to complete the HRA?

A. There is no deadline to complete the HRA. However, the sooner you take it, the sooner you can begin the behavior change process that is essential to health care consumerism and the Sound Living initiative.

Once you complete the HRA, your next opportunity to take the HRA will be one year after your initial session. Taking the HRA again in one year is a good way to measure your progress.

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Q. What questions will I have to answer? How personal is this information?

A. The HRA considers uncontrollable risk factors such as age, gender, and family health history, as well as controllable risk factors such as health and safety habits. A computer-generated analysis of your answers provides you with an immediate confidential report (when you take the HRA online) outlining the things you are doing right, and suggests things you can work on to lower your overall risk factors.

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Q. I just had blood work done— can I use those results when I take the HRA?

A. Yes, you may use results of comparable lab work completed within the past six months of taking the HRA.

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Q. How do I measure my weight properly?

A. When measuring your weight; remove shoes, all objects in your pockets and wear light clothing.

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Q. If I make the life changes as suggested in my personalized health report, is there an additional monetary incentive?

A. There is not a direct additional monetary incentive. However, you may receive important information about your risk factors, which could lead to a healthier lifestyle and lower out-of-pocket costs.

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Q. Are the HRA and Lifestyle Management Programs free?

A. Yes. The Sound Partnership is providing the HRA as a tool to help you begin the behavior change process and raise awareness around your own health status.

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Q. Can dependents participate?

A. Yes.

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