It's proven that financial incentives drive wellness program participation. However, the type and cost of incentive programs vary. For example, Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) models of wellness programs commonly utilize the "cash is king" incentive method to get employees to turn in a health survey.

The HRA provides employers with some useful information, but self reported information is incomplete and subjective. For the employer, this produces inaccurate aggregate information and the employee has gained no new health insight. Switching to lab-based wellness screening with an incentive garners measured data for both employer and employee with potential savings. See below for the "better way" of the Budget Neutral Incentive model.