We wonder if designing-in these kinds of health feature could not be a concept that is included in every campus building to be designed in the future? You can purchase this book for $35 or download a PDF for free, both here.

To combat obesity and related illnesses, New York City rolled out a first-of-its-kind guide this year to help designers create buildings and public spaces that encourage exercise.

Called “Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design,” the 135-page document details how to get people walking more by encouraging the use of stairs or by adding parks outside buildings. 

Though the guidelines are only advisory, they could still “really help us become healthier, to make sure that are cities are more livable, beautiful and sustainable,” said New York-based architect George Miller, president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

Here's your SCUP Link on How Health Care Plans Fail Students

Bryan A. Liang writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education about the state of student health care and insurance plans, which are under increasing scrutiny. The Chronicle article is behind password protection, but SCUP members can read his related article from the April–June 2010 issue of Planning for Higher Education here.

Here he explains the practices under examination:

The exclusionary practices and poor quality of college health plans are unfortunately common. A 2008 report by the Government Accountability Office noted that approximately 80 percent of students carry public or private insurance, either through a parent's insurance or on their own. Yet according to College Parents of America, an advocacy group, many colleges reject the use of that outside insurance. The GAO report also found that college-based plans, besides their low ceilings on coverage, also have payment caps on common services, like outpatient care, that further reduce coverage, high out-of-pocket costs, and simply offer little for the money compared with health plans available in the community.

Moreover, other sources besides Cuomo have also found that, beyond rejecting standard insurance and offering limited benefit plans, college plans spend little on, but profit much off, students. Investigative reports by BusinessWeek have indicated that the "medical-loss ratio" for such plans—the percentage of premiums spent on services—should be close to 80 percent, using community business practice and state law as benchmarks. Health-reform legislation also uses that benchmark. Yet college plans spend far less—reportedly as low as 10 percent in some cases.

At more higher education institutions: HR leaders are finding creative ways to drive participation to record numbers, then examining their effects on specific areas such as employee attendance and health care claims. Their hope is to identify and expand programs that offer high ROI, eliminate those that don't, and fill in the gaps to help employees reach health goals.