Nationwide Better Health unveils enhancements to health promotion platform
Program makes wellness easier for participants and delivers better results for employers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2008
Nationwide Contact:
Terri Erlenbach
614-249-5755
erlenbt@nwbetterhealth.com
Charley Gillespie
614-249-5701
hardgre@nationwide.com
Columbus, Ohio — Nationwide Better Health unveils enhancements to health promotion platform
Program makes wellness easier for participants and delivers better results for employers
Columbus, Ohio — Nationwide Better HealthSM, a leading provider of total population health and productivity management solutions, offers new enhancements to its health promotion platform through the introduction of a new health risk assessment (HRA), innovative stratification process to identify individuals for its lifestyle management offerings and the availability of offerings through a variety of telephonic, mail-based and online tools and resources.
Ninety–nine percent of chief financial officers view rising health care costs as a concern1. As health care costs continue to rise faster than workers’ earnings and inflation2, employers continue to look for ways to partner with their employees to mitigate costs and improve the overall health and well-being of the workplace. Nationwide Better Health has created a best-in-class integrated health promotion platform, giving companies customized services that help keep employees healthy and productive while making necessary life changes.
“Our health promotion program brings wellness to the workplace by providing the education, programs, resources, support and incentives needed to make meaningful preventive lifestyle changes,” said Dr. Neil Gordon, chief medical and science officer for Nationwide Better Health.
A market first – Starting with the identification process, employees take the Nationwide Better Health CheckSM, an online, confidential and proprietary HRA that uses a two-tier stratification process to place employees into the right programs based on their needs. First, the data is stratified into population categories (marketplace standard) and then takes the process one step further by leveraging evidence-based medicine and clinical guidelines to assess the precise severity and nature of any individual risks the person may have.
“This process has enabled us to identify up to 25 percent more individuals who would benefit from our programs than would have been identified with other HRAs,” continued Dr. Gordon. “Thus we’re able to effectively enroll employees in the right programs at the right time.”
The Nationwide Better Health Check is available in multiple languages and allows employers to customize questions specific to their workplace population. Employers receive aggregate, real-time data to review patterns among their total population. Although the results of any HRA remain confidential, employers can leverage aggregate data to implement and integrate programs and services at critical points along the health continuum.
Once an employee completes their Nationwide Better Health Check they receive instant results, which include:
- A profile that calculates “heart age” and wellness score
- Immediate recommendations on which lifestyle health management options are best for them
- A personalized dashboard to access their information and on-line programs
- Year-by-year comparison to track progress and signal areas for improvement
Dedicated lifestyle health coaches create a customized action plan for every employee, using their Nationwide Better Health Check results as the foundation for intervention. Unlike most health promotion programs in the marketplace, Nationwide Better Health views each employee holistically, taking all of the member’s risks, personal barriers and health goals into account.
The bond created between employee and health coach sets a foundation of trust and support, allowing participants to be more receptive to make the behavioral changes that result in more productive, healthy employees. Based on employees’ needs, programs can focus on weight management, nutrition, stress management, tobacco cessation and physical activity using a variety of telephonic, mail-based and online tools and resources.
“Our health coaches are able to coordinate with other specialists on our team, based on employees’ needs, to deliver them a fully-coordinated health and wellness plan,” said Dr. Gordon. “Our expertise in providing employees with integrated disease, maternity, medical and disability management enables them to achieve their goals and maintain successful lifestyle changes.”
Nationwide Better Health’s health promotion program has delivered impressive results for its participants. Numerous studies published in leading medical journals have documented the program’s many benefits. Key outcomes include:
- Smoking cessation programs have enabled one-third of participants to quit smoking
- Overweight employees have achieved significant weight losses, in excess of 100 pounds in some instances, and helped reduce their risk of heart disease through Nationwide Better Health’s weight management programs
-
Sixty-seven percent of participants were able to lower their blood
pressure without medication after three months of enrolling in a
lifestyle health coaching program
Participants’ likelihood of heart attack in the next 10 years has decreased by 22 percent or more - Employee satisfaction with Nationwide Better Health lifestyle health coaching is consistently greater than 95 percent
In addition to its robust health promotion program, Nationwide Better Health offers more than 20 different disease management programs that address specific chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, along with maternity, medical, absence and disability management. These programs can easily be integrated with the company’s health promotion initiatives to deliver better results to improve the health of employees and the bottom line for employers.
About Nationwide Better Health
Nationwide Better HealthSM, a subsidiary of
Nationwide®, is a leading provider of health and productivity
management solutions, aimed at improving the health and productivity of
America’s workforce. Nationwide Better Health is the first company to
truly integrate the best collection of health and productivity services
available today, including health and wellness, and disease, disability,
absence, medical and maternity management. The company’s offerings work
together and independently to address both sides of the cost equation:
increased efficiency of health and productivity programs and better
employee health and well-being to reduce health care-related costs. For
more information, call 866.404.6924 or visit: www.nwbetterhealth.com.
Nationwide, the Nationwide Framemark and On Your Side are federally registered service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Nationwide Better Health and Nationwide Better Health Check are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
