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NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT
Workplace Kiosks Monitor Health, Motivate
According to Jenny Quinn health promotion specialist, Accident Fund discovered incentaHEALTH during the early planning phase and felt it would be a good way to increase participation and expand on the original program offerings. There are 930 employees in multiple operating companies who have access to incentaHEALTH, and over 650 are taking advantage of the program as well as other internal programming options, such as onsite education and group fitness classes, and an employee assistance program (EAP). Employees at the Lansing headquarters have access to a new 4,000 square foot fitness facility. “We had initial success with our internal wellness programs; but, as the company grew quickly it became increasingly challenging for me to have contact with all employees on a daily basis,” Quinn added. “When I reviewed the incentaHEALTH approach to corporate wellness – it fit our philosophy perfectly and it was different from the other corporate programs I had seen.” This month marks the seventh year Accident Fund has offered the incentaHEALTH program to their employees. As a result, the employees at Accident Fund have lost over 8,000 pounds. Quinn has been actively involved in ensuring the incentaHEALTH program addresses the needs of Accident Fund and guided the design of the “Healthy Activity Point Tracker” which electronically supports their incentive program that rewards employees for performing various nutritional and exercise activities. The incentaHEALTH system is easily recognized by the patented HEALTHspot kiosks which are strategically located at Accident Fund offices and provide the following services:
Supporting the kiosks, the program uses a variety of communication tools to reach all employees and motivate them to participate. Quinn says incentaHEALTH’s primary focus is to help change employee behavior and improve quality of life for the employees. “We were specifically attracted to its daily coaching plan using emails, newsletters and text messages that give employees helpful instructions and tips on exactly how to eat and exercise.” According to Todd McGuire, incentaHEALTH’s co-founder and chief technology officer, “extensive research of the employee obesity problem by the wellness industry has found that employees who are inactive, overweight, have high blood pressure and are not eating properly are risking their health, increasing absenteeism, lowering productivity and causing health care costs to soar. Employers are now demanding programs that result in real behavioral changes to tackle these issues.” So far, says McGuire, the incentaHEALTH approach to corporate wellness is catching on. Among some of the other major incentaHEALTH users who are seeing their employees get healthier and health care costs go down are Jackson National Life Insurance Co., Virginia Technical University, Kaiser Permanente, Nelnet, and Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s Hospital. In fact, the program was so successful for Kaiser Permanente Colorado that the health care company recently introduced the first community-wide version of incentaHEALTH for the Denver metropolitan area. Called “Weigh and Win,” all adult residents can participate free of charge and are rewarded for their weight loss with cash, coupons and prizes from local sponsors in the public and private sector. incentaHEALTH hopes the concept will spread across the country to help solve the nation’s 68 percent obesity epidemic. About incentaHEALTH incentaHEALTH is an innovative health care technology company based in Denver, Colo. incentaHEALTH's fully outsourced, employee weight management program is designed to help organizations reduce their health care costs by offering incentives to employees for improving their health. This is achieved by helping employees manage their weight through the use of interactive email coaching, workplace weigh-ins on private kiosks, and cash rewards for maintaining long term health improvements. For more information, visit www.incentahealth.com.
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