Nationwide Better Health Adds New Customers, Expands Services and Announces Key Hires

Business Editors

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 13, 2008--Nationwide Better HealthSM, a leading provider of health and productivity management solutions, announces multiple new business wins, new health management and productivity services and product line enhancements and several notable new additions to its team.

“This has been a year of investing in our infrastructure and strengthening our capabilities to deliver a comprehensive suite of integrated health and productivity solutions that yield better results for our clients,” said Holly Snyder, president of Nationwide Better Health. “Our footprint has grown by securing partnerships with more than 20 new customers, covering more than 400,000 new lives at the close of third quarter, expanding our product set and securing new talent to position us for continued growth.”

New Customers

Nationwide Better Health recently added industry leaders such as Compass Group, E. W. Scripps Company and Scripps Networks Interactive and Halliburton to its robust customer roster, along with expanding services to existing customers, such as Chevron. Many new clients are taking advantage of Nationwide Better Health’s integrated health management platform, consisting of the Nationwide Better Health CheckSM health risk assessment (HRA) and lifestyle coaching programs, launched to the marketplace earlier this year and developed to help clients better manage health and wellness within their work-site population.

New Health Management Service Offerings

Nationwide Better Health recently launched a new benefits coaching program to help individuals understand how to optimize the benefits offered by their employer resulting in a much higher satisfaction with the benefits available. Additionally, the program educates employees regarding how their health status affects their benefit choices. In a recent study conducted by the National Business Group on Health, nearly three-fourths of employees are trying to adopt healthier lifestyles today with the hope their health care costs will be more manageable in the future.

The first-of-its-kind program helps employees maximize their employer-sponsored benefits, including education on consumer-driven health care solutions, life, disability and supplemental insurance, along with information on available health and wellness resources to secure a healthy future both physically and fiscally. Follow-up studies conducted with benefits coaching participants show that 42 percent indicated they intended to switch to a consumer-driven health plan offered by their employer, if not already enrolled.

Nationwide Better Health also recently introduced a new 10,000 steps walking program, called 10K-A-Day™, consisting of an interactive, online challenge that motivates employees to increase their daily steps from an average of 4,000 to 10,000 or more. Employees are able to record and track their progress each day by using the user-friendly program that incorporates fun with fitness to impact the corporate bottom line.

Additionally, Nationwide Better Health launched a new web health portal designed to simplify distribution of health and wellness-related information for its customers. The new health portal provides a single point of access to health and productivity products and services made available to customers’ employees, including Nationwide Better Health offerings.

Additional Productivity Service Enhancements

Nationwide Better Health released an enhanced version of TOPS, its time off planning service, to help companies better manage attendance policies in their workplace and identify employees in need of health management services. The company has installed new capabilities within TOPS that allow companies to:

Mark absences as unexcused
Establish probationary periods
Generate disciplinary letters
Keep an accurate record of unexcused absences
Show policy violation trends over time or across organizational units

TOPS is an innovative population absence tool that allows employers to identify absence patterns in the workplace. While aggregate population data is reported back to the employer, triggers are programmed within the software to help chronically absent employees self-enroll into the appropriate health management programs at the workplace. Earlier identification through TOPS gives employees an instant opportunity to help manage their condition and ensure a quicker return to work.

Recent Additions to the Nationwide Better Health Team

Nationwide Better Health also added three key roles within its organization over the last year:

Eric Motter, M.B.A., as chief marketing and strategy officer, oversees the marketing and strategy functions, including strategic planning, innovation, market research and communications. Eric came to Nationwide Better Health from CIGNA HealthCare, where he held the position of vice president, marketing and product development for CIGNA Voluntary
Jeff Harner, as associate vice president of performance and outcomes, oversees the development of reporting and analytic services. Jeff has more than 25 years of experience in the health care management industry with a concentration in informatics and data analytics
Robert Kolock, M.D., as chief medical director, provides clinical oversight and consultation for the company's health management product line, including the research and development for future products and services

Innovation to Help Employers Maximize Engagement in 2009

Nationwide Better Health is anticipating the launch of several new product offerings ready-for-market in 2009, all focusing on innovative ways to help maximize employee engagement and increase accountability for making healthy choices. These offerings include: piloting a new executive health coaching program developed to help C-suite executives find unique ways to incorporate health management into their busy lifestyles, introducing new work-site voluntary products to help ease the transition for individuals moving to consumer-driven health care plans and adding additional features to its health portal, such as personal health records, online program enrollment and up-to-date health news.

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.