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HealthFitness Adds More Than 25 Clients as Employers Adopt 21st Century Health Benefit Design

Friday, February 1, 2008 General News
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MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 31 HealthFitness(OTC Bulletin Board: HFIT) added more than 25 new clients in 2007, growing itsworkplace population health programs with a vision for a healthier, moreproductive workforce. HealthFitness is a leading provider of employee healthmanagement programs. Managing more than 400 fitness centers globally, thecompany also offers a suite of health management services on-site, Web-basedand telephonically.
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(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070830/HFLOGO )

The lion's share of new contracts in 2007 was in the company's healthmanagement division. HealthFitness championed a new emphasis on 21st centuryhealth benefit design that takes a holistic approach to designing benefits forthe entire employee population -- from fitness programs for those who arewell, to health management programs for those who are at low to high risk forchronic disease. New clients included health plans and universities inaddition to employers in the manufacturing, high tech and health providersectors.
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"The vision for 21st century health benefit design provides tools soemployers can support a workplace culture of health," said Gregg O. Lehman,Ph.D., president and CEO of HealthFitness. "The traditional focus onproviding services only for those who are ill ignores the poor health habitsthat put workers at risk for chronic disease. By providing tools to addresspreventable behaviors such as poor diet, physical inactivity and tobacco useearly, employers can help employees lead healthier, more productive lives."

Employers who embrace Lehman's vision of 21st century benefit design canexpect to see improvements in the bottom line. A study(1) released in late2007 by the National Business Group on Health and Watson Wyatt Worldwidereported that companies with highly effective health and productivity programsare 3.5 times as likely to report lower medical costs; are more likely toreport declines in incidental sick pay, short- and long-term disability costs;and are much more likely to have lower incidences of paid and unpaid leave.

In 2007, more than 150,000 employees nationwide participated in healthrisk assessments (HRAs) administered by HealthFitness and nearly half amillion participants are currently eligible to take a HealthFitness HRA. Some77,000 participated in company health screenings conducted by HealthFitnessacross nearly 1,200 locations. After receiving their confidential HRA resultsfrom HealthFitness, participants are prompted to take part in healthmanagement programs designed to reduce their individual health risks.

"Steady growth in the health management division is a signal thatemployers and health plans recognize the benefits of addressing health needsbefore they become acute," Lehman said. "HealthFitness is responsive to theneeds of this market for health risk prevention programs as more studiesunderscore the connection between chronic illness and productivity."

For further reading see issue briefs, "Applying 21st Century BenefitDesign: A Culture of Health in Action,"http://www.hfit.com/briefs/HFIssueBrief1.08.pdf

And

"Out with the Old, In with the New: A Vision for 21st Century HealthBenefit Design," http://www.hfit.com/briefs/HFIssueBrief5.07.pdf

About HealthFitness

HealthFitness is a leading provider of employee health improvementservices to Fortune 500 companies, the health care industry and individualconsumers. Serving clients for more than 30 years, HealthFitness partners withemployers to effectively manage their health care and productivity costs byimproving individual health and well-being. HealthFitness serves more than 300clients globally via on-site management and remotely via Web and telephonicservices. HealthFitness provides a complete portfolio of health and fitnessmanagement solutions including a proprietary health risk assessment platform,scree
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