Virgin HealthMiles Unveils Spring '12 Release

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Apr 24, 2012) - Traditional wellness efforts have failed to help organizations improve workforce health. Historically, they've been "one size fits all" -- an approach that's yielded low employee engagement and proven ineffective at driving real, sustainable employee behavior change. And their insufficient data and reporting (if any) have offered few, actionable insights they can use to drive real workforce health improvements that help lower healthcare costs. Virgin HealthMiles, the pioneer in developing innovative technology-based programs and solutions that drive real data-driven results, has turned the tides on this model. Today the company announced its Spring '12 product release. Spring '12 helps organizations better motivate employees and drives higher employee engagement with a more personalized digital health experience based on better segmentation and more detailed data. With Spring '12, employers get even more methods to collect detailed employee health data and enhanced real-time reporting so they can better measure and manage the impact of their employee health investments.

"Individuals are motivated by different things at different points in time. What motivates one person may not motivate another. And what motivates someone today may not motivate them tomorrow. A 'cookie-cutter' approach won't help employers create the culture of health or the lasting employee behavior changes they desire," said Tom Abshire, senior vice president of products, marketing and member engagement for Virgin HealthMiles. "But that's been the approach most providers have offered employers. Here at Virgin HealthMiles, we do things differently. We take a consumer's point of view and create a compelling, personalized experience that drives deeper engagement and leads to long-term healthy behavior change. With Spring '12, we're equipping employers with more ways to target and tailor their programs for their workforce. And we're offering new products and data collection methods that provide the data and insights employers need to optimize their employee health investments."

Virgin HealthMiles leads the pack when it comes to engaging employees and changing lifestyle-related behaviors. Its market-leading HealthMiles program engages employees at a rate more than three times the industry average and has delivered significant results for leading employers across the country. With its new Spring '12 release, the company will help employers drive even better results and impact from their investments.

Key Benefits of the Spring '12 Release: Better Insight into Employee Population Health Driven by New Biometric Capabilities, Improved Health Assessment and Enhanced Real-Time Reporting

• Personalization, Detailed Data Drive Higher Motivation and Increased Employee Engagement: Health and wellness programs won't work if they don't appeal to employees. Spring '12 leverages a more complete data set and enables employers to better target and tailor their programs to specific employee segments. Employees can also utilize new tools to gain a better understanding of their health and develop a personalized set of health activities they find compelling. Developing their own plan increases employee motivation, engagement and behavior change.
  
  
• Expanded Suite of Methods to Collect and Measure Detailed Employee Health Data: Spring '12 offers more methods to collect detailed health data and helps employers gain valuable insights to help guide decisions, strategy, and increase employee engagement. Spring '12 includes expanded biometric screenings and health assessments, which provide employees with a better picture of their overall health and areas for improvement. Armed with this data, employees can make more informed decisions and change lifestyle behaviors that lead to better health.
  
  
• Enhanced Real-Time Reporting Helps Organizations Target their Wellness Investments, Optimize Impact: Spring '12's enhanced real-time reporting helps employers better utilize data to identify, segment and market solutions that drive maximum employee engagement. Improved real-time reporting helps organizations see which health areas are most important to address and then act on clear data to develop a strategy. With real-time insights, organizations can focus or adjust programs to optimize their impact. Enhanced reporting also enables employees to see all of their own, personalized data in one central place. This makes it easier for them to understand where to focus for improved health, set goals and track their progress over time, and personalize their experience and engage in activities that motivate them most.

Spring '12 is now available to current and prospective Virgin HealthMiles clients. Learn more at http://us.virginhealthmiles.com/resources/Pages/Spring12_WhatsNew.aspx.

About Virgin HealthMiles
Virgin HealthMiles, part of Sir Richard Branson's famed Virgin Group, provides programs and technologies that engage your workforce in good health. Leveraging Virgin's deep consumer roots, we create compelling, personalized digital health experiences that drive long-term healthy behavior change and employee engagement rates more than three times the industry average. Our range of Pay-for-Prevention™ solutions and program integration capabilities: drive higher awareness and engagement across multiple providers and programs; deliver better measurement and insight into the impact of your investments; and power your overall employee health strategy. Our easy-to-deploy and manage solutions feature a rich array of proven behavior change strategies, including: game mechanics, financial incentives, social networking, and many more. Over 130 industry leaders representing more than 700,000 employees have selected Virgin HealthMiles' award-winning programs for their employees. Learn more at www.virginhealthmiles.com.