BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - March 7, 2011) - Forward-thinking organizations continue to turn to prevention-based employee health and productivity programs as the best strategy for improving health and lowering healthcare costs. Today, Virgin HealthMiles, a leading provider of technology-based employee health programs that reward individuals for getting healthy, announced that Norfolk, Virginia-based Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC), one of the nation's premier transportation companies, has selected the HealthMiles program as a key component of its corporate employee wellness initiative. 

In 2009, Norfolk Southern launched a three-pronged wellness initiative focused on "Know Your Health," "Quit Tobacco" and "Get Active" to help its 30,000 employees improve health and productivity. Yet, since Norfolk Southern's employees are scattered across more than 600 locations, finding an effective solution to engage employees and accurately track and report on measurable healthy behavior changes proved challenging. 

After evaluating several employee health and wellness programs, Norfolk Southern chose Virgin HealthMiles based on its tracking and reporting capabilities, overall program flexibility and incentives-based approach to spurring employee participation and sustained healthy behavior change. 

"We really liked Virgin HealthMiles' 'fun' factor and engagement programs," said Mary Pitman, manager of health promotions for Norfolk Southern. "The program's rewards catch people's attention, but the challenges get them engaged and spur healthy competition in line with our 'Get Active' focus. And thanks to the program's tools that track activity and key biometric measurements, our employees 'Know Their Health' and what they need to do make real, sustainable changes. Virgin HealthMiles helps motivate our employees to reach nationally recognized levels of healthy physical activity and they have fun doing it. You do not need to be an athlete to be successful." 

"The employee health challenges Norfolk Southern faced, including keeping a geographically dispersed workforce engaged and accurately tracking and reporting on behavior change, are common to many organizations in the Mid-Atlantic and across the country," said Ed Dougherty, vice president, client and member services, Virgin HealthMiles. "Virgin HealthMiles provides organizations with the tools to motivate and engage their employees in healthy behavior change, as well as the tools to measure and manage their overall wellness strategy. We're delighted to welcome Norfolk Southern to the Virgin HealthMiles family and helping the organization achieve its employee health goals." 

About Virgin HealthMiles
Virgin HealthMiles provides technology-based employee health programs that pay people to get active. The company's Pay-for-Prevention™ approach, based on physical activity and healthy lifestyle change, attracts an average of 40 percent of employees who participate, which helps organizations reduce medical costs and improve employee productivity and satisfaction. The program is offered by employers, government entities, and insurers. Over 120 industry leaders representing more than 700,000 employees across the U.S., including American Diabetes Association, OhioHealth, Ochsner Health System, MWV, SunGard, SunTrust, and Timberland have selected Virgin HealthMiles' award-winning program for their employees. The company is a member of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. For more information, visit www.virginhealthmiles.com.

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