INDIANAPOLIS and MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP), the nation's leading health benefits provider, and RedBrick Health, the Health Earnings(TM) company, today announced the two parties have entered into a strategic collaboration to create a new, behavior-based wellness and incentive program for WellPoint's affiliated health plans' large employers and health plan customers.
Through an upcoming pilot initiative, WellPoint plans to integrate customized solutions from RedBrick's Health Earnings System with its health and wellness programs to optimize employee engagement, enhance program personalization, and link financial rewards to healthy behaviors. The collaboration with RedBrick Health highlights WellPoint's commitment to simplifying the connection between health, care, and value, by promoting value-based health care tailored to the unique financial and health needs of each member.
"Three-quarters of the $2.3 trillion we spend on health care in America is due to chronic disease. At WellPoint, we believe a stronger focus on prevention through effective health and wellness programs can make a difference in helping people adopt healthier lifestyles and use their health care dollars more wisely," said Dijuana Lewis, president and chief executive officer of WellPoint's Comprehensive Health Solutions business unit.
"The purpose of WellPoint's collaboration with RedBrick Health is to enable two strong companies to provide WellPoint health plan customers with even greater health care value through innovative, industry-leading services that promote wellness and cost savings," said Lewis.
"Our relationship with WellPoint reflects the shared dedication our two organizations have for affecting meaningful change in health care," said Kyle Rolfing, CEO for RedBrick Health. "We're excited to open our Health Earnings model and technology to a new channel."
Working together, WellPoint and RedBrick Health directly aim to address two prevalent market realities:
- Large employers nationwide spend on average $9,600 per employee in annual health care benefits. Source: Towers Perrin 2009 Health Care Cost Survey
- 50 to 70 percent of health care costs result from poor lifestyle habits and avoidable behaviors.
