Business & Finance
Business and Finance
Business and Finance
Tue, April 5, 2011 Nelnet Enhances Its Award-Winning Wellness Program With incentaHEALTH
LINCOLN, NE and DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - April 5, 2011) - [ Nelnet ], a leading education planning and financing company with 2,200 employees, today launched [ incentaHEALTH ] as part of its award-winning corporate wellness program.
According to the CDC, nationally 65 percent of people are overweight or obese, and many struggle with associated physical conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Nelnet's associates have the same struggles, and the company is offering incentaHEALTH as an additional way to inspire and motivate associates in creating or maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
In addition to its already strong wellness program of interactive tools and reimbursement programs, Nelnet now offers the following through the incentaHEALTH program:
- Cash incentives to those who lose weight or maintain a healthy weight
- Access to the patented [ HEALTHspot kiosk ]
- Online support tools such as exercise and nutrition tips, how-to videos, and recipes for healthy meals
"We are excited to work with Nelnet's already successful wellness program," said Chief Technology Officer for incentaHEALTH, Todd McGuire. "Since we developed the incentaHEALTH concept, our corporate customers have experienced significant savings on their health care costs while watching their employees become leaner and healthier as they earn some extra cash. It is a win-win for sure."
HEALTHspot kiosks provide:
- Automated measurements of weight, blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) using authenticated measurements (not self-reported)
- Instant feedback to participants and program administrators
- 24-hour, low-cost operation and remote maintenance
- Enhanced privacy for participants via secure login and online processes
- Full-body digital imaging to keep track of participant progress and create a visual progress report
- Complete and accurate electronic records for both employee and employer
Colleen Reilly, director of Nelnet Wellness and president and founder of her own wellness company called Total Well-Being, discovered the incentaHEALTH solution after an exhaustive search for a vendor that best followed Nelnet's holistic approach to wellness and could supplement its already established program.
"incentaHEALTH's philosophy closely matches our goals to help associates create a healthy lifestyle through support, early intervention and incentives," Reilly said. "Our wellness program is instrumental in attracting and retaining outstanding workers, improving morale and organizational commitment, increasing productivity, decreasing lost workdays and ultimately reducing the costs of health care, which we have cut at Nelnet by 10 percent in the last three years. The incentaHEALTH program is the ideal supplement to our overall wellness program and for meeting our long-term wellness goals."
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, today it costs employers an estimated $13,000 annually to provide premium health care benefits to a typical employee and his or her dependents, and that figure has gone up 10 percent each year for the past decade. Of that annual amount, almost $10,000 is paid by the employer, and overweight and obese employees incur more than $1,500 in additional costs for the employer each year.
About Nelnet
Nelnet Inc. (
About incentaHEALTH
incentaHEALTH is an innovative health care technology company based in Denver, Colo. incentaHEALTH's fully outsourced, employee weight management program is designed to help organizations reduce their health care costs by offering incentives to employees for improving their health. This is achieved by helping employees manage their weight through the use of interactive email coaching, workplace weigh-ins on private kiosks, and cash rewards for maintaining long term health improvements. For more information, visit [ www.incentahealth.com ].
