Healthy Living Pays

Pilot Program is First to Offer Cash Rewards to Members Who Adopt Healthy Lifestyles

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5, 2003 -- Blue Shield of California members now have an extra incentive to stick to their new year's resolutions: cash rewards. Approximately 25,000 Blue Shield of California CalPERS, commercial and individual subscribers have been notified that effective today they will be eligible to receive up to $200 for participating in Blue Shield's new online health incentive pilot program, Healthy Lifestyle Rewards. The program helps members identify and manage certain health risk factors that can lead to chronic diseases and high health care costs.

More than a standard health education campaign, Healthy Lifestyle Rewards uses financial incentives, interactive health promotions and online tracking tools to encourage participants to address behaviors that have the greatest impact on healthy living. These include physical activity, healthy eating, stress management, and tobacco abstinence to reduce significant risk factors for chronic disease and medical claims.

Participants can earn between $75 to $200, depending on their level of participation, which includes the number of weeks that they visit the healthy living website and record their activities. Payments will be distributed at the end of the 10-month Healthy Lifestyle Rewards program.

"The Healthy Lifestyle Rewards program illustrates Blue Shield's commitment to helping members remain healthy and lowering costs for employers," says Deborah Schwab, RN, MS, Blue Shield director of new product development.

"Healthy Lifestyle Rewards is a bold step that will help us be more effective in managing health, preventing chronic disease and improving employee productivity," says Paul Hackleman, benefits manager for the County of San Mateo, one of a number of employers who will offer the new program to their employees.

Participants register for the program through the Blue Shield of California website, www.mylifepath.com , where they will be asked to complete a preliminary, confidential online health risk assessment created by Optum, a Minnesota-based leader in health information and management, in partnership with StayWell(R) Health Management. That profile will indicate areas where the individual is performing well and highlight those that may need improvement. It will also recommend specific programs that can be used to achieve an individual's health goals, such as walking trackers, weight loss meal planners and stress management tools.

These programs, created by Miavita, developer of interactive tools to help people adopt healthy lifestyle choices, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can be tailored to address a participant's specific preferences. People can participate in as many health improvements programs as they wish and opt in and out of them as they choose.

A participant's progress in the program will be determined by the results of a second health risk assessment taken at the end of the program in late 2004, but the outcome of that assessment will not affect the amount of the cash reward that a participant can earn. The cash payment is based solely on the number of weeks the individual records healthy activity through the website. No other documentation is required to be eligible for the reward. Researchers at Stanford University are developing a study that will analyze participants' medical claims to establish the impact of this pilot program on health care utilization and costs.

"Blue Shield's Healthy Lifestyles Rewards pilot project complements one of our strategic goals for the CalPERS Health Program, which is to encourage our members to become more engaged healthcare consumers," says Jarvio A. Grevious, CalPERS Assistant Executive Officer for Health Benefits. "Blue Shield's Healthy Lifestyle Rewards pilot will help us determine whether on-line coaching and financial incentives can positively affect our members' lifestyle choices related to their overall health. We look forward to seeing the results of this important project."

For more information, visit the company's website.