IncentOne Commentary on Congress Backed Incentives for Healthy Employee Behavior Incentives Contribute to Health Care Cost Reduction Efforts

Lyndhurst, NJ, May 14, 2009 --(PR.com)-- IncentOne supports the proposed use of incentives to employers offering wellness and prevention programs to their employees as advocated by health legislative leaders including Senator Max Baucus of Montana and Chairman of the Finance Committee, Tom Harkins. One of President Obama’s eight principles for health legislation is that it must “invest in prevention and wellness.” Since 2005, IncentOne has been a proponent of non-monetary and monetary incentives in employee wellness and prevention programs to increase participation and further contribute to health care cost reductions and believes Congress is truly on the right track.

Research estimates that up to 80% of health care costs in the U.S. are from preventable chronic diseases.* Smoking, high blood pressure and being overweight are the leading preventable risk factors for premature mortality in the United States, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health. The majority of the exorbitant costs attributed to health care are preventable by modifying consumer behavior.

For many employers the focus is evolving away from managing the cost of illness toward working to prevent illness and promote health. Employers are increasingly using non-monetary (e.g., gift cards) and monetary incentives (e.g., premium discounts, health reimbursement accounts and health savings accounts) to increase employee participation in health, wellness and prevention programs.

“IncentOne and innovative health plans and employers have been executing innovative incentive strategies to say to individuals “be healthy and be rewarded”, says Michael Dermer, CEO and President of IncentOne. “Just like ‘pay for performance’ for physicians and the e-prescribing incentives passed by the Obama administration, aligning incentives to actions that make America healthier can drive massive savings for the health system. Congress is definitely on the right track.”

IncentOne is committed to championing health care cost reductions aligned with proposed Federal government initiatives by providing technology-driven incentives solutions that can be easily implemented by both employers and health care providers in their health care cost reduction and health improvement efforts.

*(Deloitte – Reducing Corporate Health Care Costs, Refocusing the Strategy, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and Deloitte Consulting LLP 2006.)

About IncentOne
IncentOne is the leading provider of incentive solutions to the health community. IncentOne’s proprietary technology and integrated incentive solutions are used by customers representing more than 75 million individuals to drive health care cost reductions. IncentOne combines its solutions with its industry leading data on the performance of incentives, knowledge and expertise in incentive program design and execution. IncentOne’s customers are national and regional health plans, health partners, employers, benefit administrators, and pharmaceutical companies including the nation’s foremost thought leaders such as WellPoint, CIGNA, Kaiser and more than 15 Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans. Industry leading employer group clients include Motorola, Kellogg, Deloitte, Safeway and the United States Postal Service. IncentOne’s passion is to drive success for its customers and the broader mission of changing the health care system “one activity at a time.” For more information, visit www.incentone.com.

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