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Duke University's Award-Winning Employee Health Management Program Featured at 13th Annual Health Management Congress

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 June 2008, 15:03 CDT

MINNEAPOLIS, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A long investment in employee health and wellness is paying dividends for Duke University with lower health care costs and a health-focused work environment. Duke's award-winning LIVE FOR LIFE employee health management program is a model framework for success. Its key characteristics are outlined in a new issue brief from HealthFitness (BULLETIN BOARD: HFIT) with a keen focus on the environmental factors Duke has developed to create a culture of health.

Duke's LIVE FOR LIFE program will also be featured at the 13th Annual Health Management Congress Thursday, July 24 at 9:15 a.m. at Disney's Contemporary Resort. "Creating a Healthier Workforce; Duke Medicine's Tobacco-Free Initiative" will be presented by George Jackson, MD, director of employee occupational health and wellness, at Duke; and by Jason Horay, ATC, MS, HealthFitness health education program manager for the LIVE FOR LIFE program at Duke.

Duke's Tobacco-Free Initiative is just one component of the integrated health management program Duke offered to employees through the LIVE FOR LIFE program. In the issue brief, "Laurels abound, but no rest for Duke: Health promotion pioneer pushes ahead to create healthier environment," Duke's Vice President for Human Resources H. Clint Davidson, Jr. details the evolution the program has undergone since its start as a general wellness initiative in 1988. The issue brief is available free of charge at http://www.hfit.com/briefs.cfm.

In the issue brief, Davidson says Duke is "creating a supportive culture for healthy behaviors and practices. In the last five to seven years we have increased the focus on bringing together all of the elements of a healthy work culture and the practices to support it." Key practices contributing to success include integration of programs from several vendors, promoting healthy eating and exercise through onsite fitness programs and a campus farmer's market, and aggressively addressing population health risks through targeted programs.

While Davidson emphasizes that Duke's program goal is to keep employees healthy and to improve productivity, the issue brief notes that Duke has also seen lower average claims costs and $1 million in savings over five years in cost of claims for employees with chronic illness.

"Duke's program focuses on behavior change, from high risk to low risk," said Gregg Lehman, president and CEO of HealthFitness. "When you couple that focus with accountability and a great support system, that's where you really see risk factors start to be reduced significantly, year over year."

For more information or to register for the 13th Annual Health Management Conference, go to http://www.healthmanagementcongress.com/.

About HealthFitness

HealthFitness is a leading provider of employee health improvement services to Fortune 500 companies, the health care industry and individual consumers. Serving clients for more than 30 years, HealthFitness partners with employers to effectively manage their health care and productivity costs by improving individual health and well-being. HealthFitness serves more than 300 clients globally via on-site management and remotely via Web and telephonic services. HealthFitness provides a complete portfolio of health and fitness management solutions including a proprietary health risk assessment platform, screenings, EMPOWERED(TM) Health Coaching and delivery of health improvement programs. HealthFitness employs more than 3,000 health and fitness professionals in national and international locations who are committed to the company's mission of "improving the health and well-being of the people we serve." For more information on HealthFitness, visit http://www.hfit.com/.

HealthFitness

CONTACT: Karla Hurter, +1-703-319-0957, khurter@health2resources.com,for HealthFitness

Web Site: http://www.hfit.com/

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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