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Humana Launches Integrated Health-and-Wellness Program for Health Plan Members

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 June 2007, 09:00 CDT

In an effort to support employers as they seek to help employees live healthier lives, improve productivity, and lower their health care costs, Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), in conjunction with Humana subsidiary Corphealth, has created an integrated health-and-wellness program offered at no additional charge to all of Humana's fully insured employer-customers. The program includes wellness components, with "health coaching"; integrated medical-behavioral health care management; and an employee assistance/work-life program.

1) Wellness components:

Humana is now providing personal "health coaching" and online support for members in six key areas: tobacco cessation; weight management; physical activity; stress management; nutrition; and back care.

Members can speak with a health coach -- in a series of coaching telephone calls -- who helps the member begin healthy behaviors. Members may also enroll in comprehensive online programs and receive tailored action plans, email reminders, and ongoing access to resources they need to get and stay healthy.

Additional elements of the program are:

Humana Health Assessment -- Members answer questions about their health and receive a confidential profile tailored to them, including health and exercise tips

Preventive Reminders -- Humana encourages health screenings by sending reminders for routine screening tests and immunizations. Members receive preventive-care guidance tailored to their health risk and previous use of preventive services.

MyHumana at Humana.com -- On their personal home pages, members can access, store, organize and track their health information, as well as research medical conditions.

2) Integrated medical-behavioral health care management:

All medical and behavioral-health management efforts are intended to identify and manage behavioral-health problems that exist simultaneously with chronic conditions, acute medical problems, or are primary in nature. A single care manager handles the member's care (with proactive support from the medical or behavioral-care manager). Members benefit from a single care-management plan that addresses issues such as treatment and prescription-drug compliance, self-management, and behavior change.

3) Employee assistance/Work-life program:

A confidential source to help employees more effectively manage personal, financial, legal, eldercare, childcare and other family issues.

"This new integrated health-and-wellness program encourages better health decisions, behaviors and lifestyles," said Dr. Steven Goldberg, Humana's Corporate Medical Director, Clinical Policy. "The ultimate goal is to help employees pay more attention to their health, feel better about their health, be more productive, and have lower long-term health care costs."

The program is now embedded in Humana's health plan offerings, which means there's no additional cost to fully insured employers. (Self-funded employers also have access to the program, for a small charge.)

"This program puts Humana and its members on the cutting edge of 'total-person' health management," said Patrick Gotcher, Chief Executive Officer of Corphealth, a wholly owned Humana subsidiary. "The impact of these services can have a profoundly positive impact on the member's experience and their overall health status."

Now, more than ever, "employers of all sizes who are struggling to afford meaningful health benefits for their employees are looking for solutions," said Dr. Lisa Weaver, Humana's Vice President for Clinical Strategies. "This approach offers employers a significant opportunity to help their employees get more engaged in their health and take more responsibility for their health. In the short term, and especially over the long term, this should enable Humana members and their employers to reduce health-related expenditures."

Also, all employees of Humana employer-customers, including those employees not enrolled in a Humana medical plan, have access to the employee-assistance/work-life program.

About Humana

Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation's largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 11.3 million medical members. Humana offers a diversified portfolio of health insurance products and related services -- through traditional and consumer-choice plans -- to employer groups, government-sponsored plans, and individuals.

Over its 46-year history, Humana has consistently seized opportunities to meet changing customer needs. Today, the company is a leader in consumer engagement, providing guidance that leads to lower costs and a better health plan experience throughout its diversified customer portfolio.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company's web site at http://www.humana.com, including copies of:

Annual reports to stockholders

Securities and Exchange Commission filings

Most recent investor conference presentations

Quarterly earnings news releases

Replays of most recent earnings release conference calls

Calendar of events (includes upcoming earnings conference call dates and times, as well as planned interaction with research analysts and institutional investors)

Corporate Governance Information

About Corphealth

Corphealth, a wholly owned Humana subsidiary, is a national health and productivity solutions company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Corphealth's mission is to identify, develop and apply innovative behavioral-focused solutions that optimize the health and productivity of the people Corphealth serves. Corphealth provides 'total behavior' solutions and managed behavioral health care in carve-in, co-source, carve-out models, integrated medical-behavioral health care, wellness, employee-assistance, and work-life programs to more than three million members. For more information, visit http://www.corphealth.com.

Source: Business Wire

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