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VISTA introduces first-ever covered benefit for fitness club
membership
HOLLYWOOD, FL – September 25, 2006 - VISTA Healthplans (VISTA) announced today
that it is the first health benefits company in Florida to offer employer
groups fitness club membership as a covered benefit. The innovative pilot
program, designed to help employers reduce health insurance costs through
improved employee health, begins January 1, 2007. Participants in the pilot
include VISTA members at selected large employer groups and VISTA employees.
Collectively those groups represent more than 190,000 employees, 50,000 of whom
are currently members of VISTA’s health plans.
Membership at any of the 500 participating fitness clubs in Florida*, offered
through Axia Health Management (AHM), is a covered benefit valued at up to $500
per member annually. Those clubs include most Gold’s Gyms, Curves, Club Fit,
24-Hour Fitness, Living Well Fitness Centers, Planet Fitness and others. The
benefit is available upon completion of an online Health Risk Assessment and is
part of AHM’s comprehensive wellness program for adults, children and teens
that focuses on weight management, fitness, nutrition, life skills and smoking
cessation.
The employer-based program helps plan members achieve their personal health
goals through customized web-based education utilizing interactive tools, phone
coaching, peer community support and a rewards system.
“This is a bold and innovative step aimed at changing behavior to prevent
illness and promote healthy lifestyles,” said Peter Joseph, senior vice
president of commercial sales for VISTA. “The employers participating in this
pilot program are taking the lead in investing time and resources to
proactively improve the health of their employees.”
The following VISTA insured employers will implement the pilot: Broward County
Government, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Federal Government, General Dynamics,
Miami-Dade Government, School Board of Broward County, State of Florida and VISTA.
“An increasing portion of health care spending is attributed to preventable
lifestyle induced health problems that impact productivity and the bottom
line,” said Ron Weintraub, director of benefits for the School Board of Broward
County. “Proactively developing positive measurable employee behavior that can
improve health outcomes is a significant step in helping reduce health care
costs.”
Two highly effective components of the wellness program are “My ePHIT”
(pronounced “EE-fit”) and QuitNet. My ePHIT is an online personal health
training program that features several components designed to create a strategy
for healthy living, including a health risk assessment to set goals, exercise,
weight management, meal planning, life skills, complementary and alternative
medicine and family fitness. Online coaches provide additional support to help
individuals successfully achieve their goals. QuitNet is an internet-based
service designed to help tobacco users through the quitting process. It
combines evidence-based methods of treating the addiction with a powerful and
effective individually controlled program that is available 24/7.
While not a participant in the pilot, members of VISTA’s individual plans and
small employer groups will have some aspects of the wellness program.
Individual members will receive My ePHIT and QuitNet as well as a discounted
membership at participating fitness clubs.
About VISTA
VISTA, through its affiliated companies, Vista Healthplan, Inc., Vista
Healthplan of South Florida, Inc. and Vista Insurance Plan, Inc., offers a
choice of health benefit plans including health maintenance organization (HMO),
preferred provider organization (PPO) and point-of-service (POS). Headquartered
in Hollywood, Florida, the VISTA companies provide health benefits coverage to
nearly 300,000 members and 10,000 employers in Florida through employer group
and individual plans, Medicare, Medicaid and Florida’s Healthy Kids program.
More than 5,000 independent physicians and the area’s leading hospitals
participate in VISTA’s provider network. Vista Healthplan, Inc. and Vista
Healthplan of South Florida, Inc. are accredited by the Accreditation
Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). More information about VISTA is
available at www.vistahealthplan.com.
*AHM is actively expanding its fitness center network in South Florida. As of
9/25/06 there are 115 participating fitness centers in Broward (46), Miami-Dade
(28) and Palm Beach (41) counties.
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