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Healthways Participates in New NCQA Wellness & Health Promotion Accreditation Program

^{Published on 2009-02-27 07:08:25, Last Modified on 2009-11-04 08:37:43 - Market Wire}
 

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY), today announced it is among the first organizations to be surveyed under The National Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA) Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation. This evaluation program will assist employers in comparing wellness programs using standardized results and in selecting a wellness program with demonstrated value and quality. More than three-fourths of the nation's leading employers offer wellness programs to their employees as a means to improve health and well-being and lower costs.

"Decades of work has shown that it is far easier to keep people healthy than it is to restore them to health. While wellness programs across the country can help people make better choices, there is a lot of uncertainty about what makes a great program," said Margaret E. O'Kane, NCQA President. "NCQA's Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation requires organizations to demonstrate their compliance with well-defined standards and quality measures. The NCQA seal will provide employers and consumers with the information they need to choose the best program in their market."

"As the leading provider of wellness solutions to help people maintain or improve their health and well-being, Healthways has long supported accreditation programs as a demonstration of our commitment to rigorous quality standards," said Pamela A. Hara, Healthways' Senior Vice President, Quality and Outcomes, and Privacy Officer. "We are particularly excited to participate in NCQA's Wellness & Health Promotion Accreditation program given the comprehensive nature of the survey tool and analysis methodologies."

Under the new program, organizations that provide wellness programs can earn the status of "NCQA Accredited" by demonstrating how they focus programs to fit employer or plan sponsor needs, how they appropriately safeguard private information, and how they target wellness and health promotion actions to individuals based on identified needs.

Organizations that go further and provide data about how well their programs change behavior and improve health can earn the status of "NCQA Accredited with Performance Reporting." The "Accredited with Performance Reporting" status adds an additional standard that assesses ten performance measures reported by the organization. The performance measures will allow for comparison between programs. The measures include:

• Staying Healthy: The percentage of adults who do not have a core risk such as obesity, smoking or physical inactivity.

• Participation: The percentage of adults who have a core risk factor and had at least one contact.

• Risk Reduction: The percentage of adults with a core risk factor that reduced their risk.

The program officially launched on December 16 and surveys will commence on April 1, 2009. More information about the program, including program standards, is available at [ http://www.ncqa.org ].

About Healthways

Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) is the leading provider of specialized, comprehensive solutions to help millions of people maintain or improve their health and well-being and, as a result, reduce overall costs. Healthways' solutions are designed to help healthy individuals stay healthy, mitigate and slow the progression of disease associated with family or lifestyle risk factors and promote the best possible health for those already affected by disease. Healthways' proven, evidence-based programs provide highly specific and personalized interventions for each individual in a population, irrespective of age or health status, and are delivered to consumers by phone, mail, internet and face-to-face interactions, both domestically and internationally. Healthways also provides a national, fully accredited complementary and alternative Health Provider Network, offering convenient access to individuals who seek health services outside of, and in conjunction with, the traditional healthcare system. For more information, please visit [ www.healthways.com ].