Kaiser Permanente's Workplace Wellness Programs Receive Top Honor From National Business Group on Health

OAKLAND, Calif., June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente Northern California's Live Well Be Well workplace-wellness program received platinum certification in the 2012 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards presented by the National Business Group on Health.

The awards also include a platinum certification for the Healthy Workforce program run by Kaiser Permanente's national office, also based in Oakland. Around the country, only 30 large employers were honored with platinum certification. To achieve this level of recognition, employers must have established healthy weight, healthy lifestyles programs with measurable success and documented outcomes.

Kaiser Permanente Northern California's Live Well Be Well program offers more than 250 services aimed at promoting and enhancing the health and well-being of the region's 68,000 employees and 7,000 physicians. The program leverages Kaiser Permanente's clinical excellence and health-promotion expertise. It provides both on-site and online services, which include everything from cholesterol and blood-pressure screening to cooking, weight-loss, exercise and smoking-cessation classes and programs. These programs and services work to nourish mind, body and spirit - the total health of employees and physicians.

"Kaiser Permanente is transforming health care - for our members, and for our physicians and staff," said Gregory A. Adams, president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals/Health Plan, Inc., in Northern California. "To help ensure that we continue to consistently deliver superior health care and service to our members and our communities, we must make sure our employees and physicians have the tools and resources they need to help them to live well and thrive."

"By providing personalized, coordinated and technologically advanced 21st-century health care, we make it easy and convenient for our patients to manage their health care wherever and whenever they want to do so. We apply the same clinical and technological expertise through our Live Well Be Well program to provide our employees and physicians with the support and inspiration they need to lead healthy lives," said Dr. Robert Pearl, executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. 

Live Well Be Well offerings encompass six major categories: healthy eating, physical activity, emotional health and wellness, prevention, healthy workplace and healthy community. Kaiser Permanente Northern California uses an array of internal programs, expertise and resources to deliver these offerings to its employees and physicians. Nearly 100 percent of Kaiser Permanente Northern California employees and physicians are Kaiser Permanente members, so they (and their dependents) have easy access to the tools and resources they need to improve their health.

Formed in 1974, the National Business Group on Health is the nation's only non-profit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers' perspectives on national health policy issues and providing practical solutions to its members' most important health care problems. The group's members are primarily Fortune 500 companies and large public-sector employers -- including the nation's most innovative health care purchasers -- who provide health care coverage for more than 50 million U.S. workers, retirees and their families.

Since 2004, the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards program has rewarded those organizations that have found creative solutions to advancing the well-being of employees. The awards serve as a means of sharing successful interventions, programs and services, and illustrate best practices that can be emulated by other members.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to  improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/newscenter.

Contact:
Marc Brown, (510) 987-4672

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente