Tivity Health to Partner with Leading Digital and In-Person Social Engagement Platform, Stitch to Provide Social Connection for Older Adults

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tivity Health^® Inc. (Nasdaq: TVTY), a leading provider of health improvement solutions, including SilverSneakers^®, the nation's leading community fitness program for older adults, has secured an exclusive agreement with Stitch, a social engagement platform where older adults can connect, both virtually and in person, to help foster social connection and create meaningful relationships. Stitch will be available to eligible SilverSneakers members in participating health plans in January 2022.

Stitch is a virtual community for individuals 50+, with more than 154,000 participants worldwide and over 91,000 participants in the U.S. Along with in-person community events, Stitch offers members virtual opportunities to participate in a wide variety of activities and connect with other Stitch members who share their interests. Members can join member-led activities such as book clubs, trivia, crafting and more.

"Social isolation and loneliness were recognized as a public health issue for seniors even before the pandemic and it has only worsened over the past 18 months," said Richard Ashworth, president and CEO, Tivity Health. "We know that when seniors engage in a variety of activities, including physical fitness and social opportunities, their overall health and well-being improve. With this exclusive Stitch agreement, we believe we can reach more members, helping them connect with social activities, friends, and programming that interests them, and providing a community-based network to mitigate social isolation and loneliness."

With Stitch, SilverSneakers can better support Medicare Advantage members in participating health plans with experiences beyond physical fitness to improve their health and to connect in-person or virtually with other seniors, including friends they may typically see at their local fitness centers.

"The COVID-19 crisis has overwhelmed and impacted all of us. It also illustrates the importance and value of social connections," said Andrew Dowling, founder and CEO of Stitch. "Stitch encourages friendships and connections with unique community programming focused on shared interests, as members are empowered to create and organize events around their interests. Supporting SilverSneakers members will allow us to grow our network to further build in-person and virtual relationships to support the health and quality of life of our community."

SilverSneakers has been surveying SilverSneakers members through a series of SilverSneakers Pulse surveys since the pandemic began on topics including physical activity, social connection, nutrition and technology adoption. Survey respondents have consistently identified inability to visit with friends and family as the number one cause of disruption in their lives during the pandemic. In the most recent quarterly survey, 8% of members reported consistent social isolation, double that of pre-COVID levels, but less than at the highest point of 23% in January-March of 2021. 

"Research shows that the influence of social relationships on health is comparable to that of many well-established risk factors such as smoking or obesity," said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. "I've spent my career studying the association between social interaction and physical health and the connection is clear. As we learn even more about this link, especially for older adults who may have specific barriers to social engagement, it's great to see companies developing innovative solutions to provide opportunities for social connection."

For decades, SilverSneakers has been building community through group exercise and the social connections developed through its curated experiences. In a SilverSneakers Annual Member Survey, 57% of members said they had made new and valuable friendships through the program. The addition of Stitch will further expand the options that members in participating plans have in order to build social connections through unlimited access to the Stitch social platform.

About Tivity Health
Tivity Health^® Inc. (Nasdaq: TVTY) is a leading provider of healthy life-changing solutions, including SilverSneakers^®, Prime^® Fitness, WholeHealth Living^® and Wisely Well™. We help adults improve their health and support them on life's journey by providing access to in-person and virtual physical activity, social, and mental enrichment programs, as well as a full suite of physical medicine and integrative health services. We continue to enhance the way we direct members along their journey to better health by delivering an insights-driven, personalized, interactive experience. Our suite of services support health plans nationwide as they seek to reduce costs and improve health outcomes. At Tivity Health, we deliver the resources members need to live healthier, happier, more connected lives. Learn more at tivityhealth.com.

About SilverSneakers
SilverSneakers^®, by Tivity Health^®, is the nation's leading community fitness program for Medicare eligible Americans. The program was founded in 1992 and is available to more than 15 million Americans through many Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Supplement carriers, and group retiree plans. For more information, to check eligibility or to enroll in the program or sign up for a SilverSneakers newsletter, go to silversneakers.com.

About Stitch
With over 150,000 registered members in over 450 cities worldwide, Stitch is the world's leading companionship and activity community for anyone over 50, helping its members enrich their lives through activities, group events, companionship, and more. To learn more about Stitch please visit stitch.net.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain statements that are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and include all statements that are not historical statements of fact and those regarding the intent, belief or expectations, including, without limitation, statements that are accompanied by words such as "will," "expect," "outlook," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "see," "would," "target," or other similar words, phrases or expressions and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's statements regarding its future financial performance. Readers of this press release should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. Many risks and uncertainties could affect actual results and cause them to vary materially from the forward-looking statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic (including the response of governmental authorities to combat and contain the pandemic, the closure of fitness centers in the Company's national network (or operational restrictions imposed on such fitness centers), reclosures and potential additional reclosures as a result of surges in positive COVID-19 cases) on the Company's business, operations or liquidity; the risks associated with changes in macroeconomic conditions (including the impacts of any recession or changes in consumer spending resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic), widespread epidemics, pandemics (such as the current COVID-19 pandemic) or other outbreaks of disease, geopolitical turmoil, and the continuing threat of domestic or international terrorism; the Company's ability to collect accounts receivable from its customers and amounts due under its sublease agreements; the market's acceptance of the Company's new products and services; the Company's ability to develop and implement effective strategies and to anticipate and respond to strategic changes, opportunities, and emerging trends in the Company's industry and/or business, as well as to accurately forecast the related impact on the Company's revenues and earnings; the impact of any impairment of the Company's goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-term assets; the Company's ability to attract, hire, or retain key personnel or other qualified employees and to control labor costs; the effectiveness of the reorganization of the Company's business and the Company's ability to realize the anticipated benefits; the Company's ability to effectively compete against other entities, whose financial, research, staff, and marketing resources may exceed its resources; the impact of legal proceedings involving the Company and/or its subsidiaries, products, or services, including any claims related to intellectual property rights, as well as our ability to maintain insurance coverage with respect to such legal proceedings and claims on terms that would be favorable to us; the impact of severe or adverse weather conditions, the current COVID-19 pandemic, and the potential emergence of additional health pandemics or infectious disease outbreaks on member participation in the Company's programs; the risks associated with deriving a significant concentration of revenues from a limited number of the Company's customers, many of whom are health plans; the Company's ability and/or the ability of its customers to enroll participants and to accurately forecast their level of enrollment and participation in the Company's programs in a manner and within the timeframe anticipated by the Company; the Company's ability to sign, renew and/or maintain contracts with its customers and/or the Company's fitness partner locations under existing terms or to restructure these contracts on terms that would not have a material negative impact on the Company's results of operations; the ability of the Company's health plan customers to maintain the number of covered lives enrolled in those health plans during the terms of the Company's agreements; the Company's ability to add and/or retain active subscribers in its Prime Fitness program; the impact of any changes in tax rates, enactment of new tax laws, revisions of tax regulations or any claims or litigation with taxing authorities; the impact of a reduction in Medicare Advantage health plan reimbursement rates or changes in plan design; the impact of any new or proposed legislation, regulations and interpretations relating to Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and privacy and security laws; the impact of healthcare reform on the Company's business; the risks associated with potential failures of the Company's information systems or those of our third-party vendors, including as a result of telecommuting issues associated with the Company's employees working remotely, which may include a failure to execute on policies and processes in a work-from-home or remote model; the risks associated with data privacy or security breaches, computer hacking, network penetration and other illegal intrusions of the Company's information systems or those of third-party vendors or other service providers, including those risks that result from the increase in personnel working remotely, which may result in unauthorized access by third parties, loss, misappropriation, disclosure or corruption of customer, employee or the Company's information, or other data subject to privacy laws and may lead to a disruption in the Company's business, costs to modify, enhance, or remediate its cybersecurity measures, enforcement actions, fines or litigation against the Company, or damage to its business reputation; the risks associated with changes to traditional office-centered business processes and/or conducting operations out of the office in a work-from-home or remote model by us or our third party vendors during adverse situations (e.g., during a crisis, disaster, or pandemic), which may result in additional costs and/or may negatively impact productivity and cause other disruptions to the Company's business; the Company's ability to enforce its intellectual property rights; the risk that the Company's indebtedness may limit the Company's ability to adapt to changes in the economy or market conditions, expose the Company to interest rate risk for the variable rate indebtedness and require a substantial portion of cash flows from operations to be dedicated to the payment of indebtedness; the Company's ability to service its debt, make principal and interest payments as those payments become due, and remain in compliance with its debt covenants; the Company's ability to obtain adequate financing to provide the capital that may be necessary to support its current or future operations; counterparty risk associated with the Company's interest rate swap agreements; and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For additional information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company's filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or circumstances.

Contact: Debbie Jacobson, [email protected]

SOURCE Tivity Health