Press Releases: Northern California
May 24, 2011
Kaiser Permanente’s Workplace Wellness Programs Recognized by National Business Group on Health
Health Care Leader Honored for Promoting Wellness Among Tens of Thousands of Employees and Physicians
OAKLAND, Calif. — Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s Live Well Be Well workplace-wellness program received gold certification in the 2011 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards presented by the National Business Group on Health.
The awards, announced today in Washington D.C., also include a gold certification for the Healthy Workforce program run by Kaiser Permanente’s national office, which is also based in Oakland. In all, 28 large employers around the country were honored with gold certification. This year marks the first time Kaiser Permanente participated in the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards program.
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 to provide 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.
“Kaiser Permanente is widely recognized as a leader in health care quality and prevention,” said Gregory A. Adams, president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals/Health Plan, Inc., in Northern California. “We fully understand that in order to continue to provide superior care and service to our members and the communities we serve, we need to ensure that our employees and physicians have the support and inspiration they need to lead healthy lives.”
“We provide personalized, coordinated and technologically advanced 21st-century health care to more than 3.2 million members in Northern California, and through ‘Live Well Be Well’ we demonstrate our commitment to wellness by leveraging our clinical excellence and our expertise with convenient online health tools to provide our employees and physicians with the support and resources they need to thrive,” 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 is able to use an array of internal programs, expertise and resources to deliver these offerings to its employees. Nearly 100 percent of Kaiser Permanente Northern California employees 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 8.8 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 www.kp.org/newscenter.
