New Employee Wellness Program, The 7 Habits of Healthy People, Inspires Individuals to Improve Health, Reducing Employee Healthcare Costs : Inspire

FRANKLIN, Tenn. & SALT LAKE CITY (Business Wire EON) August 6, 2008 -- The Tennessee-based wellness consulting company partnered with FranklinCovey, the global leader in effectiveness training, to develop and test the new program. The revolutionary approach to healthier living was designed to help employers incorporate an employee wellness program within their organization that motivates employees to improve their overall health, as well as their quality of life.

"Inspire Health is committed to creating a healthier generation of people by helping them want to make lifestyle changes and achieve those goals," said Dana El Gammal, creator of Inspire Health. "The 7 Habits of Healthy People is a breakthrough approach to reducing employee healthcare costs for employers. By encouraging employees to take part in this program, we are tackling preventive health risks at their root, by inspiring people to improve and manage their own health."

Bill Bennett, President, FranklinCovey, said, "We are thrilled to have partnered with Inspire Health to develop this unique approach for improving health and wellness. This aligns with our continuing vision of seeing the customization of the 7 Habits as a solution to the problems which organizations and individuals deal with every day."

El Gammal began working with FranklinCovey nearly two years ago to model a program based on the concepts of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the international best-seller written by Dr. Stephen R. Covey. Their collaboration resulted in The 7 Habits of Healthy People, an employee wellness program that begins with an in-depth workshop on a corporate level and continues as an ongoing process into the daily lives of employees. The 7 Habits of Healthy People re-focuses the timeless principles of the 7 Habits on personal health.

"Across the world we have demonstrated that each person really does control their own destiny, which is true in business, family and everyday life," said Covey. "By working with Inspire Health to develop a program that applies this proven concept to improving health on a nationwide level, I believe we can turn the corner on this healthcare crisis and lead longer, healthier lives."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 90% of all healthcare costs are preventable. Studies show adopting healthy behaviors involves great change that proceeds through six specific stages. Most employee wellness programs influence only the individuals who are already in the action stage, having little to no impact on those who are not ready to act.

In a recent survey, respondents identified health challenges as lack of time, discipline, family, and the many other responsibilities of life today. Wellness programs that don't provide tools for overcoming these obstacles miss the mark. The 7 Habits of Healthy People motivates individuals at every stage of change and provides the tools for sustained behavior modification to overcome obstacles.

Inspire Health works directly with employees to teach them how to apply the 7 Habits to their own health challenges to create and sustain positive change. In addition, participants leave with a vision of what their health should be and how to achieve it. The program also provides attendants with materials that not only support what is learned that day, but also for the weeks, months, even years ahead.

El Gammal saw this need to prompt change in employees as she worked through her family's business, Consociate Dansig, a Third Party Administrator (TPA) of health care benefits and claims processing. As she worked with companies, more and more executives were eager to find ways of reducing employee healthcare costs, but the overall wellness of the employees is what impacted the overall cost of their coverage.

"I began thinking about the endless amount of learning tools available and finally came to the realization that we have to not only focus on health issues themselves, but we must start addressing the core problem people's desire to be healthy. The key was then to teach people why it is necessary to change," El Gammal added.

In addition to The 7 Habits of Healthy People, Inspire Health creates lifestyle, preventive and clinical campaigns tailored to specific organizations to encourage their members to live healthy. To learn more about Inspire Health and The 7 Habits of Healthy People, log onto www.inspirehealth.com. For more information about FranklinCovey, visit www.franklincovey.com.

About Inspire Health

Inspire Health is not your traditional wellness company. We have expertise in every aspect of employee benefits, including but not limited to; human resources, behavior change, benefit design and consulting, fully-insured and self-insured plans, FSAs, HSAs, and HRAs, PPO evaluation, provider contracting, research, claims evaluation and trend analysis, clinical outcomes and disease management. This extensive experience allows Inspire Health to create meaningful, effective wellness programs with proven results tailored for your specific organization. Learn more about our Wellness Program Design and Administration, Lifestyle and Preventive Campaigns at www.inspirehealth.com.

About FranklinCovey

FranklinCovey (NYSE: FC) is the global consulting and training leader in the areas of strategy execution, customer loyalty, leadership and individual effectiveness. Clients include 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. FranklinCovey has 46 direct and licensee offices providing professional services in 147 countries. For more information, please visit www.franklincovey.com.

MULTIMEDIA GALLERYhttp://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5749158