NEI, a provider of application platforms, lifecycle support services for service providers, software developers and OEMs, has announced that the Boston Business Journal named it a 2010 Champion in Healthcare in the Employer category.
NEI (News - Alert) was recognized by the Boston Business Journal based on its innovative Health Wellness Program which seeks to help employees reduce costs and boost their health. The company is to be honored at the Journal’s Champions in Healthcare event on September 17 at the Seaport Hotel in Boston.
NEI’s Health Wellness program, which has been held since 2007, shows its commitment to help its employees maintain fiscal prudence in the face of mounting healthcare costs, and, as a result, to improve their health. The program incorporates innovative features, such as a special health screening held at the start of each year.
During this screening, NEI rewards employees who meet four out of six criteria such as cholesterol levels and weight by covering 90 percent of their medical premiums for the entire year. As for those employees who fail to meet said criteria, NEI organizes a range of wellness activities throughout the year to help them improve their health, from walks and runs to information sessions that help them learn more about nutrition and other health-related topics.
The Health Wellness program has a track record of helping NEI’s employees boost their health. The company has discovered that employees have taken fewer sick leaves since the program’s inception, and many have also made dramatic improvements in their health. Consequently, the company’s health insurance rates, which had been increasing at a rate of 15-25 percent yearly, only increased 8 percent during the first year of the program and did not increase at all in its second year.
Greg Shortell, president and CEO of NEI said that the company recognizes that its employees are key to the company’s success, and, consequently, NEI felt that it had to find a way help them achieve healthy lifestyles and lower their insurance costs as well. Shortell added that the Health Wellness program has been extremely successful, and that NEI is proud and happy to be recognized for having organized it.
Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anuradha’s article, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi