Geisinger receives Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award
Geisinger recognized for offering one of the nation's best workforce health and well-being programs
Geisinger is among 49 U.S. employers to receive the 2018 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles® award presented Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the National Business Group on Health’s Workforce Strategy 2018 Conference.
Now in its 14th year, the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles® awards recognize employers with exceptional commitment to improving their employees’ overall well-being, productivity and quality of life. The awards program incorporates a wide range of well-being contributors, including job satisfaction, community involvement, financial security, emotional and physical health, and social connectedness.
Geisinger received a Platinum Award for its employee wellness program that focuses on physical, mental and emotional health and wellness needs to help their employees develop lifelong healthy habits. Only 17 employers earned a Platinum Award this year.
This marks the fourth year in a row Geisinger has received a Platinum Award for its employee wellness program. Geisinger won Gold Awards in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
“This award demonstrates Geisinger’s commitment to caring to our patients, our employees and the community,” said Allison Hess, vice president of Geisinger’s Steele Institute for Healthcare Innovation. “Geisinger family members are more than employees, they are our friends and colleagues, our parents and children, our siblings and our community. Promoting and facilitating the path to well-being for Geisinger family members helps the organization to thrive and enables members of our community to be the best.”
In 2006, Geisinger began cultivating a culture of wellness among employees with the implementation of the employee wellness program aimed at motivating Geisinger family members to be active partners in achieving healthy lifestyles.
This is the seventh year of the organization’s collaboration with Geisinger Health Plan to expand the focus on employee population health management, including the incentive-based myHealth Rewards program, which moves employees toward healthy lifestyles through education, awareness and health and wellness coaching to achieve and maintain personal wellness goals. Geisinger Health Plan’s outcomes-based incentive program, now in its eighth year, has been adopted by many employers in the region.
The program rewards member-insured employees for healthy behaviors and bettering themselves through improved body mass index, cholesterol and not using tobacco. It has enjoyed heightened success based on increased clinical outcomes showing employees are willing to meet these goals.
“When you take care of yourself, you take great care of others,” said Wendy Marshall, Geisinger’s vice president of human resources services. “Every member of the Geisinger family, no matter what department or function they serve, contributes toward improving the patient and member experience. By supporting personal and professional well-being, Geisinger family members are able to remain focused and engaged in leading the industry.”
Brian Marcotte, President and CEO of the National Business Group on Health, commented: “We congratulate Geisinger and their leaders for their unique and innovative approaches to employee, family and community health and well-being. Geisinger is among a growing number of companies who are on a path to integrate employee well-being into their workforce strategy to deploy the most engaged, competitive and productive workforce possible.”
Winners of the 2018 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles® awards were honored in one of three categories: Platinum, for implementing a workforce well-being strategy with demonstrated results; Gold, for organizations with a strong commitment to holistic well-being and related metrics; Silver, for organizations with emerging well-being strategies, often with a focus on physical health.
About the National Business Group on Health®
The National Business Group on Health is the nation's only non-profit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers' perspective on national health policy issues and helping companies optimize business performance through health improvement, innovation and health care management. The Business Group’s mission is to keep its membership on the leading edge of innovation, thinking and action to address health care cost and the delivery, financing, affordability and consumer experience with the health care system. Business Group members, which include 74 Fortune 100 companies, provide health coverage for more than 50 million U.S. workers, retirees and their families. For more information, visit www.businessgrouphealth.org.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the nonprofit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 126 care sites — including 10 hospital campuses — and Geisinger Health Plan, with more than half a million members in commercial and government plans. Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,700 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $15 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.