The statistics are startling, if not staggering. Over half of all Americans are overweight. More than 60 percent of us don’t get the recommended levels of activity needed for good health. Twenty-five percent of us get no exercise at all. Smoking and alcohol use continue to cause disease and death. The average person over 18 has seven chronic health conditions, the majority typically caused by unhealthy lifestyle choices. Nearly 70% of medical burden and spending is on diseases and conditions that are preventable.

Genetics can be blamed for certain health conditions, but the simple fact is that millions of us need to make better choices every day about our health. Even a predisposition to a certain disease or illness can often be mitigated and managed by getting involved and making responsible decisions about lifestyle and health care choices. The key is engaging and activating individuals to take those steps toward personal responsibility.

In 2007, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee expanded its consumer engagement focus with Well+Wise, a consumer-targeted approach toward products, services and online health tools that help our members make positive steps toward better health and more informed choices about health care quality and spending.

Well+Wise includes wellness and preventive programs that provide early intervention, health risk awareness and behavior change that can help plan members avoid the future need for disease management.

With the introduction of Lifestyle Coaches, one of the Well+Wise offerings, members have access to one-on-one, personalized lifestyle coaching for the education and motivation needed to make smart health decisions. Coaching helps members understand their personal health risks and make proactive, healthy lifestyle changes. For employers, this can result in greater presenteeism, lower absenteeism, increased productivity and reduced future health care costs.

Lifestyle Coaches work directly with plan members, using the results of an online Personal Health Analysis to give targeted assistance that makes members aware of the health risks they face and how to avoid them by developing healthier habits. Coaching sessions target those risks and habits to help members gain better control of eight critical factors: weight, tobacco use, stress factors, fitness level, diabetes risk, blood pressure, cholesterol level and bone strength.

The Personal Health Analysis is one of the newest features of the Personal Health Manager, a suite of online health tools to help members better track and manage their health. With the health analysis, members complete a secure, online health questionnaire to learn what lifestyle and behavior habits may be affecting their health.
The Personal Health Manager lets members create their own online health center and use it to:
• Collect and keep important personal health information in one place
• Receive personalized reminders and messages about relevant wellness and health news
• Set goals, create journals and chart their progress toward better health

Other tools on the BCBST.com Web site include hospital cost and quality tools, prescription drug cost estimator, and treatment cost estimators for medical and dental procedures – all an extension of the company’s commitment to provide consumers with transparent cost and quality information for all of their health care needs.

Further educational efforts to support personal responsibility and healthy lifestyles include Born to Move, a family approach to healthy living that helps address the issue of childhood obesity. Born to Move uses DVD programming, streaming video on bcbst.com’s ChannelBlue, advice from pediatricians, nutrition and exercise experts to make families aware of the health problems inherent with childhood obesity and the steps families can take to create a healthier, happier lifestyle that keeps kids on track for a healthy future. Born to Move also includes the successful BlueCross WalkingWorks for Schools program, practiced in K-5 classrooms statewide, that gets kids and teachers walking for 5 minutes or more each day as part of a healthy routine. Details on the Well+Wise programs, online health tools, Born to Move and other wellness support activities can be found at bcbst.com.

In 2007, in addition to being the nation’s first health plan to earn the prestigious URAC award for Consumer Education and Support, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s consumer-centric Web site, bcbst.com, earned two platinum eHealthcare Leadership Awards for best site design and best rich media among health plan organizations. The site also received the Outstanding Web Site honor from the Web Marketing Association, judged on its design, innovation, content and use of technology to engage and active consumers.