TriWest Urges Other Businesses to Join in Health Promotion Leadership

PHOENIX, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of sweeping national wellness initiatives, such as Let's Move! and Partnership for a Healthier America, TriWest Healthcare Alliance is challenging businesses to join them in taking charge of health promotion for their employees.

TriWest—the company which manages the military healthcare benefit, TRICARE, for 2.9 million service members and their families in 21 western states—offers many health promotion programs for its own employees, as well as the military families it serves.

"With the growing obesity epidemic across the country, we're trying to do our part at TriWest to not only help our military families reclaim control of their health, but encourage our employees to do the same," said TriWest President and CEO David J. McIntyre, Jr. "We want to encourage other companies to step up and help their employees take charge of their health."

Programs for TriWest Employees
With the holiday season here, TriWest started a new program encouraging employees to maintain their weight throughout the holidays. Called "Hold the Holidays," the program provides participating employees with recipes, healthy tips and encouragement until the New Year. 

Some of the other health promotion programs TriWest offers include:

• Weight Watchers at Work: TriWest employees lost 1,150 pounds since May 2010, when the program started in Phoenix.
• Move It! Program: Encourages employees to participate in physical activity by offering peer competition and prizes. To date, employees have "moved" more than 312,000 miles.
• Healthy lunch options: Offered at discounted prices.
• Health Risk Assessments: Employees answer a series of questions and receive a free blood test (on-site) to learn about their health risks, followed by a comprehensive personal health report.
• On-site mobile mammography clinics and PSA testing: Free on-site mammograms and PSA testing for prostate cancer, available for employees covered under TriWest's group healthcare plan. Available at TriWest's Phoenix location.  
• On-site flu shot clinics: Employees receive free flu shots on-site every year, available at the Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Hawaii, San Diego, and Tacoma locations.

Programs for Military Families

TriWest has been on a sole mission to serve military families for the past 15 years. In partnership with the Department of Defense, some of the award-winning health promotion programs available to service members and their families include:

• Tobacco cessation classes: Offered to TriWest's highest-risk beneficiaries who need to quit for serious health reasons. Since January this year, 44 percent of those who completed the program and took the survey successfully quit.
• Disease Management programs: High-risk beneficiaries who have been identified by their claims history are offered telephonic health coaching to help them better manage their chronic conditions. Programs offered for diabetes, asthma, lung disease, heart failure, depression and anxiety.
• Weight management classes: A series of 22 classes offered to TriWest's highest-risk beneficiaries who need to lose weight for serious health reasons.

"Employers can play an active role in helping their employees maintain a healthy lifestyle," McIntyre added. "And the benefits of doing so are truly far reaching."

About TriWest
TriWest Healthcare Alliance partners with the Department of Defense to do "Whatever It Takes" to support the healthcare needs of 2.9 million members of America's military family. A Phoenix-based corporation, TriWest provides access to cost-effective, high-quality health care in the 21-state TRICARE West Region. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or visit www.triwest.com for more information.

SOURCE TriWest Healthcare Alliance