Australian Unity Healthcare has won a CANSTAR CANNEX Innovation Excellence Award in recognition of its market leading member Wellness Benefits.
"Australian Unity goes a step further in promoting its health and wellbeing program for members because it actually gives financial incentives to drive individual behavioural change," CANSTAR CANNEX said in its announcement of the award winners today.
Australian Unity's Wellness Benefits are evidence based programs that include interactive tools, preventative health benefits, chronic disease coaching programs, educational resources and financial incentives- all with the aim of either preventing or managing illness.
Amanda Hagan, Group Executive of Australian Unity Healthcare, is pleased that CANSTAR CANNEX can also see the Wellness Benefits' value in improving members' health.
"We want to help healthy people stay well, the at-risk population to get healthier and those with chronic conditions to better manage their conditions and stay out of hospital.
"Improving our members' health is not only good for them but also has benefits for us by reducing the volume of claims over time. It is a win-win strategy that we hope all health funds will follow," Ms Hagan says.
The Innovation Excellence Awards were established to recognise products and services showing an outstanding degree of innovation- how new, how unique, how disruptive, how much 'wow'factor -as well as their impact on the target market.
Australian Unity's weight loss program provides members with $100 towards the cost of an approved weight loss program and rewards them with $100 cash when they achieve their goal weight. If they stay within five kilograms of their goal weight for 12 months, members receive a further reward of $150. As for quitting smoking, Australian Unity provides members with $120 towards an approved quitting smoking course.
"We are committed to 'whole of life' member health and wellbeing, which is why we have these benefits and incentives to drive illness prevention through individual behavioural change. We are not just rewarding the change but rewarding the sustained behavioural change," Ms Hagan says.
Australian Unity will extend the wellness benefits program to as many of its 300,000 members as possible.
"We believe that we are well positioned to drive change in the private health insurance market," Ms Hagan says.
To find out more, go to www.australianunity.com.au/memberbenefits or call 13 29 39
