Nation's Top Employers Share Secrets for Better Bottom Line at IHPM Conference; CEOs from 50 Leading Companies Convene at Walt Disney World Dolphin

Business Wire, March 27, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Nearly 500 representatives from leading employers and health care companies around the country will come together March 28-31, 2006 for the Institute for Health and Productivity Management's (IHPM) second annual health management conference. The conference, Making Health Management Work: Reaping the Benefits of Health Behaviors, is the only one dedicated to examining employee benefits and integrated health management from a strategic business perspective - determining what makes sense and how best to accomplish it.

IHPM inaugurated this conference in 2005, using it to launch a year-round Health Management Strategic Advisory Council (HMSAC) with its Employer Leadership Group (ELG) to bring together decision makers in the marketplace to focus on health improvement and its impact on workplace productivity as an employer-driven solution to America's health cost crisis. According to Les C. Meyer, program chair, "Presenteeism is an invisible drain that employers are trying diligently to conquer in the workplace. The name of the game is workplace health - and extracting value from employee health is the silver bullet that American CEOs have been looking for to better compete in a global economy."

Sean Sullivan, co-founder, president and CEO of IHPM, states, "An ounce of health is worth a pound of healthcare. Employers are now calling for a new approach to value, which will improve functional outcomes to enhance productivity while optimizing the total economic impact of employee health."

This year's conference features best practices from many of the nation's leading employers across a wide range of industries. A sampling of the companies sharing their experiences includes: American Cast Iron Pipe, American Standard Companies, Coors Brewing Company, Eastman Kodak, Ford Motor Company, IBM, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Lincoln Plating, Lockheed Martin, Pitney Bowes, Safeway and TI Automotive. Attendees will hear how these industry leaders and others are changing corporate behaviors to maximize the value of healthy people, by adopting health management strategies and best practices that improve employee health and avoid unnecessary costs.

Larry Leisure, a senior vice president with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and one of the conference speakers, rates this conference highly for its ability to bring together employers of all sizes with the major stakeholders in the market. "The employer is the ultimate driver of innovation in health and productivity management," says Leisure. "Employers are finding that targeted investments in their employees' health can reap material benefits reducing health care and lost time costs, boosting productivity and, ultimately, improving their bottom line. Sharing these insights and learnings is the sole focus of this conference," Leisure explains.

Adds Ray Fabius, MD, also a conference speaker and president of CHD Meridian Healthcare, "All of us are dedicated to improving workplace health, functional outcomes and the productivity of the workforce. By bringing together many of the leading thought leaders in this emerging industry at one conference, IHPM is helping us achieve that objective."

About IHPM

The Institute for Health and Productivity Management (IHPM) is a nonprofit global enterprise created to document and promote the vital relationship of employee health to productivity. IHPM's mission is to establish employee health as a sound investment in business success. For more information, please visit www.ihpm.org.