Walgreens Rewards Healthy Activities Through First Community Pharmacy Program To Include Behavior Change Training Based on Dr...
22 July 2014 - 11:00PM
Business Wire
- “Balance Rewards for healthy choices™”
helps people adopt healthy behaviors, including exercise and
smoking cessation, by integrating incentives with in-store and
digital support
- Program connects with health and
fitness devices from companies such as Fitbit®, Withings and
iHealth, and apps including MapMyFitness, Lose It!, MyFitnessPal
and RunKeeper
- Initiative extends Walgreens current
innovative program that has rewarded participants for undertaking
healthy behaviors, including logging more than 100 million miles of
activity, using 70,000 wearable health devices and apps, and
recording hundreds of thousands of health tests
- Program can help health plans and other
payers meet patient engagement goals by offering additional
activities for their members to earn Balance Rewards points
Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) (NASDAQ:WAG) today introduced its new
“Balance Rewards for healthy choices™” initiative to help
participants modify behavior risk factors associated with the
nation’s most urgent public health issues. This marks the first
community pharmacy program that includes behavior change training
based on noted psychologist Dr. B.J. Fogg’s methodology. The
initiative, one of the pillars of Walgreens 81 million active
member Balance® Rewards loyalty program, will incent adoption of
healthy habits and reward those choices with Balance Rewards
points.
To better support Balance Rewards participants to make healthy
choices related to physical activity, smoking cessation and chronic
disease management, select Walgreens pharmacists and Walgreens
online Pharmacy Chat agents are receiving first-of-its-kind
behavior change training led by Dr. Fogg. The training provides
pharmacists and Walgreens online Pharmacy Chat agents with the
knowledge and resources needed to provide wellness coaching using
the Tiny Habits® method – Fogg’s approach to behavior change that
encourages simple steps, or micro-habits, that lead to a healthier
life.
“Adopting a consistently healthy action like practicing a
balanced diet, exercising more or changing other lifestyle habits
is typically not easy,” said Kermit Crawford, Walgreens president
of pharmacy, health and wellness. “Through our Balance Rewards for
healthy choices initiative, Walgreens encourages participants to
adopt healthy actions with the added support and guidance of our
pharmacists and Walgreens online Pharmacy Chat agents trained on
Dr. Fogg’s Tiny Habits approach. This is a perfect fit for a
community pharmacy based program in which our pharmacists have
frequent contact with consumers.”
Fogg said, “Pharmacists are respected and trusted sources for
ongoing support and can help people recognize that they’re
succeeding on their health care journey with small steps. That
feeling of making progress can help participants form healthy
habits.”
To fuel the initiative, program members can earn Walgreens
Balance Rewards loyalty program points by participating in various
health-related programs and tracking progress toward a goal. The
program makes this easy through the optional use of mobile devices
and apps. Future program enhancements could include awarding points
for adopting healthy eating habits.
Also, health plans and other payers will have the ability to
define additional activities for their members to earn Balance
Rewards points that help payers meet higher patient engagement,
HEDIS and 5 Star goals.
Balance Rewards for healthy choices includes three key elements
and a number of early initiatives, and it will expand over
time.
Get Fit – exercise and activity
- Participants earn points for activities
like walking, running and biking, and can automatically track
activities by connecting their Balance Rewards account with fitness
devices and apps such as MapMyFitness, Lose It!, MyFitnessPal and
RunKeeper. Compatible health and fitness devices include Fitbit and
Withings as well as more than 40 other devices.
Manage Health – adopting healthy habits
- Walgreens now offers Balance Rewards
points for participants who track their blood pressure and glucose
levels at home. Participants using iHealth blood pressure and
glucose monitors can connect their Balance Rewards account to the
device to automatically track their data.
- The program also offers Balance Rewards
points through Walgreens new smoking cessation program launching in
September. The program will include: smoking cessation content and
tools on Walgreens.com; individual support through the Walgreens
online Pharmacy Chat; and tools to enable participants to track
their progress toward smoking cessation while earning Balance
Rewards points. Additional program features will be added in the
coming months.“Pharmacy Chat will support participants by helping
them better understand the path to smoking cessation, including
setting a quit date, optimally using over-the-counter and
prescription medications, as well as utilizing other tools and
supports,” said Harry Leider, M.D., Walgreens chief medical
officer.
Eat Right – a healthy, balanced diet
- Using a digitally connected scale or
logging their results manually, participants can earn points each
time their weight is checked.
- A nutritional behavior change program
is planned for addition to the Balance Rewards for healthy choices
website in the coming months.
Click here to view or download additional resources related to
Balance Rewards for healthy choices.
For more information about how to report and earn points on
healthy activities and the complete terms and conditions of the
program, please click here.
About Walgreens
As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2013 sales
of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to be the
first choice in health and daily living for everyone in America,
and beyond. Each day, in communities across America, more than 8
million customers interact with Walgreens using the most
convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and
trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and
advice. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail,
specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with
online and mobile services. These services improve health outcomes
and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care
organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the
public sector. The company operates 8,215 drugstores in all 50
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. Walgreens digital business includes Walgreens.com,
drugstore.com, Beauty.com, SkinStore.com and VisionDirect.com. Take
Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that manages more
than 400 in-store convenient care clinics throughout the
country.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements. Statements
in this release that are not historical are forward-looking
statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as
“plan,” “goal,” “expect,” “likely,” “forecast,” “would,” “could,”
“should,” “can,” “will,” “project,” “intend,” “target,” “continue,”
“sustain,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “may,”
“possible,” “assume,” variations of such words and similar
expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of
future performance and involve risks, assumptions and
uncertainties, including those relating to our customer loyalty
program, including its terms, timing, and effects, and those
described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of our most recent Form 10-K,
which is incorporated herein by reference, and in other documents
that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties
materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect,
actual results may vary materially from those indicated or
anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
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expressly disclaims, any duty or obligation to update publicly any
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release, whether as a result of new information, future events,
changes in assumptions or otherwise.
WalgreensMailee Ua,
847-315-2141http://news.walgreens.com@WalgreensNewsfacebook.com/Walgreens
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