ACS and its human resources consulting subsidiary, Buck Consultants, introduced Absence & Productivity Solutions, an integrated set of absence management consulting and administrative services that enables employers to manage their health care and disability costs, comply with myriad regulatory mandates, and improve the health and productivity of their workforce. The solution provides absence management design, implementation and administration that can be customized to each employer´s specific workforce needs. www.buckconsultants.com; www.acs-inc.com
The American Institute for Preventive Medicine announced the availability of its free Wellness Wizard® to compute the number of employees in a company who have the following risk factors: smoking, overweight, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol use, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma and diabetes. Using government statistics and published research data, the Wellness Wizard® converts the prevalence of these risks into the extra costs a company experiences annually, breaking them down by category. It then calculates the potential company savings if the Healthy People 2010 objectives are achieved. Give the AIPM the number of employees/members in your company, and it will provide a customized Wellness Wizard® at no charge. aipm[at]healthylife.com
ConnectYourCare announces health savings account multi-bank capability as an extension to its Private Label Expresssm product for health plans. The multi-bank feature targets health plans spanning multiple geographic regions that want several banking relationships to satisfy customer requirements that vary by geography. The feature retains the same administrative platform for all accounts, while leveraging existing banking relationships. ConnectYourCare is a Revolution Health Group company. www.ConnectYourCare.com
Curves International Inc, a fitness club franchiser, is entering into an incentive program partnership with Health Alliance Plan (HAP) that gives HAP HMO members a 50 percent discount off the initial enrollment fees and a $10 rebate on monthly membership dues when members work out at Curves at least 9 times per month. Curves International has more than 10,000 locations in 52 countries. Headquartered in Detroit, HAP is a nonprofit health plan serving 2,800 employer groups. It is a subsidiary of the Henry Ford Health System. www.curves.com; www.hap.org
GroupLink, a member company of Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC), launched myGroupLink, a secure online portal for brokers, employers, providers and employees to submit and obtain information from GroupLink´s dental insurance offerings. This has traditionally required a phone call or fax, such as proposal requests, activity, claim status, enrollment materials, commission information and client history. IHC is a life insurance holding company with more than $1 billion in assets. GroupLink provides third-party administration, program management, producer marketing and sales assistance. www.grouplinktpa.com
Harris, Rothenberg International, a global performance management company, is implementing a new health and wellness program, Healthy Changes. It combines promotion, telephone support and face-to-face action plans to change behavior. www.harrisrothenberg.com
Metavante Corporation is providing the technology and support for a health savings account solution to Harris N.A., which recently launched an HSA in both the individual and commercial HSA markets. Metavante provides account-opening (including online and mass enrollment) functionality, welcome kit fulfillment, deposit account and debit card processing, call center services, automated HSA debit card personalization and fulfillment, and Metavante eBanking for online account access. Metavante is the banking and payments technology subsidiary of Marshall & Ilsley Corporation. Harris is a financial service organization providing banking, lending, investing and wealth management solutions. The organization is a member of the BMO Financial Group. www.Metavante.com
Sequenom and SensiGen are entering into an alliance to develop and commercialize an ultra-sensitive human papillomavirus (HPV) test and other advanced proprietary diagnostics. They will jointly market SensiGen´s advanced proprietary AttoSense© tests worldwide. SensiGen´s proprietary methodology utilizes Sequenom´s gene expression technology and MassARRAY® system for the detection of major diseases, including cervical cancer, chronic kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disease and lupus. The test can detect DNA from a range of biological specimens, including virus, bacterium or cell, from any biological sample, including blood, urine and tissue. SensiGen LLC is a private biotechnology company developing diagnostics. Sequenom will exclusively supply the platform technology used for commercializing the tests. www.sensigen.com; www.sequenom.com
Slentrol, the first and only FDA-approved veterinary medication for the management of canine obesity, is now available by prescription from Pfizer Animal Health. Slentrol (dirlotapide), developed specifically for dogs, is a microsomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitor—a medicine with a unique mode of action that works differently from human weight-loss drugs. Slentrol must not be used in cats and should never be taken by people under any circumstances. Pfizer Animal Health had sales of $2.3 billion in 2006. www.pfizerah.com/slentrol
