UPFRONT | Roundup HEALTH Take 5 Benefits provider launches rewards system for ‘good health behaviour’ Canadians will now be rewarded for good health behaviour through Green Shield Canada’s (GSC) Change4Life health portal, a first in the country, ac-cording to the company. The online health man-agement site not only sup-por ts and encourages healthy behaviours – it will reward them. This marks the first time a Canadian health benefits provider will attempt to positively influ-ence Canadian employees’ health behaviour through incentives and rewards. encouraged to complete a health risk assessment to produce a personal health score. They will then be di-rected to online tools, re-sources and health educa-tion tailored to their specific needs. The tools include a step tracker, monitoring of blood pressure and choles-terol, and medication re-minders. The Change4Life health portal is a key part of GSC’s effort to shift the benefits industry’s focus towards addressing one of the big-gest issues facing the health of Canadians today – chronic disease. Research has shown that chronic diseases such as hyperten-sion, diabetes and choles-terol can improve signifi-ca nt l y whe n p a t i e n t s improve their health behav-iour. “We have been spending much of our time on re-thinking employee health benefit plans in light of the emerging health challenges of Canadians,” said Peter Gove, GSC’s innovation leader for health manage-ment. “Our research indi-cates that our focus should be on engaging plan mem-bers in the effective man-agement of their own health. Because the keys to chang-ing behaviours include ease of access to resources and reinforcement of positive change, we know that Change4Life can make a significant contribution.” For more stories on health promotion visit canadianchiropractor.ca NUMBER CRUNCHING Game on Athletes in various skill levels and different types of sports are increasingly recognizing the value of chiropractic care for optimum performance and injury management. Consider these facts. Founded on behavioural economics (the science of how people make – and don’t make – rational choices), the portal incor-porates a points-and-re-wards program that nudges Canadian employees to take small, achievable steps to-wards better health in ex-change for points. Those points can then be used to win a variety of rewards in-cluding gift cards from major retailers such as Sport Chek and Sobeys. The Change4Life portal is now available to all of GSC’s plan members, free of charge. They will be first time the Olympics fully integrated chiropractic into host medical services 90 2010 % estimated number of world-class athletes under chiropractic care number of field work hours required to attain chiropractic sports specialty designation in Canada athletic trainers who have referred players to chiropractors www.canadianchiropractor.ca 8 Canadian Chiropractor July/August 2015 Illustration: Brian Fray 1000 77%
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