Focus on Assessment, Measurement, Analysis and Reporting of Individual and Organizational Well-Being

Builds Upon the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

WASHINGTON & NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2012-- Gallup chairman and CEO, Jim Clifton, and Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) president and CEO, Ben R. Leedle, Jr., today announced the creation of a global joint venture between the two firms that will develop the next generation of Gallup-Healthways individual well-being assessment tools to provide employers, health providers, insurers and other interested parties with validated tools to assess, measure and report on changes in the well-being of their employees, patients, members and customers. The joint venture builds upon the success of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index^® (WBI), a ground-breaking initiative begun by Gallup and Healthways five years ago to create a definitive measure and empiric database of changes in the well-being of the U.S. population, as well as processes to establish benchmarking for purposes of comparing the well-being of any subset of the national population. The responses to the more than 1,700,000 completed WBI surveys to date have provided Gallup and Healthways with an unmatched database to support their mutual goal of understanding the causes and effects of well-being for a population. The multiple domains of well-being reflected in the WBI are based on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health as “not only the absence of infirmity and disease but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being.”

“Employers, health plans and health systems require scientifically based methods for measuring changes in individual well-being in order to confidently evaluate the effectiveness of the health and wellness programs they are providing to members of their workforce and community. In addition, such well-being assessment tools also provide Gallup and Healthways with the data necessary to continuously identify new ways to improve an individual’s well-being, including how to target individual health and well-being improvement opportunities that will reduce health-related costs and increase employee productivity and workforce performance,” Leedle said. “We have utilized a well-being assessment tool at the individual and workforce level with great success. Through our new joint venture, Healthways and Gallup will combine our respective strengths and expertise in surveying, analyzing and improving health and well-being to create more effective and predictive measures of individual health and well-being, a necessary prerequisite to delivering more value, and measuring the value we deliver, to our customers.”

“When we initiated the WBI five years ago, we correctly anticipated that it would become the Dow Jones of health, giving us a daily measure of people’s well-being at the close of every day, and that the data it generated would allow us to better understand how different elements of well-being impact the financial health of corporations and communities,” said Gallup’s Clifton. “As a result of our efforts, the WBI is the most widely used measure of well-being in the U.S. In addition, through our collaborative work with Healthways, we now know that within populations we need to measure individual well-being in five domains: Career, Social, Financial, Physical and Community. Today we are taking this work to the next level as we collaborate with Healthways to refine our measurement tools and advance the science of well-being so that we may continue to positively impact the health of the companies, communities and individuals throughout the world.”

The new global joint venture will serve as the development vehicle and repository for the two companies’ intellectual property relating to individual well-being assessment and measurement tools offered under the “Gallup-Healthways” joint brand. It will license this intellectual property to Healthways, for use in connection with Healthways delivery of its health and well-being improvement solutions in the U.S. and in international markets, and to Gallup, for use in connection with Gallup’s organizational consulting business. In addition, beginning in January, 2013, the Gallup World Poll – a 100-year effort to annually measure the emotional, physical and financial well-being of citizens in more than 130 countries – will include a jointly branded “Gallup-Healthways” well-being survey consisting of a subset of World Poll questions covering the same domains of well-being as the joint venture’s individual well-being survey tool for the U.S. The objective data generated from this global survey will provide Healthways and Gallup with valuable insights into both the universal and unique elements of individual well-being in countries on every continent and will inform the well-being improvement solutions offered by both Gallup and Healthways independently and in collaboration in such countries.

“Healthways has long believed that an individual’s well-being affects not only direct healthcare costs, but also their ability to be productive in the work environment and society at large,” Leedle said. “The creation of this joint venture is a long-term commitment by Gallup and Healthways that signifies the importance we both place on having the premier benchmarking tools and science for well-being assessment and reporting in the world. Only with these capabilities can we enable employers, health plans, health systems and community leaders to objectively assess the health of their populations and assess the efficacy of solutions that are focused on well-being improvement as a means to creating sustainable and transformational value over time.”

Safe Harbor Provision

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including financial expectations for future periods, which are based upon current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Those forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical statements of fact and those regarding the intent, belief or expectations of Healthways. In order for Healthways to utilize the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, investors are hereby cautioned that the following important factors, among others, may affect these forward-looking statements. Consequently, actual operations and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. The important factors include but are not limited to: statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements regarding the future performance of Healthways and the economic or financial consequences thereof, including but not limited to the creation of greater opportunities and/or value; any statements of anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include macroeconomic trends and events; the competitive pressures faced by Healthways’ businesses; the achievement of expected operational and financial results; and other risks that are detailed in Healthways’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2012, the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, and other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Healthways undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements.

About Gallup

Gallup delivers forward-thinking research, analytics, and advice to help leaders solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 75 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of the world’s constituents, employees, and customers than any other organization.

Gallup consultants help private and public sector organizations boost organic growth through measurement tools, strategic advice, and education. Gallup’s 2,000 professionals deliver services at client organizations, through the Web, and in more than 40 offices around the world. Learn more at http://www.gallup.com.

About Healthways

Healthways is the largest independent global provider of well-being improvement solutions. Dedicated to creating a healthier world one person at a time, the Company uses the science of behavior change to produce and measure positive change in well-being for our customers, which include employers, integrated health systems, hospitals, physicians, health plans, communities, and government entities. We provide highly specific and personalized support for each individual and their team of experts to optimize each participant’s health and productivity and to reduce health-related costs. Results are achieved by addressing longitudinal health risks and care needs of everyone in a given population. The Company has scaled its proprietary technology infrastructure and delivery capabilities developed over 30 years and now serves approximately 40 million people on four continents. Learn more at www.healthways.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50438519&lang=en

Source: Healthways

Healthways
Chip Wochomurka, 615-614-4493
chip.wochomurka@healthways.com
or
Gallup
Lauren Kannry, 202-715-3050
lauren_kannry@gallup.com