No Pain, No Gain ;O): Expand

SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire -01/19/12)- EmpowHER, an award-winning social health company for women today announces a new partnership with HealthGuru Media, the leading company for health video on the Web. Through this partnership, HealthGuru.com will offer its viewers EmpowHER's original, HD-quality women's health video library - the largest of its kind on the Web. Through the partnership, EmpowHER will syndicate videos to more than 100M annual visitors on HealthGuru.com and throughout Health Guru's premium health network.

Health Guru has a comprehensive library of health videos, with 3,000+ titles covering 125 different conditions. This library was built utilizing a unique approach to health education which places equal focus on presenting credible, easy-to-understand health information with doing so in a powerfully engaging context. Providing the user with an immersive, media-rich experience, HealthGuru.com uses cutting edge technology that truly engages their audience to ensure the optimal user and learning experience. The result is the most engaged health video audience on the web, with the typical Health Guru viewer spending 61.9 minutes a month watching Health Guru content (comScore Video Metrix, December '11)

"According to Nielsen, over two thirds of women ages 20-50 consume online videos," says Thom Brodeur, Executive Vice President and CMO of EmpowHER Media. "Partnering with HealthGuru.com enables us to deliver important health and wellness video resources to a broader global audience."

Since its launch in 2008, EmpowHER has achieved a leading position in the women's online health and wellness space, and is today recognized as the fastest growing social health community for women. EmpowHER Media expects to reach nearly 40M female health consumers on EmpowHER.com, and another 200M through a powerful syndication network that includes a Who's Who of the Web like: Yahoo! Health, AOL, Shine by Yahoo!, Hearst's RealAge, Rodale's Healthy Living Network, Fox News Health and others. Understanding the power of video, bringing not only educational videos to female health consumers, but enabling real women to share their person health and wellness stories with each other, EmpowHER has also built a robust video syndication network of partners including HealthGuru.com, reaching more than 160M of women across the web each month.

"By 2015, online video consumption will be so pervasive that no one will even make the distinction between Internet users and Internet users who watch video," says Josh Silberstein, CEO of HealthGuru.com. "With health and wellness information consistently among the most popular search subjects online, we know that videos on these topics will continue to be in high demand. HealthGuru Media is pleased to partner with a market leader like EmpowHER to expand our ability to deliver video content to millions of women around the world, and to continue helping them with their health and wellness needs."

Click here to view this release on EmpowHER.com and share it with your social networks.

About EmpowHER Media
EmpowHER Media is an award-winning, HON-certified, social health company for women. The Company's flagship -- EmpowHER.com -- is the third most visited women's health and wellness destination on the Web (comScore Media Metrix). As the online home for female health consumers, EmpowHER.com offers a unique value proposition of a peer health community and premium, original women's health and wellness content. Health care professionals, brands and agency professionals rely on EmpowHER Media for reaching the most influential health and wellness buyer on the Internet -- women. EmpowHER reached more than 60 million women onsite and through syndication in 2011, and expects to reach more than 250 million in 2012.

About HealthGuru.com
HealthGuru.com is the leading destination site for health video on the web (comScore Video Metrix, November 2010). Our unique approach to health education was developed specifically for the video audience and is differentiated in three key ways: HealthGuru.com focuses on the health topics that matter most to today's audience, including: diet & fitness, mental & emotional health, sexual health, pregnancy, baby health & childcare, beauty & grooming, drugs & alcohol, and more. The modern health consumer seeks out an immersive, rich media experience on the web, not the text-centric offerings commonly found on other health sites. Health Guru was created with cutting edge media -- like the largest health video library on the web and interactive applications -- so we can offer the experience our audience expects. World-class information providers know that an accurate and comprehensive resource is just the first step. Creating content that truly engages the audience is the way to ensure that information becomes learning. That's why Health Guru is dedicated to making our content as interesting and when relevant, entertaining, as it is useful.

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Horizon Health Network to Expand Smoking Cessation Model Throughout Atlantic Canada

FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK--(Marketwire -01/17/12)- Horizon Health Network's Centre of Excellence for Clinical Smoking Cessation will expand a smoking cessation model of care to a variety of health-care settings in Atlantic Canada over the coming months. Health Canada has provided $607,699 towards the expansion of the "Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation", which was developed by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

Mike Allen, Member of Parliament for Tobique-Mactaquac, on behalf of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Madeleine Dube, Minister of Health for New Brunswick and senior officials from Horizon Health Network and the Ottawa Heart Institute, announced today the funding support to Horizon Health Network.

This will include cessation training to over 500 health-care professionals in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and has the potential to reach approximately 10,000 smokers over the next three to five years within Atlantic Canada.

"The Government of Canada is proud to support the Horizon Health Network and the Ministry of Health in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in their work to reduce smoking rates," said MP Allen. "This tobacco cessation model has been proven to improve smoking cessation rates among hospitalized patients and we're pleased to support its expansion into eleven sites across Atlantic Canada."

Quitting smoking is the most significant preventative measure Canadians can take to improve their health. The smoking cessation model includes a step by step work plan to assist health-care providers to incorporate evidence-based cessation practices into their day to day interactions with clients.

"Smoking is one of the biggest threats to good health," said Health Minister Madeleine Dube. "This program will result in more health care professionals having the skills necessary to help people quit smoking which will improve the overall health of our population here in Atlantic Canada."

In 2009, Horizon Health Network was designated one of three Centres of Excellence for Clinical Smoking Cessation in Canada. It has implemented the model throughout its organization to over 30 sites including hospitals, community health centres and units within the NB Extra Mural Program. Since its implementation, approximately 10,000 New Brunswick smokers have been introduced to the program and smoking cessation rates have increased by an average of 20 per cent.

Providing services for those who are attempting to quit will help increase their chances of success and help us reach our goal of having greater numbers of New Brunswickers live smoke-free," said Wellness, Culture and Sport minister Trevor Holder. "Coupled with support provided by the provincial Smokers' Helpline, more New Brunswickers will benefit from smoking cessation support in 2012."

"We are very pleased to share our expertise and lead the expansion of this important preventive health program across Atlantic Canada," says Donald J. Peters, president and CEO of Horizon Health Network. "Horizon Health Network is pleased to partner with Health Canada and other Atlantic provincial health-care providers to allow smokers increased access to education and support for successful cessation."

Horizon Health Network's partners in implementing this initiative include Health Canada, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, New Brunswick's Vitalite Health Network, Health Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia's South Shore Health Authority.

Horizon Health Network is the largest health-care organization in Atlantic Canada, operating 12 hospitals and more than 100 medical facilities, clinics and offices providing medical services ranging from acute care to community based health services to New Brunswick, northern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. With 1000 physicians, an annual budget exceeding $1 billion and approximately 13,000 employees, Horizon Health Network's strategic vision focuses on research, innovation and education.

Egalement disponible en francais

Health Canada news releases are available on the Internet at www.healthcanada.gc.ca/media

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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Health Net and UCLA School of Public Health Expand T2X Health Literacy Social Media Program to All Teens Nationwide

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Health Net, Inc. (NYSE: HNT - News) and the UCLA School of Public Health today announced the expansion of its health literacy social media program, T2X. The program was previously limited to its study testing phase, but access to the program now is available to all cyber-savvy teens nationwide.

The T2X project was created as a result of a partnership between Health Net, UCLA School of Public Health and EPG Technologies. It was funded by a $1.1 million NIH research grant that tested whether a cutting-edge intervention using an online social network would increase low-income teens’ capacity to access and use their insurance, become more engaged in their health care and health behavior decisions, and develop pro-health attitudes.

“We believe that this innovative approach has helped create best practices for encouraging all teens to become knowledgeable health care consumers,” said Nancy Wongvipat Kalev, Health Net’s director of Health Education and Cultural and Linguistic Services, and one of the study’s collaborators. “The study’s findings are currently being evaluated and the highly anticipated results are expected mid-2012. If this intervention is indeed successful in allowing teens to become more engaged in their health care and health decisions, we could validate the use of social networking sites for the rest of our population and open doors to exploring other innovative technology-based approaches to promoting healthy behaviors in the future.”

The T2X website offers a teen-only community of users, with teen and professionally produced content, competitions, games, quizzes, blogs, video sharing and other interactive and participatory communication methods. The site covers lifestyle issues for teens – nutrition, fitness, stress management, substance abuse and sexual behavior – to help them live life to the fullest and accomplish their goals.

On the T2X website, teens have access to:

Chat online with health experts 24/7 and ask questions about sensitive health topics that they may not be comfortable discussing with their physician Learn how to access health services at the right level of care Intelligent SMS campaign that allows teens to text keywords to a designated number and receive customized content back to their mobile devices Participate in health-oriented social networking through blogs, videos and other transmedia tools Nurse Advice Line to obtain health care information from a registered nurse 24/7 (available to Health Net members only)

The transmedia component of T2X is extremely unique as the project is the first of its kind to explore the effectiveness of this intervention. “Transmedia” is telling different parts of a story using different types of media, which provides opportunities for participants to get deeper into the story, topic and characters, eventually putting the story together into a coherent whole.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to engage the T2X community through transmedia storytelling to make issues related to health care literacy more relevant and engaging for teens as they transition into adulthood,” said Deborah Glik, professor for the UCLA School of Public Health and another one of the study’s collaborators.

The ongoing project has already garnered recognition in prominent publications. T2X was recently highlighted as a best practice in patient engagement in National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) publication entitled “NCQA Quality Profiles™: The Leadership Series--Focus on Patient Engagement” and also in America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)’s Innovations in Health Literacy publication entitled “Health Literacy and America’s Health Insurance Plans: Laying the Foundation and Beyond.” The Health Net-UCLA project team also has presented at several prestigious conferences such as the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media, the American Public Health Association Conference, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media.

About Health Net

Health Net of California, a subsidiary of Health Net Inc., is one of the largest health plans in the state. Together with Health Net Life Insurance Company, it serves more than 2.2 million members statewide and contracts with more than 56,000 physicians, 300-plus hospitals and nearly 5,000 pharmacies, giving its members greater choice and more convenient access to care. Its commercial HMO and POS, Medicare, and Medicaid lines of business have received “Excellent” accreditation status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

For more information on Health Net, Inc., please visit Health Net’s website at www.healthnet.com.

About The UCLA School of Public Health

The UCLA School of Public Health is dedicated to enhancing the public’s health by conducting innovative research; training future leaders and health professionals; translating research into policy and practice; and serving local, national and international communities. For more information, visit www.ph.ucla.edu.

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