The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis have heightened the need for employers and health insurers to prioritize the mental and physical health of their employees and plan members. As a result, Vitality Group, a global health and wellness company committed to making people healthier, has experienced strong growth, adding 200,000 new members and 106 new clients in the US this year. Vitality Gateway Flex benefits marketplace was also recently launched as an innovative way to support this demand.
“We remain steadfast in our mission to help our members improve their health and wellness while at the same time improving productivity and healthcare costs for our clients,” said Tal Gilbert, CEO, Vitality USA. “It’s at times like these that organizations realize the value of investing in the health of their people, especially when so many are challenged to achieve more with fewer resources.”
To support the scale up of Vitality USA as the business deepens its current offering and extends its platform to broader health behaviors, health economist Tanya Little, MSc, has been brought on as Chief Growth Officer. Previously a consultant for McKinsey & Company, Tanya also held strategic leadership roles at Investec, an international specialist bank and asset manager, and international healthcare organization Life Healthcare.
“There’s something very special about working for a company whose core purpose aligns to your personal values,” said Little. “In joining Vitality, I now have this luxury. Vitality continuously seeks to grow its impact on behavioral change and health outcomes with an evidence-based approach and I look forward to leveraging my strategic execution experience and passion for finding solutions to human problems on behalf of the organization.”
Additionally, Kristen Montplaisir has been named Head of National Sales and Distribution to oversee direct sales across employer and health plan channels.
This year, Vitality also achieved several notable milestones including:
- Launched Vitality Gateway Flex, a first-of-its-kind pay-as-you-go benefits marketplace, offering employers unprecedented flexibility, less complexity and almost zero wastage of resources.
- Expanded its insurance partnerships with Prudential in Brazil and Argentina, Maccabi in Israel, Fidelidad in Portugal and Tawuniya in Saudi Arabia.
- Announced a partnership with HealthFitness and a strategic collaboration with Amazon and John Hancock to integrate Amazon Halo into the John Hancock Vitality Program.
- Partnered with Orangetheory Fitness to develop their OTearn program, designed to keep members motivated to achieve their goals and earn rewards in the process, and with Crunch to develop the CrunchTime Active Rewards app.
- Published a study in The Lancet Public Health with researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, showing modifiable health risks, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and smoking, were linked to over $730 billion in healthcare spending in the US. Research was also published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine finding the economic benefits of increased physical activity globally. If all adults aged 18-64 walked just 15 minutes more a day, the world economy could grow by an average of $100 billion a year until 2050.
“It’s hard to think of a more fundamental lesson from this period than the fact that the health of a company’s people defines the health of their business,” said Gilbert. “The benefits of healthy living have a profound impact, especially when it comes to COVID-19 risk. Our data shows that a healthy 65-year-old who exercises for 30 minutes four times per week has a 22% lower risk of dying from a COVID-19 infection than a 45-year-old who does not exercise. With ground breaking new programs like Gateway Flex, we are in a unique position to provide the tools and resources to help our members achieve behavior change and profoundly impact their health.”
