The Empower theme is to “connect, collaborate and create.” Our goal is to continue to provide an intimate event where our clients have every opportunity to learn from their peers, interact with WebMD team members and interact with our vendor partners–in an environment that is conducive to well-being.

Our goal this year was to infuse as much well-being into the day as possible.

We began each day with an optional sunrise yoga class taught by a WebMD Health Coach and one of our clients, guided runs and walks, as well as afternoon activities that included biking, pickleball or relaxing by the pool or beach. Our vendor partners also offered health screenings and the chance to partake in moments of well-being. (A big thank you to: eHealthScreenings, Enrich, Fern Health, Togetherall and Lifespeak.)

We kicked off the event learning about Ubuntu with Shola Richards.

Perhaps the highlight of Empower was our inspiring keynote speaker, Shola Richards. Shola is a passionate, engaging presenter who helps organizations build compassion, competence and accountability in the workplace. He taught us the concept of “Ubuntu,” an African word that means “I am because we are.” He is a firm believer in the notion that if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, then go together. You can learn more about Shola’s work here.

The Center for Research shed light on the employee experience and well-being.

Our Center for Research revealed new data on how employees are feeling about work; diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI&B); well-being; and burnout. We’ll be sharing much more about this important research in the coming months, but here are a few nuggets:

• Burnout rates have risen from 2022 to 2024​—most dramatically for Gen X employees.
• Interestingly, low burnout does not equate to high well-being or a positive employee experience—so we can’t just assume that if employees aren’t burned out, they’re thriving.​
• Emotional engagement and organizational care were low across all age groups.​ This checks with other studies that have highlighted low engagement numbers and the employee perception that employers don’t care about them.
• All age groups reported low feelings of psychological safety and lack of comfort voicing opinions.
• Financial well-being is low across all generations.

After the presentation, clients participated in SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) workshops led by the Center for Research. They walked away with tangible insights on specific challenges their organization was facing, including mental health, women’s health, and how to be an organization of care.

As one client shared, “It was validating to be a part of the session I was in and know that many others had similar areas to improve. It was nice to be able to share some of where I felt we excelled in the space and discuss areas for improvement. Excited to hear about what learnings come out of all of these.”

Other highlights of the event included:

• A business update on how we are “Better Together” with our acquisition of Limeade, and how we are strategically layering value through technology, services with curated partners, and a human-centric focus through coaching and Dedicated Well-Being Services.
• A product innovation session describing how we are increasing program awareness, evolving the participant experience, optimizing our human services and investing in solutions to meet the needs of client business and well-being strategies, while enhancing back-end data and reporting strategies.
• A fireside chat featuring two clients—Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Illinois Tool Works—who are transforming health through Dedicated Well-Being Services, wellness champions and support from leadership.
• A client story-Fiserv shared how they have focused on infusing well-being within their organization through various tactics. This was an energizing, engaging and motivating presentation sharing practical tips for clients to bring back to their organizations.

Here’s what our clients had to say about Empower…

“I am grateful for this opportunity and incredibly appreciative of the teams that worked diligently to put this event together for us to connect, learn and even rest. The care and commitment that was put into Empower was evident in every speaker, event, and interaction, and I am thoroughly impressed by WebMD’s dedication to improving the health of a global community.”

“This was the best event I’ve been to, not just WebMD, but any event. It was very organized and well thought out. I loved the balance of “think tank” time and “mental health” time, from the 6:00 a.m. walk on the beach to the different sessions, to the yoga moments, etc. The workshops after lunch were a great idea…no time to get the after lunch sleepies!”

We hold Empower a client-only forums each year in unique, amazing locations. Be sure to join us next time to soak in the latest and greatest thinking about well-being, be inspired by your peers, and take time for yourself to relax and be well.

Collectively, our 90 Health Coaches have over 1,125 years of WebMD service. This is not only a rarity in our industry, but it also means our coaches have been around long enough to know exactly what it takes to help participants make long-lasting changes to their health and well-being. In a recent video, several coaches discussed how an individualized approach to health coaching can bring long-lasting benefits to the participant and the organization they’re a part of.

An individualized approach.

Well-being is personal, which is why our coaches take the time to get to know each participant’s unique needs, circumstances and preferences. Coaches help participants identify their “why”—an effective tool for tapping into the intrinsic motivation needed to keep people engaged and create meaningful behavioral change. Armed with this knowledge, coaches can create goals that are realistic and specific for each person’s lifestyle.

Our coaches also meet participants wherever they are in their well-being journey. As Coach Thad likes to say, “We walk beside people and help them reach their health and well-being goals.” Some may be just starting out and need a simple plan to garner a few small wins—like walking every day or cutting down on processed foods. Others may have been working on nutrition and physical activity, but need to shake up their routine to move past a plateau. Still others may need specific support, like coping with anxiety.

Our coaches have training and certifications in numerous fields—such as nutrition, exercise, diabetes management, tobacco cessation and mental health—so they’re ready to jump in with whatever type of individualized support a person needs.

Benefits for the participant and the organization.

As Coach Anu shares, Health Coaching has the potential to create positive change not only for individuals’ health but also for the health of the organization. Coach Todd talks about the “ripple effect” that occurs when employees work with a Health Coach. They feel better at home and this improved outlook spills over into the workplace leading to greater satisfaction and engagement.

In fact, organizations that use Health Coaches as part of their well-being program often see higher engagement and retention rates. In the words of Coach Thad, “It’s a win for participants and for their company.”

In recent years, employees have come to expect employers to provide more support for their overall well-being. Offering Health Coaching to your employees is a great way to demonstrate this commitment. As one of our coaching participants shared, “This is more than just ‘Health Coaching.’ This is an organization making good on a promise to support and take care of their employees.”

To hear more from our Health Coaches on how your organization can benefit from coaching services, check out this short video.

Our amazing accomplishments.

Since we started tracking health outcomes in 2011, our six million coaching sessions have helped participants:

• Lose over 1.6 million pounds;
• Increase exercise by 10.5 million minutes per week;
• Decrease cigarettes smoked by 58 thousand per day;
• Increase fruit and vegetable consumption by 243 thousand servings per day;
• And so much more…..

But don’t just take our word for it. Check out the experiences of Walter and Kessler, who share how working with a WebMD Health Coach helped them learn healthy habits for life.

About our coaching staff:

• Our over 90 Health Coaches have training and certifications in a number of fields—such as nutrition, exercise, diabetes management, tobacco cessation and mental health.
• Collectively, our Health Coaches have 1,125 years of WebMD service, a rarity in our industry.
• Health Coaches are matched with participants based on their individual needs and health goals.
• Coaching is available in person, over the phone, through text, via Coach Connect online messaging and as a group session. This allows participants to interact with WebMD Health Coaches in times and places that are most convenient for them.

How our coaching staff has adapted to a new environment.

Since our last milestone in 2017, so much has happened: a pandemic, the rise of remote work, an increased need for mental health help, and new thinking about diet and exercise. Here’s how our staff has continued to evolve and grow to meet these new needs:

The pandemic.

None of us will soon forget the day in March 2020 when in-office workers, including many of our clients, were suddenly sent home because of the pandemic. Little did we know at the time that remote work would persist for several years, requiring major changes in how our Health Coaches served clients.

• Connecting via telephone. We quickly increased our telephonic coaching services, which allowed participants to continue to connect with coaches during a time when everyone needed a little extra support. In some ways, the pandemic humanized us all and the connections we made with our participants grew that much stronger.
• Increased breadth of services. The pandemic gave us the chance to increase our skills and development on topics such as resilience, loneliness, and social connectedness. We bolstered our services in this arena, creating webinars that could be easily accessed by a larger population.
• The rise of Group Coaching. Participants began to express interest in connecting on a personal level with others who shared similar interests, so we created Group Coaching by WebMD. Group Coaching is typically conducted via live video with 10 to 20 participants. We’ve found that this format is a great way for participants to become more engaged in their health and fulfill the all-important need for community and social interaction.
• Exercising from home. With gyms and other public locations closed, we had to help our participants quickly adapt to working out from home. We tapped into our creativity to offer fitness classes with little to no equipment, using bodyweight and common household items. We also increased our “Coaching U” videos on the WebMD portal that participants could access on their own time.

While many of our clients have returned to some form of in-person work, some have not, so the remote solutions we created are still useful. Check out this blog for additional ways our coaches pivoted quickly from delivering well-being solutions in-person to a remote environment.

The increased need for mental health support.

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it allowed people to more openly share their challenges, including mental health struggles that had not always been openly discussed. We found that more and more participants wanted Health Coaches who could provide support with mental health concerns, particularly anxiety and depression. In response, we added a Mental Health Coaching Team, which offers mental health and lifestyle stress coaching.

We continue to develop a more robust mental health program to better help participants manage stress, learn new skills, and pursue enhanced mental health and emotional wellness. Offerings include mindfulness and meditation videos, webinars, and group coaching classes focused on stress-busting techniques.

New thinking around weight loss.

A few years ago, in response to new research about weight loss, we changed the name of our specialty coaching program from the “Weight Management” program to the “Positively Me” program. Losing weight is still part of the program, but it is certainly not the only focus. Using multiple strategies, we don’t just focus on pounds lost, but rather on being healthy at any size and zeroing in on what “healthy” means to participants. For example, coaches focus on healthy eating versus dieting, including ways to include more of the foods that support good health versus restrictive eating or fad dieting. This focus on the whole person helps participants make small changes, one step at a time.

We’re so proud of the way our coaching team responded to the challenges of the past few years and we’re looking forward to continuing to serve clients as their well-being needs evolve. To find out how your employees and members can benefit from the amazing support and guidance our Health Coaches provide, contact us at connect@webmd.net.

Digital Health Awards®

Each spring and fall, the Digital Health Awards holds a competition to recognize high-quality digital health resources for consumers and health professionals. A panel of health technology professionals judges entries based on content, format, overall quality, and success in terms of reaching the targeted audience. These awards represent what makes WebMD Health Services different – we want our clients to see us as a partner, not just another vendor. Each award showcases our commitment to holistic well-being, ongoing education and strategy, and program enhancements that continue to inspire and champion our client’s people. Check our digital health awards out:

Entry Classification: Web-Based Digital Health

Gold Award – Infographic
Should Employee Mental Health Be a Priority for Your Organization?

This infographic highlighted key areas where employees are struggling with mental health, including data from our own coaching team on the prevalence of sleep issues, anxiety and depression. The infographic also shares data on the improvements in mental health experienced by employees who utilize the resources their employer provides. Access the infographic here for more insights.

Bronze Award – Webinar
Well-Being Priorities for 2023

During this webinar, our experts discussed how creating a culture of well-being; diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at work; employee mental health; and enhancing the employee experience would continue to be priorities for 2023. It also reviewed how employers were expected to deepen their efforts in these areas. Click here for the webinar recording.

Merit Award – Portal
WebMD ONE is Global

Our WebMD ONE portal is now accessible to employees in 190 countries across Europe, the Far East, and Latin America. The WebMD ONE portal offers an expanded range of languages; easy segmentation and cultural relevance; compliance with GDPR; global wellness challenges; and the most powerful segmentation capabilities in the market today. To learn more about the WebMD ONE portal’s global capabilities, click here.

Entry Classification: Digital Health Media – Publications

Gold Award – Video
Wellness Challenges, A Catalyst for Change

At WebMD Health Services we don’t just plan wellness challenges for our clients—we also take part in our own events. In this video we followed several WebMD employees as they participated in our Invitational Steps Challenge. In it, we shared their motivations, their challenges, and their successes as they moved their way to better health. Watch the video here.

Gold Award – Email
Mental & Emotional Health Well-Being Awareness

This email series focused on raising awareness of the need to have more open discussions about mental health in the workplace. Email recipients received numerous resources, including a survey template, e-books, webinars, podcasts, and blog articles to provide inspiration and information to gauge the mental and emotional health of their workforce.

Silver Award – White Paper
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B) in the Workplace

This DEI&B whitepaper revealed our findings from an independent research study that highlighted the discrepancies and disconnects between what employers publicly support and commit to, and how DEI&B plays out in the workplace. In it, we illuminate how diversity, equity and inclusion and belonging are intrinsically linked to the strength and vibrancy of workplace, and share suggestions for the kinds of changes employers can implement to ensure that DEI&B delivers on its goals and promises. Read the full whitepaper here.

Bronze Award – Blog Post
The Power of Flexibility

The pandemic has had a huge impact on the workplace, not only in terms of where we work, but also in how and when work gets done. This blog article unpacks how employers can offer flexibility to allow employees to structure work based on what’s important to them, so they feel supported across their whole lives. Check out the blog here.

Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Hot List 

Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Hot List recognizes the top companies providing employee well-being solutions. WebMD is proud to have been named to the 2023 list (a second year in a row for us), which includes the top solution providers in mental health, financial wellness, nutrition and dietary plans, lifestyle coaching, office design solutions and more. Come join us as we are recognized as one of the top employee well-being solutions.

Top 10 Stress Management Companies

Manage HR recognized WebMD as one of the top 10 companies in the stress management provider space. Christine Muldoon, SVP marketing and Strategy for WebMD, was featured in the April 2023 Stress Management Edition. Christine shared how WebMD empowers people with a wide variety of solutions to help employees deal with stress, manage changes, and overcome setbacks in their work and personal lives. This recognition showcases our belief that well-being is personal, and we need to meet individuals where they are with the right solutions at the right time. Check out all the ways we do that in the article .

We are so grateful to have been recognized for our efforts to help our clients’ employees and members make lasting changes to their health and well-being. We truly believe that we can empower well-being in everyone, and these awards are a testament to the impact we’re making. For more information about our well-being solutions and services, contact us at connect@webmd.net.

Our recent Empower Forum in Chicago brought together clients from around the country to discuss the latest and greatest well-being trends and learn about some exciting new offerings from WebMD Health Services. But we also devoted a portion of the agenda to focusing on our collective personal well-being, including an inspiring session with Sheila Hamilton about caring for our mental health.

Sheila is a five-time Emmy award-winning journalist and host of the Beyond Well podcast (available to WebMD clients). She has written and reported on mental health for more than a decade, including the memoir All the Things We Never Knew, Chasing the Chaos of Mental Illness.

Sheila shared some invaluable tips and skills we can all use to:

• Recognize the signs and symptoms of toxic stress and burnout.
• Make micro-adjustments that can lead to substantial changes before reaching the breaking point.
• Remain engaged, energized, and focused during turbulent times.

Here’s what she had to say:

You are already resilient.

Resilience is something we all have inside of us. We just need to learn the tools for tapping into it and continue to build on it. When we are going through a hard moment, Sheila advised us to “just get through that moment. Don’t think about anything else but getting through that moment. Take a breath. Then take another.”

Tools that can help:

• Body scan—This exercise, during which you focus your attention on your body and notice different sensations as you scan down mentally from head to toe, can interrupt the brain and force it to calm down.
• Personal resilience mantra—A mantra is a word or several words or phrases you repeat to help settle the mind. She shared a favorite of hers, A.R.G.H.—acceptance, resilience, gratitude and happiness.
• The happiness card—Sheila asked us to remember that “happiness is a card in the deck you can always play” and is a choice you make every day.

She also reminded us that we are all on a spectrum of mental well-being and need support from time to time. This is completely normal!

Self-care is never selfish. 

It’s a phrase we hear often, but what does it really mean to engage in self-care? We know it’s more than getting a massage or taking a bubble bath. Self-care means carving out enough time in the day to focus on five essential ingredients for good mental health:

1. Proper sleep (insomnia is the number one precursor to mental illness)
2. Nutrition (80% of serotonin, the “happy” chemical involved in regulating mood, is produced in our gut)
3. Hydration
4. Quality time with family and friends (social connections)
5. Joyful movement (doing things that feel good to your body)

Tools that can help:

• Eliminate or minimize multi-tasking—it actually makes you less productive; try the Pomodoro technique of working for 25 minutes, then getting up to take a 5 minute stretch, movement, or breathing break.
• Form your own board of directors—people who bring you joy or make you laugh; people who will help you stay active and exercise; even someone who can help manage finances.
• Mindfulness—stop, take a breath, observe your surroundings (colors, sounds, people, things, etc.), then proceed.
• Practice self-compassion and forgiveness—acknowledge emotions, practice tenderness toward ourselves, realize that we are all travelers.

Create healthy boundaries.

Boundaries are limits we identify for ourselves that help us define what we need to feel secure and healthy.¹ Sheila shared a four-step way to identify and set the boundaries we need:

1. Make a list of all of the things that take up your time.
2. Separate your list into the things that bring you joy or that you care most about, and what doesn’t bring you joy.
3. Choose to eliminate what doesn’t make you happy, including toxic relationships.
4. Think about ways to form social support to shore up your boundaries, which might include enlisting the help of friends/family in respecting your boundaries.

And remember, the word “no” plays a very important role in setting boundaries!

Resilience practices that prepare us for life. 

Sheila closed her session with two more tools for our toolbox that can help us prepare us for the eventual setback:

• Beauty hunting—this technique is a brain cleanse that encourages us to look for wonder, awe, and for those beautiful moments in life that are already happening and acknowledge them. An example is going on a walk and pointing out the beauty in what you see.
• Who is your why?—imagine you’re at your own funeral… who is in the first row, second row, and who didn’t take the time to get there? What are people saying about you? This will tell you a lot about your “why” so you can focus your efforts where they matter.

So many great tips from Sheila! She left us with the parting advice that if employers want to reach out to the next generation of employees, it’s important to find out their “why”—who and what they love—in order to really tap into their potential and increase their engagement. Need help supporting your employees with resilience building and other mental health tools? Contact us at connect@webmd.net.

WebMD Health Services has renewed its URAC Health Web Site Accreditation through July 1, 2020.

URAC is an independent, nonprofit accreditation entity, based in Washington, DC, whose mission it is to advance healthcare quality through leadership, accreditation, measurement and innovation. The URAC seal is a symbol of quality in health information on the Internet. Organizations that achieve Health Web Site Accreditation demonstrate their voluntary commitment to providing quality health information and meeting high standards for information delivery.

It is common sense that you cannot believe everything you read on the Internet, but WebMD Health Services has gone to great lengths to be an exception…

WebMD is committed to assuring peace of mind to the millions of people who use our well-being portal. We strive to make their experience safe and enjoyable. We take great pride in the fact that our readers consider us to be worthy of their trust.

This is the latest in a series of accreditations we have earned recently that demonstrates our commitment to quality. Back in April, we announced that we have earned the gold standard in health data security, HITRUST CSF Certification, as well as two industry-leading accreditations and a certification from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). We earn and maintain these industry seals of approval to maintain the trust and confidence of the clients and the millions of people we serve.

What’s special about the URAC Health Web Site accreditation?

The URAC accreditation includes review of key areas, such as:

• Privacy and security.
• Health content and editorial processes.
• Disclosure of financial relationships.
• Linking policies and notice about the links you choose.
• Consumer complaints.

The URAC-accredited health web site:

• Has an editorial policy that identifies the author and/or reviewer.
• Does not make claims of therapeutic effect without competent and reliable scientific evidence that supports the claim.
• Does not knowingly publish health content (including advertising and sponsored content) that contains either false or misleading claims, or promotes ineffective or dangerous products.
• Clearly distinguishes between paid advertising and website editorial content.
• Protects personal information that consumers provide, and does not collect personal health information without asking for consent.
• Provides specified levels of security procedures.
• Has a conflict of interest policy for the editorial team and all authors of health content that’s easy for users to find.
• Involves a quality oversight committee to evaluate and choose sites with which to link.

“It is common sense that you cannot believe everything you read on the Internet, but WebMD Health Services has gone to great lengths to be an exception by achieving independent Health Website Accreditation from URAC,” said URAC President and CEO Kylanne Green. “With URAC’s rigorous and independent accreditation standards for healthcare-related websites that demand disclosure, quality oversight, and accountability, WebMD Health Services demonstrates that it can be a trusted source of health information in the Internet.”

Related Content:

• Blog Article: One More Reason You Can Trust WebMD Health Services
• Blog Article: First, Security. Now, Quality.

Earlier this month, we announced that we have earned the gold standard in health data security: HITRUST CSF Certification. Today, we add another feather in our cap. We’re proud to announce that WebMD Health Services has earned two industry-leading accreditations and a certification from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

These accreditations demonstrate our commitment to quality and assure our customers that when you work with us, you are providing your employees and members the best well-being programs and services. You can be sure that we follow industry best practices that contain health care costs and help keep individuals healthy.

Organizations must pass a rigorous, comprehensive review to earn the NCQA accreditation. Why do we do it? Well, we are committed to creating healthy workplaces. We strive to provide our employer and health plan customers and their populations with the best support possible to manage their well-being in ways that suit their unique needs.

Our strong clinical foundation is a point of pride and a source of consumer trust. To maintain that trust and validate our focus on clinically rigorous solutions for our clients and the millions of people we serve, we earn seals of approval from NCQA, HITRUST and other industry groups.

We’ve come this far in the post without actually giving any details about the NCQA accreditations and certifications, so here they are:

• Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation, which evaluates WebMD Health Services’ employer and health plan well-being programs and their effectiveness at improving healthy behaviors.
• Patient and Practitioner-Oriented Disease Management Accreditation, which evaluates WebMD Health Service’s chronic disease condition management programs for asthma, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, and diabetes.
• Health Information Product (HIP): Support for Healthy Living Certification, which demonstrates that an organization has expertise in gathering and disseminating health care information for health plan members.

Our health plan customers are welcome to leverage these accreditations for their own benefit. They may significantly streamline their standards-review process for their own NCQA accreditations.

We should also point out that these are not our first accreditation from NCQA. WebMD Health Services has consistently maintained the level of quality that NCQA demands. We earned certifications for Health Information Products, Health Appraisals and Self-Management Tools in 2012. Two years later we earned the Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation, followed in 2015 by the Disease Management Patient-Oriented Accreditation.

While these achievements are a great accomplishment, the work doesn’t stop here. We will remain vigilant. To maintain these accreditations and certification (and renew them when the time comes), we have full-time staff dedicated to adhering to these standards every day.

They monitor for any updates in the accreditation requirements and update business processes, products and services accordingly. Senior leaders and the Quality Oversight Committee convene regularly to review and manage the WebMD quality assurance strategy.

For more information about NCQA, visit www.ncqa.org

Related Content:

• Blog Article: One More Reason You Can Trust WebMD Health Services
• Whitepaper: The Value of a Trusted Brand
• Tools & Guides: How to Select the Right Well-Being Program

Privacy is a precious commodity. It seems like a week doesn’t pass without a company announcing some kind of data breach that has exposed the personal information of thousands, even millions, of people. Even more worrisome, in some cases it may take months before an incident is revealed to the public.

Financial institutions, social media and Internet companies, even retailers offering credit cards have all been targets of some of the biggest data breaches. Healthcare providers are high on the list, too.

In fact, 62 percent of healthcare organizations have suffered a data breach in the past year, according to a recent Ponemon Institute survey of hospitals and payer organizations. The healthcare industry has been the second-most targeted industry for data breaches four consecutive years and yet only slightly more than half of organizations in the survey have implemented a program to respond to these incidents.

That’s perplexing, especially when respondents in the survey reported that it cost about $4 million to clean up after they had been compromised.

It’s no surprise that consumers are losing trust in anyone who handles their personal information. It’s gotten so bad that they don’t even feel comfortable sharing with their doctor. A staggering 89 percent of adults who visited a healthcare provider in 2016 said they were unwilling to share their full medical history with their providers, a Black Book survey found.

It goes without saying that this sort of news is deeply troubling. Not just because privacy protection and consumer trust are things we take incredibly seriously, but also because of the warning it sends to our entire industry. How can we truly serve the individual needs of each person if nine out of 10 of them are afraid to share their electronic medical records or other sensitive health information for fear they may be stolen, or shared without their knowledge?

To honor the trust that consumers and our clients have in WebMD Health Services, we have achieved the gold standard in health data security:  HITRUST CSF Certification. The certification covers Personal Health Manager, Site Manager, Active Coaching, and Supporting Infrastructure, which includes personal health data across all WebMD Health Services’ core offerings, products and platforms.

This gives peace of mind to those who interact with WebMD Health Services.

For consumers who take our Health Assessment, talk to a WebMD Health Coach or use another of our products, this certification further underscores our commitment to protecting their privacy and honoring the trust they already have with the WebMD brand. For our health plan and employer clients, this demonstrates that WebMD Health Services’ data security infrastructure has met industry-defined requirements, is appropriately managing risk, meets federal and state regulations, standards and frameworks, and incorporates a risk-based approach.

Forgive us, for a moment, as we toot our own horn. This is an incredible achievement. Data privacy and security is one of our core values at WebMD, and we’re proud to join an elite group of companies that have met this benchmark certification in the healthcare industry. Suffice to say, it took a lot of hard work but it was something we were committed to achieving.

As part of the rigorous certification process, HITRUST visited WebMD Health Services locations in Indianapolis and Portland, Oregon, as well as each of our data centers on the east and west coasts. We were measured on 349 different requirements across 66 control categories.

Those data centers now have all new hardware as part of a complete infrastructure refresh. As we work to maintain the HITRUST CSF Certification standard and comply with future updates, this new foundation will serve our customers better and ease adoption of future requirements.

For more information about HITRUST CSF Certification, visit https://hitrustalliance.net.

Join us on Wednesday, June 21 to learn more!

In June 1983, Time magazine proclaimed stress “The Epidemic of the Eighties” with a splashy cover story to boot.¹ Fast forward 34 years and major national headlines don’t really seem all that different.

A U.S. News and World Report story in February 2017 touted survey results that indicate “Stress in America Increases for the First Time in 10 Years.”² In April, CBS News reported on America’s Most Stressed-Out States.³ In May, USA Today proclaimed that “Americans just broke a record for being stressed.”⁴

These headlines represent far more than a mere fascination with stress but rather highlight the need for a truly different approach to what appears to have become a perennial problem. The fact that stress continues to plague Americans makes it logical to wonder if anything can be done to improve our ability to handle stress or to reduce the negative impact it has on us.

Stress and health

WebMD explains that the effects of stress can touch virtually any major system in our bodies including the immune, cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular and reproductive systems.⁵ These effects may show up as a reduced ability to fight illness to an increased risk of heart disease to exacerbated symptoms of chronic conditions and more.

Health problems caused by stress are experienced by more than 40 percent of adults and a minimum of 75 percent of all office visits to doctors are associated with stress.⁶

The emergence of resilience training

Instead of focusing on trying to eliminate stress, the emphasis today is on building personal resilience that can help people better navigate stress in their lives. This approach reflects the awareness that stress is a part of life and, in fact, isn’t always bad. The negative side of stress has more to do with the level and duration of stress and with a person’s response to it than the actual stress itself.

With this in mind, resilience training can be a vital means of helping people not simply survive through stressful times but potentially even thrive in the face of stress. It is based upon this principle that WebMD Health Services has partnered with meQuilibrium to deliver resilience tools through our well-being solutions.

7 factors of resilience

In our webinar on June 21, 2017, Brad Kirkpatrick, Chief Client Officer at WebMD Health Services, and Jan Bruce, Chief Executive Officer of meQuilibrium, will discuss:

• The growing trend of total well-being and the role of resilience.
• The benefits of developing resilience.
• The science behind how and why resilience works.

We hope you’ll join us for this event to learn more about why resilience matters and how WebMD Health Services is committed to the total well-being of your populations.

Visit the webinar recording now.

As our coaches complete their three millionth session, we reflect on all that we have learned from the journey.

April 13, 2017 – a coaching milestone!

Just another day for many, but here at WebMD Health Services April 13th was good reason to stop and remember just why we do what we do. This day marked the three millionth coaching session either by phone or in person by WebMD Coaches since January 1, 2007.

In just over 10 years, the popularity and reach of our coaching program has grown tremendously. The first one million sessions were completed in four-and-a-quarter years in April 2011. Roughly three-and-a-half years later in December 2014 the second million had taken place. Now, in just over two years and a few months, we’re hitting the three million mark.

This growth has only been possible for one reason—coaching works. Just ask Verizon Communications, Inc. Their initial Weight Management Coaching program targeting 14,000 people was so successful that they have now opened up Lifestyle Coaching to more than 100,000 people.

You could also ask Keith or Karen, both of whom transformed their lives with the help of WebMD coaches.

What we’ve learned.

But, perhaps what makes reaching this three million mark so special isn’t what we’ve done but what we’ve learned along the way. What has all of this experience taught us? A lot.

Lesson #1: People appreciate help.

Most people really do want to feel their best but many simply do not know how to start, where to look or who to trust for guidance along the way. Changes may feel too overwhelming to achieve on one’s own and cutting through the noise to find help can itself be a hurdle too big to overcome.

These reasons alone sometimes prevent people from making the changes they so badly want to make. By offering people the help they need from someone they know they can trust, our clients help their populations leapfrog their way to achieving great things.

Lesson #2: The “why” matters.

In Matt Ferguson’s recent blog post, Motivation: The Key to Unlimited Potential, three of our coaches shared their insights on how they help people tap into the root reasons for making changes. It is here that true motivation is found. By getting to this emotive level, goals become clearer and the desire to reach them stronger, making it more likely that they will actually succeed.

Lesson #3: Coaching is an art and a science.

Together our coaches have an average of nearly eight years of industry experience. All hold undergraduate degrees and national certifications; two-thirds hold advanced degrees and specialty certifications. They understand behavioral science as well as biological science. But, they also understand people. They know how to flex. No two coaching sessions are the same because no two people are the same.

Thank you for three million amazing sessions.

At WebMD Health Services, we are honored to have been part of so many people’s journeys for these past 10 years. Over the course of our work with in most recent two million coaching sessions, we have seen many positive results including:

• Exercise boosted over 4 million minutes per week.
• More than 812,000 pounds lost.
• Reduced 25,000 cigarettes smoked per day.
• Increased fruit and veggie intake by over 140,000 daily servings.

These results are just the tip of the iceberg and a big part of why we’re so excited for the next three million sessions. For now, however, thank you to everyone who gave us the opportunity to reach this milestone.