Safeway contracts OneHealth Solutions on comprehensive 'healthy living' service for employees

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. — OneHealth Solutions on Wednesday announced that Safeway has selected OneHealth to help support healthy living for its 171,000 employees. "Safeway is committed to developing programs that enable our employees to make informed and sustainable healthcare decisions," stated Kent Bradley, SVP and chief medical officer at Safeway. "We offer a number of innovative healthcare programs, and integrating a peer support program like OneHealth allows us to leverage the power of the community to support individuals on their health journey."

Safeway’s benefit-eligible employees and their dependents can access OneHealth’s private, technology-enabled service for a wide range of chronic behavioral and medical conditions, including addiction, depression, stress reduction, asthma, obesity and caregiver/family support around the clock. OneHealth’s HIPAA-compliant Social Solutioning platform includes access to peer health coaches, community managers, expert discussions and live online meetings and group chats where members can learn and interact with guest experts to drive positive behavior change.

The importance of implementing programs that help improve the psychosocial aspects of employee health is underscored by a new study co-authored by Ron Goetzel, a research professor and the director of Emory University's Institute for Health and Productivity Studies and VP consulting and applied research for Truven Health Analytics, demonstrating that 22.4% of the $366 million spent annually by seven employers can be attributed to just 10 health risk factors. For example, the study found that annual medical spending for an employee with depression is 48% higher than for a worker without depression.