Gallup, Healthways Announce Global Well-Being...(ted States and isexpected to be extended...),Health

Initial results from the first 50,000 completed surveys with American households reveal such findings as:

-- Friends and family helped individuals improve or maintain their health

53% of the time, almost as frequently as physicians who were cited 59%

of the time

-- Eighteen percent of full-time workers indicated that they currently

care for a disabled or elderly family member, relative or friend

-- More than one-third of unemployed individuals looking for work smoke as

compared to about one-fifth of individuals employed on a full-time

basis

"Healthways has long believed that a person's state of health affects not only direct healthcare costs, but also impacts their ability to be productive in the work environment," Leedle said. "The index will enable employers and community leaders to objectively assess the health of their population and access solutions that maintain health, modify risk factors and focus on the evidenced-based care necessary for those with chronic and persistent conditions."

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index will provide cities, states and countries, as well as employers, families and individuals with objective information that shows their well-being score, how it compares to benchmarks, why that is, as well as things they can do and solutions they can employ to change it.

"Employers will now be able to measure the well-being of their workforce and families anywhere in the world. We envision that the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index will be an important, if not a leading factor in a company's decisions about health benefits, work environment and corporate culture, as well as providing a new, critical data point about site selection for a new plant or facility," Leedle added. "Organizations have long made such decisions based on workforce, transportation systems and educat
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