NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Healthways (HWAY) today announced a five-year extension of their decade-long agreement with Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) to leverage its clinical, research and educational capabilities in the rapid development, testing and distribution of new well-being improvement science and solutions. Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions (JHHCS), a division of Johns Hopkins HealthCare, will coordinate support of the joint effort by faculty and staff members of the institution.

As a leading provider of health and medical services to the population we serve and as a major employer, Johns Hopkins Medicine faces many of the same challenges confronting healthcare organizations worldwide, said JHHC President Patricia M. C. Brown, JD. Successfully meeting these challenges requires new solutions, new distribution and payment models, and new partnerships.

Our new agreement with Johns Hopkins reflects a major change in focus for our ongoing collaboration, noted Ben R. Leedle, Jr., Healthways president and CEO. Historically, we sought Hopkins support to validate our clinical pathways, validate our outcomes and provide support and guidance to our physician outreach efforts. As our relationship matured over the past decade, however, we came to recognize even greater opportunities that could be pursued by harnessing our unique capabilities to contribute to practical research into new approaches that would accelerate our respective abilities to address the health needs of each individual in the populations we serve, rather than just the care needs of those who are already sick.

The new agreement with JHM reflects Healthways' long-term commitment to developing and distributing programs based on sound clinical research, such as the joint market introduction of InnergyTM, the commercial version of the new standard of care weight-loss program validated by faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the NIH-supported POWER1 trial concluded last year.

We have successfully tested this new model for collaboration through our participation in the POWER trial and the market introduction of Innergy, Leedle said. We now look forward with confidence to the development and distribution of new, even more effective models to engage individuals of all ages in the lifestyle and health behaviors that we know will contribute to their improved well-being, reduced health-related cost and improved performance.

The research, program development and distribution activities contemplated by the new agreement will be guided by a Joint Steering Committee (JSC) that includes clinical, research, program development and distribution experts from both JHM, JHHCS and Healthways. Chaired by Frederick L Brancati, MD, MHS, chair of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the executive medical director of JHHCS, the Joint Steering Committee will set the agenda for, and guide, the workflows contemplated under the agreement. In addition, the JHHCS members of the JSC will provide ongoing oversight of all services provided to Healthways by JHM and its affiliates, and their respective faculty and staff, in support of the organizations mutual objectives.

It is increasingly clear that the role of health care professionals and institutions will be undergoing significant change in the face of burgeoning epidemics of lifestyle-dependent diseases and their contribution to unsustainable levels of cost both in the U.S. and overseas, Brancati said. The purpose of this agreement is to harness the unique capabilities of both organizations to accelerate the development and distribution of new solutions to effectively address those challenges.

About Healthways

Healthways is the largest independent global provider of well-being improvement solutions. Dedicated to creating a healthier world one person at a time, the Company uses the science of behavior change to produce and measure positive change in well-being for our customers, which include employers, integrated health systems, hospitals, physicians, health plans, communities and government entities. We provide highly specific and personalized support for each individual and their team of experts to optimize each participants health and productivity and to reduce health-related costs. Results are achieved by addressing longitudinal health risks and care needs of everyone in a given population. The Company has scaled its proprietary technology infrastructure and delivery capabilities developed over 30 years and now serves approximately 40 million people on four continents. Learn more at http://www.healthways.com.

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Healthways and Johns Hopkins Medicine Extend and Expand Decade-Long Agreement to Translate Clinical Research into ...