[September 27, 2011]

Eliza Corporation Shares Additional "Unmentionables" Data, Insight and Opportunities at the 2011 Health 2.0 Conference

Eliza Corporation, the leading provider of integrated healthcare communication strategies, presented new data on the "Unmentionables" yesterday afternoon at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco (September 24-27, 2011). Results illustrated the very real impact of issues such as caregiving, financial stress and job stress on health and productivity levels. The panel presentation also offered some ideas on how the healthcare industry can address these issues which have traditionally been ignored by the healthcare space.

"We tend to think of our health as directly tied to a particular disease or condition, but if there is one thing that we've learned in our years of research, our over 500 million interactions, it's that we need to consider more than just the traditional definitions of health," said Alexandra Drane, president and co-founder of Eliza Corporation. "Real life has health consequences above and beyond what you talk about in your doctor's office - things like financial stress, caring for an aging parent, stressful work environments - in fact, these often 'unmentionable' factors can actually be more predictive of our wellbeing and overall health and productivity than traditional health factors. And there's a lot we can do about it."

Drane was joined on the panel by thought leaders from Walmart, AARP, Veterans Affairs, Aetna and others; each expert offered perspectives supporting the impact of these Unmentionables on health and productivity, as well as examples of the ways these Unmentionables impact individuals and how we should think about addressing them to ensure happier, healthier and more productive lives.

Sample data points that were discussed include:

• People who report dealing with 4 or 5 Unmentionable issues are over 5 times more likely to report bad health, while people who say they have no Unmentionables are more than 3 times more likely to report excellent health
• Unmentionable issues impact productivity: 36% of people caring for an aging parent and 47% of people with financial stress say these factors significantly decrease their ability to do their best at work
• A person's positive and negative coping strategies have a significant impact on their health and productivity levels - people who have a high ratio of "magnifiers" to "buffers" are 7 times more likely to report bad health than those who have more buffers than magnifiers
• Similarly, people who have a high ratio of buffers to magnifiers are nearly 4 times more likely to report high productivity levels
• 80.6% of people would be willing to accept support for their financial concerns from their doctor or health plan with a nearly identical percent (79.9%) willing to accept this help from their employer. For caregiving these numbers were 95.1% and 96.9% respectively.

"The scientific literature is full of separate, isolated studies of specific health factors, predictors of work effectiveness and societal trends in poverty, substance abuse and spirituality. But life doesn't always work that way," said Wendy Lynch, PhD, co-director of the Center for Consumer Choice in Health Care at the Altarum Institute and co-developer of the Unmentionables concept and analysis. "These results show us what we all know intuitively: health and work performance happen within the greater context of our lives. Many circumstances influence how we feel and do. Isolating specific factors leads to compartmentalized thinking and ineffective solutions. Context is key."

Members of the press interested in speaking with Alexandra Drane and her fellow presenters at Health 2.0 may contact Melissa O'Dowd of Waggener Edstrom at 617-234-4109 or [email protected] to schedule a meeting.

About Eliza

Eliza Corporation blends technology, communication expertise, and data analytics to drive healthy behavior change. The company's intelligent, tailored interactions-including automated calls-make health and healthcare information more accessible, more actionable, and more engaging. Each program is powered by Eliza's patented speech recognition technology, rich web and multi-modal delivery platform, population profile analysis, and Continuity of Care Record (CCR) capabilities. These programs consistently yield the best outcomes in the industry in terms of improved engagement, health and wellness measures, and financial savings.

Eliza's customers include the nation's leading health plans, disease management firms, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefit managers and employers. The results of Eliza's programs have been recognized by organizations including the Centers for Prevention and Disease Control, the BlueCross BlueShield Association, URAC, Entrepreneur magazine, The Consumer Directed Health Care Congress and Harvard Medical School. Eliza is privately-held; for more information, please visit www.elizacorp.com.

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