[November 20, 2014]

Healthways Expands Reach of Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease with Six New Agreements

Six health systems are joining forces with global well-being improvement leader Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWAY), to bring the nationally renowned Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease™ to their communities. The program has been proven to not only treat but also reverse chronic diseases through comprehensive lifestyle changes, presenting both clinicians and patients with a less invasive and more effective option than drugs and surgery.

Healthways has finalized new agreements with Atlantic Health System in Morristown, New Jersey; Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, Delaware; CAMC Health System in Charleston, West Virginia; St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi; St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California; and WVU Healthcare in Morgantown, West Virginia.

"These health systems are leaders in recognizing the power of 'lifestyle as treatment' to change their patients' lives and strengthen communities," said Ben R. Leedle, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Healthways. "We are seeing gathering momentum for the Ornish program because it perfectly addresses a convergence of market trends. The prevalence and cost of cardiac disease are increasing while the body of evidence is growing that existing treatment methodologies such as medications and surgery are simply not as effective as the impact of making significant lifestyle changes. Because the Ornish program has been proven to reverse heart disease by addressing its underlying causes, it also represents the type of healthcare that consumers and clinicians both want and an approach that is more in keeping with the principles of accountable care."

The Ornish program is based on more than three decades of research showing that the progression of coronary artery disease and other chronic conditions can be treated and reversed through lifestyle changes, including exercise, stress management, nutrition and community support. The program, its foundational research and Dr. Ornish himself have been featured widely in national media, including stories in Newsweek, TIME, U.S. News & World Report and The New York Times.

"My colleagues and I are helping to create a new paradigm of health care - one based on addressing the lifestyle choices we make each day that are the underlying causes of heart disease and many other chronic diseases. Our bodies often have a remarkable capacity to begin healing when we do so," said Dr. Ornish. "My vision has always been to sustainably transform lives for the better by making simple lifestyle choices - what we eat, how we respond to stress, how much we exercise, and how much love and support we share. With each new site to offer our program, we continue to make that vision a reality, expanding access to a greater number of people suffering from a disease that we have found can often be reversed without drugs or surgery.

"Participants embrace the program because they have more energy, less stress, more emotional support, much less pain, and greater physical endurance - in short, they feel empowered to regain control of their livs. We can make better care available to more people at lower cost - and the only side effects are good ones."

The Ornish program has obtained outstanding results in terms of both participant engagement and clinical outcomes. For example:

• In one study involving more than 3,500 participants at 24 sites, the severity of angina improved in 96.5 percent of participants after one year. In addition, 85 to 90 percent of participants were still adhering to the program one year later.
• In another study, there was reversal (improvement) in coronary artery disease after one year and even more reversal after five years. Overall, 99 percent of patients stopped or reversed the progression of their heart disease, and there was a 300 percent overall improvement in blood flow to the heart.

"As a physician who lives and practices interventional cardiology at 'ground zero' for heart disease and diabetes, I understand the complex factors that make these diseases so prevalent and often difficult for patients to overcome," said Dr. Richard Guynes, chief of staff at St. Dominic Hospital, Jackson, Mississippi. "The Ornish program is truly a game changer that will allow clinicians like me to offer patients a proven, sustainable approach that can reverse the effects of heart disease and dramatically improve their quality of life. Adding lifestyle change as treatment to our existing cardiac service lines will mark the beginning of a new era in heart disease management for my practice and our hospital."

In 2011, based on Dr. Ornish's research, Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Medicare reimbursement for individuals enrolled in the Ornish program under a new category, "Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation." The program is currently reimbursed nationwide by Medicare and by commercial payers in 17 states, including Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia, Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA), the West Virginia Public Employee Insurance Agency (WVPEIA) and WellPoint under its subsidiaries, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Anthem Blue Cross, Empire BlueCross BlueShield and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. In addition, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia, WVPEIA and HMSA have expanded their coverage to include diabetes and other risk factors for heart disease for qualified individuals.

The Ornish program aligns with industry-wide efforts to create value-based reimbursement models that reward health systems and physicians for sustained improvement in the underlying health and well-being of populations and their associated health-related costs. The program complements existing cardiac service lines, increasing options for patients and physicians. In addition to reversing heart disease, the Ornish program has been proven to be effective in the management of Type 2 diabetes, early-stage prostate cancer and other chronic diseases that drive disproportionate medical costs and lost productivity.

Concluded Leedle, "The Ornish program is an integral part of Healthways' commitment to transform healthcare through sustainable lifestyle changes. Healthways and Dr. Ornish share a common vision: to help people live healthier and more fulfilling lives through science-based solutions that go beyond physical health to improve overall well-being."

About Dean Ornish, M.D.

Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ornish received his M.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine, was a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He earned a B.A. in humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin, where he gave the baccalaureate address.

Dr. Ornish was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health in 2010 and, previously, by President Clinton to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy in 2000. He chaired the Google (News - Alert) Health Advisory Council 2007-2009.

He has received numerous national and professional awards including being honored by LIFE magazine as "one of the fifty most influential members of his generation," being recognized as "one of the most interesting people of 1996" by People; and having been described in Forbes magazine as "one of the seven most powerful teachers in the world."

The Ornish diet, a critical component of the Ornish Program, was rated #1 for heart health by U.S. News & World Report in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

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 participant's 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 68 million people on four continents. Learn more at www.healthways.com.

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