Healthways Sees U.S. Struggles (ESRX) (HWAY)

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Healthways (HWAY), the well-being enhancement company, and statistical research services provider Gallup recently announced the results of the monthly Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (“WBI”) for September 2011. The overarching WBI measure fell to 65.7, its lowest point since March 2009 when it had attained a score of only 64.3.

Among the component indices, the Emotional Health Index recorded a poor score, for the month of September vis-à-vis the same month of the 4 prior years, of 78.3 on account of a decline in the percent of Americans who felt happy a large part of the previous day. The Life Evaluation Index fell to 47.1, with 51% of Americans thriving, 45% struggling and 4% suffering.

The Physical Health Index dropped somewhat to 76.7 from its sequentially preceding level of 77.5 on account of greater incidence of cold and flu. The Healthy Behavior Index, at 63.4, also registered its minimal month of September score over the last 4 years. The downward drift of this index was on account of a drop in the number of Americans who exercised regularly and consumed a good amount of fruits and vegetables.

The WBI shows that Americans’ access to basic necessities fell to 81.4, its nadir in the last 4 years. The drop in this metric was due to decline in the proportion of Americans who had — sufficient money to purchase food, easy access to perishable fruits and vegetables and safety walking alone at night. Furthermore, the percentage of Americans carrying health insurance coverage approached its record low of 82.3%

Finally, the Work Environment Index stagnated somewhat at 47.3 in September. This index has attained its 8 lowest scores (during the past 45 months) over the course of the last 8 months. This trend reflects on-going unhappiness at the workplace.

Healthways is a prominent vendor of specialized and composite solutions, enabling recipients to maintain or improve their well-being, while consequently reducing systemic healthcare costs. The company’s solutions are intended to keep people healthy and mitigate lifestyle risk factors that can cause disease and optimize care for those with chronic illness. Healthways competes with Express Scripts (ESRX) among others.

Gallup is known for providing timely and pertinent research on opinion. The company employs scientists in disciplines, such as economics, sociology, management and psychology. Its consultants identify and monitor behavioral economic indicators on a worldwide basis, thereby enabling companies to increase organic growth.

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