HealthyWage, a company offering Americans a chance to place bets on their ability to lose weight using any diet and fitness program they choose, announced Tuesday that it paid out over $450,000 in 2011.
The New York City-based company grew its membership base by more than 500 percent last year and its participants collectively lost more than 800,000 pounds.
The company also reported that in 2011 over 250 corporations joined – including many large hospitals, health systems and insurers – in an attempt to boost their employee wellness programs.
According to some HealthyWage partners, participants are wasting no time getting started.
“Our staff are really fired up about this program and the incentive," said Tammy Vasta, employee health coordinator at Memorial Health System in South Bend, Ind. "One team of five have already signed up for membership at our health club as one of their strategies for losing the weight.”
HealthyWage is founded on research that proves cash rewards triple the effectiveness of weight loss programs, according to a press release issued by the company.
“Studies show that monetary incentives serve to enhance the effectiveness of, and duly complement, weight-loss programs of any and all sorts, especially when paid out quickly like our various programs,” said HealthyWage co-founder David Roddenberry in a statement. “This is one reason why financial health incentives are a growing trend, with more than 50 percent of self-insured employers in the U.S. now offering some type of financial inducement as part of their healthcare program.”
Follow HFN editor Rene Letourneau on Twitter @ReneLetourneau