Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of Wellesley, Mass., announced Friday it has acquired an Arkansas company that helps large employers improve the health behavior of their workers.

Harvard Pilgrim's subsidiary, Health Plans Inc., acquired TrestleTree of Fayetteville, Ark. Health Plans is the part of Harvard Pilgrim that acts as a third-party administrator for large companies. Large employers tend to be self insured, meaning the company pays for its workers' medical costs. Large employers hire a third-party administrator to establish a network of clinicians and to manage the medical costs. Smaller employers tend to be fully-insured, meaning the employer pays a premium to an insurance company, which in turn pays for workers' medical expenses.

TrestleTree will be a service marketed to large employers who are self-insured and want to reduce medical expenses by improving the health and health-related behaviors of their workforces.

TrestleTree offers health coaching and lifestyle management, which means helping people to quit smoking, maintain a healthy weight, manage stress and exercise. The program also analyzes gaps in medical care a person is receiving, according to Harvard Pilgrim. The program has achieved measurable change for workers and has reduced health-care cost for employers, the insurer said.

TrestleTree has been in the lifestyle-and-wellness management business for more than 10 years and it has been successful in changing behaviors by the most reluctant of participants, said Health Plans President Deborah Hodges.

"They've got over 10 years of demonstrated outcomes where they've really been able to show that they've had savings and have made an impact," Hodges said.

Harvard Pilgrim and Health Plans Inc. have some internal wellness programs and lifestyle management programs, but the TrestleTree is a different model based on proprietary training and coaching different from other similar programs, she said.

"So, now everybody within the last couple years is talking about wellness and wellness coaching and lifestyle coaching, but they were doing this 10 years ago when nobody else was really talking about it," Hodges said.

TrestleTree President Ted Borgstadt said in a statement: "Our new relationship with Harvard Pilgrim allows for a broader expansion of TrestleTree's core expertise: helping less motivated individuals measurably change difficult health behaviors that results in lower cost and better health."

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care offers group plans in Connecticut, and is a relatively new entrant in the state's health insurance market. The Massachusetts nonprofit started selling small-group health plans through the Chamber Insurance Trust, an alliance of about 60 chambers of commerce in Connecticut, in July. Harvard Pilgrim is evaluating the costs and benefits of entering Connecticut's public health insurance exchange.

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Harvard Pilgrim Acquires Health Coaching Company