ALTOONA, Pa. -- Sheetz Inc. has signed an agreement with Marathon Health for it to serve as the convenience retailer's onsite medical services provider at the company's Claysburg, Pa., distribution center.
Under the agreement signed last month, Marathon Health will operate the 2,200-sq.-ft. health center and provide primary care, health assessments, lifestyle coaching and disease management services. The center will be part of a larger Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)-certified 10,000-sq.-ft. facility that will also include a fitness center and conference center.
Sheetz executives expect the facility to be open by the fall of next year, they said.
The selection criteria identified by Sheetz included a vendor thato offered new technology and a paperless approach to healthcare, demonstrated an ability to be flexible to changing needs and services and fostered a corporate culture that aligned with Sheetz's commitment to caring about its associates' health and wellbeing, the companies said.
"We are a company that early on learned the value of a wellness atmosphere among our associates," said Bill Young, Sheetz's director of compensation, benefits and risk. "After 10 straight years of our healthcare costs rising 8% per year, we realized we weren't doing enough to educate our workforce on the benefits of healthy eating habits and routine exercise. We now offer regular healthy habits challenges as we create a culture of what we call 'Shwellness' at Sheetz. Marathon Health was a natural fit for us as a vendor who understands our vision and will help our associates get to where they want to be."
By integrating the fitness center with the health services, Marathon Health is able to reach the healthy associates and target others with high health-risk factors and help them achieve their goals of leading healthier and longer lives.
Marathon Health CEO Jerry Ford said he hopes to expand Marathon Health's MedicalHome@Work model to other company locations.
"Sheetz understands that maintaining the status quo in the healthcare delivery system is no longer viable. Companies need to be proactive and create a culture where associates want to get healthy if the cost trends are going to bend," he said. "We are in business to do just that. We are ecstatic to have a company as well regarded as Sheetz on board who shares that vision with us."
Marathon Health, Colchester, Vt., offers a solution for helping employers reduce the total cost of healthcare. The Marathon Health approach integrates the best practices of onsite primary care, health assessment with risk identification, coaching and advocacy and disease management for high-cost chronic conditions. Marathon Health supports its model with an eHealth Portal delivering medical content, interactive diet and fitness tools, a personal health record and an electronic medical record to manage care.
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz operates a chain of more than 400 c-stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. It has approximately 14,000 employees.
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