The story of Nationwide Better Health begins within Nationwide itself, where a group of individuals were contemplating several health care trends that were negatively affecting employers, as well as employees.

Health care costs were rising 10 percent annually. Obesity, diabetes and heart disease were on the rise. The health care system was doing a pretty good job — of caring for sick people. But what about preventing sickness? And what about bringing that prevention mindset to the workplace through programs and services?

Meeting an unmet need. Enterprising employers could build their own solution, but only by piecing together individual offerings from multiple vendors. They'd have to review different reports (if they could even get any data or information), and struggle to align their patchwork of solutions with a common outcome. They'd also have to convince their employees to interact with multiple contacts, none of which would know an individuals total health picture. In response to this complex problem, Nationwide's big idea was simple: bring all the pieces of a health and productivity solution under one roof by leveraging its own best practice programs as well as those of its partners. Finally, employers would be able to deal with one partner, one eligibility file, one reporting structure and one outcome. Employees would be able to talk to a single, dedicated nurse health coach. They would have to share their information only once. And they'd receive a seamless level of support in return