Marathon Health Appoints Jerry Ford Chief Executive Officer

Marathon Health today announced that Jerry Ford has been appointed chief executive officer of the company.

Colchester, VT (HRMarketer/PRWeb) February 20, 2008 -- Marathon Health, a leading innovator of onsite corporate health services, announced today that Jerry Ford has joined the company as chief executive officer. Ford brings to Marathon Health an extensive senior management background in healthcare information technology, process improvement, and customer experience management.

Most recently Ford was CEO and president of an Accel-KKR owned company (Systems & Software) where he guided the senior leadership team to apply operational efficiencies and core values that led to improved customer satisfaction and overall business performance. Prior to Systems & Software, Ford spent 15 years at IDX Systems Corporation where he most recently served as vice president of operations responsible for more than 300 large complex healthcare delivery system customers. Ford emphasized employee growth and development to focus his organization on providing proactive customer-centric care as the means of exceeding financial objectives for customers and for his organization. A certified Green Belt, Ford believes in the appropriate and relevant application of Six Sigma and Lean Methodologies to achieve continual process improvement.

While technology and health plan design changes have made an impact on improving the delivery of care in our country, the vast majority of the burden of the problems in healthcare rest squarely on the shoulders of our nation’s employers

“Marathon Health is in the business of changing the way employers and their employees think about healthcare benefits,” said Richard E. Tarrant, founder and chairman of Marathon Health and former founder and chairman of IDX Systems Corporation. “Our mission at Marathon Health is to help lower the cost and improve the quality of healthcare by giving employers and employees the tools and support they need to be responsible for their own health and healthcare. Jerry understands the healthcare dynamic and as CEO will ensure that we are able to help employers meet the serious healthcare challenges they are facing today.”

“While technology and health plan design changes have made an impact on improving the delivery of care in our country, the vast majority of the burden of the problems in healthcare rest squarely on the shoulders of our nation’s employers,” said Ford. “This opportunity to return to healthcare and join an innovator in the field of onsite health services is a chance for me to help address our healthcare issues head on, and perhaps most importantly, to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve.”

Ford joins Marathon Health and the management team that had been an integral part of the success of IDX Systems Corporation, which was transacted to GE Healthcare for $1.2 billion. Additionally, Ford joins Charles D. Reuter, president of Marathon Health, who is responsible for sales and marketing with his primary focus on growth strategies and product development initiatives. The executive leadership provided by Ford and Reuter favorably positions Marathon Health for achieving its strategic objectives of delivering integrated onsite health centers to large employers nationwide.

About Marathon Health
Marathon Health offers a proven solution for helping employers reduce the total cost of healthcare. Our 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. Together, these services create a unique worksite health program. The Marathon Health solution produces superior results in terms of reducing the risk profile and preventable claims costs for the employee population, resulting in a much higher ROI.

At Marathon Health, we support our unique onsite health services model with robust technology including our eHealth Portal with consumer medical content, interactive diet and fitness tools, and a personal health record, portable from carrier to carrier, and owned by the employee. Our technology is built around a sophisticated clinical decision support tool called Problem Knowledge Couplers, affording providers and patients alike the data required for a complete problem oriented health record and a tailored plan of management options for all risks and conditions. www.marathon-health.com .

For further information, please contact:
Tracey Moran, Director of Marketing
802-857-0459

This press release was distributed through eMediawire by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company
listed above.

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