SAN FRANCISCO — May 23, 2013 — ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s leading packaged food companies, has selected Castlight Health to enable its employees to make informed, value-based decisions about their health care. With Castlight’s health care management suite, ConAgra’s employees will have access to in-depth information on the cost and quality of medical services, providers and prescriptions, helping them to reduce the escalating cost of care for themselves and the company. By providing employees with increased transparency, ConAgra will also help engage them in the management of their care and achieve better outcomes.

As a company operating within a highly competitive marketplace, ConAgra needed to address rising health care costs without negatively impacting the price of its end products. ConAgra determined that by implementing a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) in tandem with health care transparency, it could offer a best-in-class benefits program to its workforce. After a comprehensive review of available solutions, ConAgra selected Castlight for the depth of its quality and cost data coupled with the impartiality offered by an independent vendor. Additionally, the expertise of Castlight’s clinical team provided an extra advantage, as they could collaborate with ConAgra to provide strategic advice on benefits plan design.

“To combat the burden of ever-rising health care costs, we knew we would require an innovative benefits program that put the responsibility on both ConAgra and our employees. Yet we also realized that offering a CDHP without transparency would be like asking consumers to shop at a grocery store while wearing a blindfold,” said Bart Karlson, senior director of benefits, ConAgra Foods. “By working with Castlight, we are giving our employees the insight they need to make better-informed, high-value decisions on their care.”

ConAgra is also leveraging Castlight Pharmacy to provide its employees with comprehensive information about prescription drug costs and providers as well as Castlight Mobile for anywhere, anytime access to Castlight’s health care management suite. With this comprehensive set of offerings, ConAgra employees have access to the tools they need to manage their health care whether they’re at home, at work or on-the-go. In addition, ConAgra plans to leverage the integration capabilities of Castlight’s suite to offer new health care benefits programs moving forward, such as reference-based rewards.

“There is a universal understanding that health care costs are continuing to rise, though this impacts every employer differently,” said Giovanni Colella, M.D., CEO and co-founder of Castlight Health. “For ConAgra, the key was to strike a balance between controlling costs and providing its employees with top-notch benefits. With Castlight, ConAgra’s workforce has access to the kind of health care and prescription information that will help them more closely manage their care as engaged consumers, while helping ConAgra get skyrocketing costs under control.”

About Castlight Health
Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com
or call (415) 829-1400.

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Press Contact:
Drew Smith
Blanc & Otus for Castlight Health
dsmith@blancandotus.com
415-856-5127

The post ConAgra Foods Improves its Innovative Benefits Program with Health Care Transparency from Castlight Health appeared first on Castlight Health.

The post What the Affordable Health Care Act Means for You appeared first on Castlight Health.

In regards to the data, Giovanni Colella, M.D., co-founder and CEO of leading Health Care Transparency provider Castlight Health, added:

“We applaud Medicare for making this very important and useful data widely available. Today’s release of Medicare price comparison data for common hospital procedures is a significant first step in addressing the health care cost crisis. This will expose many people, for the first time, to the significant price variation that exists between providers, even within a single geography. The Health and Human Services (HHS) data will also push the hospitals and other providers to rationalize the prices they charge.

“As a next step to improve health care and lower costs for individuals and businesses, transparency needs to encompass both price and quality of care information across health care services. Additionally, the 60 percent of Americans who have private health insurance often pay over 30 percent more than the Medicare prices, impacting both individuals through their out-of-pocket costs and lowered salaries and their employers who pay the majority of the bills. Consumers need access to the actual prices they pay for health care, coupled with quality metrics on providers, so they can make informed decisions. In almost every other market in America, purchase decisions are driven by an understanding of price and quality; it’s time for the same in health care.”

The HHS statement regarding the data can be found here, and a full list of prices can be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

For more information or to speak to Castlight about the data and the future of the health care in America, contact Joan Levy at jlevy@blancandotus.com or 415.856.5110

About Castlight Health
Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com or call (415) 829-1400.
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Press Contact:
Joan Levy
Blanc & Otus for Castlight Health
jlevy@blancandotus.com
415-856-5110

The post Government Data on Extreme Medicare Health Care Price Discrepancies Only Part of the Picture for Most Americans appeared first on Castlight Health.

SAN FRANCISCO – April 25, 2013 – Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI), a Fortune 150 company and global power leader, is partnering with Castlight Health to offer Castlight’s Health Care Transparency solution to its 24,000 U.S. employees and their adult dependents. The partnership is a major element of Cummins’ continued efforts to bolster health care quality, reduce costs and improve outcomes for its employees.

Through Castlight’s health care management suite, users are able to access valuable information on the cost and quality of medical providers and procedures, empowering them to make well-informed decisions on the care available to them.

An ardent supporter of employee health and wellness, Cummins offers a wide variety of programs to help its workforce take control of their health care. When it launched a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP), Cummins determined that incorporating a Health Care Transparency solution would not only help employees uncover low-cost, high-quality care, but could also drive engagement in other benefits initiatives such as its wellness programs.

“Our business is powered by our employees and we believe that healthy, productive and informed employees are key to our success,” said Jill Olds, Director, Global Benefits Strategy, Cummins Inc. “By adding Health Care Transparency from Castlight to our benefits program, we can further engage our employees and their families in their health care and empower them to become better health care consumers.”

With Castlight, employees can find cost-effective health care providers, services and facilities. In addition, the Castlight tool will help cross-promote Cummins’ nurse helpline, maternity management program and Virgin HealthMiles rewards program. Cummins also plans to integrate Castlight with its pharmacy partner to provide richer data on pharmacies and prescriptions.

“Cummins has long been a visionary in how it approaches employee benefits and in understanding the importance and impact of engaging employees in their health care,” said Giovanni Colella, M.D., co-founder and CEO, Castlight Health. “Forward-thinking employers like Cummins are helping pave the path to Health Care Transparency by showcasing how   innovative new benefits offerings can improve outcomes and reduce costs for their employees.”

About Cummins
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins currently employs approximately 46,000 people worldwide and serves customers in approximately 190 countries and territories through a network of approximately 600 company-owned and independent distributor locations and approximately 6,500 dealer locations. Cummins earned $1.65 billion on sales of $17.3 billion in 2012. Press releases can be found on the Web at cummins.com or cumminsengines.com. Follow Cummins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cumminsengines and on YouTube at http://youtube.com/cumminsengines.

Press Contact:

Jon Mills

Director, External Communications

Cummins Inc.

jon.mills@cummins.com

317-610-4244

About Castlight Health

Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com or call (415) 829-1400.

Press Contact:

Drew Smith

Blanc & Otus for Castlight Health

dsmith@blancandotus.com

415.856.5127

The post Cummins Partnering with Castlight in Effort to Improve Health Care Quality and Reduce Costs for Employees appeared first on Castlight Health.