Thomson Reuters Honors The Pepsi Bottling Group With Healthcare Award

PBG’s Innovative Enrollment Program Helps Employees Make Sound Decisions About Their Health Benefits

Ann Arbor, MI .– Thomson Reuters has announced that the recipient of its 2008 Innovator Award is The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG), the world’s largest Pepsi bottler.

PBG was recognized for its Smart Enrollment program, an initiative that uses sophisticated data analytics to give employees customized information with which to choose the most appropriate health benefits.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the healthcare business of Thomson Reuters has presented its Innovator Award, which recognizes the innovative use of healthcare data analytics to achieve significant business results. It was presented in Orlando at Advantage Conference 2008, the annual gathering of Thomson Reuters healthcare customers including many of the nation’s largest health plans and employers.

PBG used the Thomson Reuters Informed Enrollment solution to achieve the following goals:

* Increased employee participation in healthcare spending accounts (in which pretax dollars can be set aside to spend on healthcare).
* Migration of employees to more appropriate health plans based on their past use of healthcare services.
* Better understanding of healthcare costs through use of an online cost calculator.

The Smart Enrollment program resulted in almost 1,000 new enrollments in and greater contributions to healthcare spending accounts, increased use of the cost calculator and an online benefit selection tool, and migration from the highest cost plans to more appropriate health plans.

“PBG has successfully tackled a significant challenge facing employers and health plans today — how to provide employees with the relevant information they need to make intelligent healthcare decisions,” said Jon Newpol, executive vice president, Thomson Reuters. “This great effort deserves our recognition.”

PBG was selected from a field of five Innovator Award finalists. The other finalists are Health Care Service Corporation, Corning Inc., Novartis, and Pitney Bowes.