In the News

As Indiana businesses continue to grapple with issues related to employee obesity, an Indianapolis-based company believes it is gaining traction in addressing a condition that by some measures is costing Hoosier companies more than $11 billion in increased insurance costs and lost productivity. On Target Health Chief Executive Officer Todd Foushee says a recently-announced partnership with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce's Wellness Council of Indiana is the latest in a series of developments fueling growth for the Indianapolis-based company. "It’s a call to the community to help join us in addressing one of Indiana’s great crises," said Foushee, who says his company has doubled revenue in each of its first five years.

In our Business of Health segment, we revisit Indiana’s On Target Health…a company gaining traction for its success in helping create healthier workplaces. We’ll explain how the company helps employers assist their workers in losing weight.

A group of Indiana workers are losing weight in a counter intuitive way. Not too long ago, Todd Tekulve's coat used to be tight. "When I put it on now, I can wrap it around and when I wore this in that photo, I couldn't even hardly button it...uncomfortable to button," he said. Tekulve used to wear a size 40, now, he's a size 34. He's lost 55 pounds. Nearly 260 employees at Hillenbrand in Batesville are keeping track and have collectively lost more than 3,200 pounds in the last year and a half. It's saving the company money.

Wellness company On Target Health LLC, which one year ago launched a program to help overweight workers lose fat but not muscle, is seeing strong results from its first two clients.

Thousands of companies have instituted weight loss programs for their workers. But Hillenbrand Inc. might be the only company to see significant amounts of weight lost by telling its workers to eat more. The Batesville-based casket maker six months ago instituted a program called Target Metabolism among 125 employees. Based on early results, Hillenbrand is considering expanding the program to all 900 of its workers in Batesville and possibly to some of the rest of its 6,000 workers worldwide.