After five years of helping Sentara Healthcare employees get healthier, Optima Health is still saving money for our parent company -- $4 million to be exact. For every dollar invested in the “Mission: Health” program, Sentara has saved $2.70. Healthcare costs were expected to reach $23 million in 2011; instead they were $21 million.  “Regardless of the impending changes in healthcare, the reality is that we ...

Guest blogger: Terrina Thomas, Director of Health & Preventive Services, Optima Health I don’t know about you but right about 2:30 p.m. each day, I start to hear the faintest chant of my name coming from the downstairs of my building! No wait, maybe it is coming from my stomach and echoing from the vending machine downstairs. At any rate, if I haven’t remembered to bring a bag of grapes or granola bar f ...

Deciding what type of health insurance you need can be as daunting as memorizing the New York City phone book in under five minutes. The type of insurance, the deductibles, the benefits, the co-insurance, the premiums, the network—terms that are foreign to most are suddenly overwhelming your computer screen or mailbox when choosing a health plan for you and your family. Before delving into the complicated l ...

Optima Health prides itself on having caring and compassionate staff that go above and beyond to assist members. From the operator, to member service representatives to the case managers, it’s our goal to support our members by providing exceptional experiences. One member of our team was recently recognized by Sentara’s internal award programs, the ACE Awards (Always Committed to Excellence). Sentara is Op ...

Several years ago Sentara and Optima Health developed a wellness program for employees, called Mission: Health. Optima Health is the insurance carrier for our parent company, Sentara Healthcare. Since then we have touted its success through a public relations campaign called The Wellness Payoff. At the end of last year, it was recognized as one of three system-wide programs that tackled difficult and comple ...

As an organization, Optima Health and Sentara Healthcare do workplace wellness right. Across the country, companies of all sizes are implementing workplace wellness programs. They’re doing so because they save money for both employers and employees and they improve employee health. Sherrie Harris works as a patient advocate at Sentara Obici Hospital and she takes her health seriously. She hasn’t always, but ...