New Collaboration Helps Mayo Clinic Reach out to More People beyond Clinic Walls

ROCHESTER, Minn. & CHARLESTON, S.C., Apr 25, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Mayo Clinic and Benefitfocus, the country's largest benefits technology company, announced a new collaboration today at One Place, the company's biggest event for human resources, health care and technology leaders.

"Touching more people in a meaningful way will require Mayo to build relationships and interact with people beyond the walls of Mayo's hospitals and clinics," says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. "The new collaboration with Benefitfocus will help do just that by making Mayo Clinic health and wellness resources available to Benefitfocus members."

Mayo Clinic will provide new health and wellness products and services in the marketplace through the Benefitfocus HR InTouch technology platform. The collaboration will give Benefitfocus members access to the information and resources available through the Mayo Clinic Health Assessment and EmbodyHealth portal -- tools that many Mayo employees take advantage of through the LiveWell program. The portal includes more than 3,000 Mayo Clinic articles on diseases, conditions, tests, procedures, health tips and healthy recipes. In addition, Benefitfocus will be selling Mayo Clinic's EmbodyHealth newsletter, Ask Mayo Clinic nurse line service, a customized version of the EmbodyHealth portal and Mayo Clinic books.

"Mayo Clinic is a humanitarian, not-for-profit, integrated health care organization, committed to sharing what it knows with our patients and with people everywhere," Dr. Noseworthy says. "The relationship with Benefitfocus is a critical step in enhancing our ability to deliver Mayo-vetted knowledge broadly."

"Our patients have told us they want more convenient access to Mayo Clinic care and expertise," says Paul Limburg, M.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions. "As a result of this relationship, we will be able to reach out in a new way and potentially help many more people who could benefit from what we have to offer."

The relationship with Benefitfocus is one of many recent examples of Mayo Clinic collaborating with other organizations to reach people in new ways. Others include Mayo Clinic's relationships with organizations across the country in the Mayo Clinic Care Network and with Mall of America. Mayo Clinic plans to continue to develop new relationships and build existing ones to provide new solutions and tools for patients and innovative ways of delivering health care and health information.

About Benefitfocus Benefitfocus is the largest benefits technology provider in the U.S. More than 16 million consumers, 300,000 employers and 60,000 brokers use our cloud-based platform to shop, enroll, manage and exchange all their benefits in one place. From consumer engagement and education to enrollment, communication and billing, Benefitfocus is helping companies find a better way to manage their benefits. For more information, visit www.benefitfocus.com Benefitfocus -- All Your Benefits. One Place.

About Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about and www.mayoclinic.org/news .

SOURCE: Mayo Clinic