By Healthcare Facilities Today

Chattanooga, TN - Active-lifestyle social media company LifeKraze today announced a new name, Spire, and a new focus on employee wellness for healthcare workers, currently one of the least healthy segments in the nation. The company also announced three pilot partnerships, along with substantial updates across each of the company’s digital platforms, including the new website, http://spire.me, and apps for Android devices and the iPhone.

“Spire represents an exciting evolution for our company and the members of our community,” said the company’s President and CEO, Jay Kelley. “By improving the health of our nation’s healthcare workers, we have the opportunity to positively impact the entire system right at the source of delivery.”

Since 2011, LifeKraze has continually refined its point-based social network to affect sustainable changes in health behavior through positive peer support, but until now has been focused primarily on the general public. This new direction allows the company to reach people where they spend most of their time: at work. Healthcare workers, particularly those in hospitals, cost significantly more than the average U.S. employee, and have significantly higher rates of chronic conditions like obesity, depression and diabetes. The company intends to help lower health costs for employers, while enhancing quality of life for employees.

“By providing meaningful and positive support to these individuals, we also hope to help transform the communities that they live and work in,” said Kelley.

The newly-branded Spire has also announced its initial “Early Innovation Partner” pilot programs, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Chattanooga’s Erlanger Hospital.

“This is something unique,” said Dr. Richard Miller, chief of the the Vanderbilt Trauma Division, where one of Spire’s pilots is taking place. “My staff is busy and under constant pressure, which makes finding a wellness partner both more important and more difficult. Fortunately, Spire makes use of our natural social dynamics to support and encourage a culture of health, how and when we need it."

Spire maximizes social support by allowing its members to award points to each other, unlike tracking and training apps in which points are awarded by an algorithm. The platform provides its members with a simple, yet contextual means of sharing their progress. Spire’s approach continues to be validated by a growing body of research that identifies social support and peer accountability to be the strongest drivers of health behavior, which in turn contributes to more than 75% of all health costs. Bringing this concept to life in a digital setting is what has distinguished the Spire team’s efforts to date, along with its strong mobile applications.

The rebranding, accompanied by substantial feature updates and a significant design overhaul, directly serves the purposes of employers and employees. Many of these elements will also benefit the general members of Spire, who will continue to have full access to the public side of the platform. “Our new focus helps people to connect with their co-workers, but we also realize that connecting with friends and family outside of the office is essential to finding the support you need to make big changes in life,” said Kelley. “Staying in the consumer space also helps us to stay honest and reminds us of the importance of ongoing innovation.”

Spire is available in the App Store for the iPhone, in the Google Play store for Android devices, and online athttp://spire.me.

ABOUT SPIRE: 
Initially founded as the popular consumer website and app, LifeKraze, Spire is a mobile and web-based digital community that encourages and celebrates active living, particularly focusing on serving the employees of the healthcare industry. Spire utilizes social support, peer accountability and tangible rewards to positively impact the health behavior and health costs of these individuals. Find out more at http://spire.me.