Some would argue that Americans don’t change behavior easily. That would explain why nearly two-of-three American adults are still overweight or obese, 60 percent don’t exercise and more than 20 percent still smoke. Additionally, 90 percent of those who join health and fitness clubs stop going within the first 90 days.

We know that healthier choices are better for individuals, their families, their employers and the U.S. economy as a whole. How can we encourage people to make healthier lifestyle choices?

Incentives for Well-Being

Research shows that Americans are ready for a health rewards program.

The majority of 1,000 adults in a July 2011 survey for HumanaVitality, a comprehensive wellness, reward and loyalty solution, said they should be rewarded for making healthy choices. And 59 percent said they would like to be rewarded for exercising.

Health reward solutions don’t just benefit individual consumers. With rising health care costs and a desire to reduce absenteeism, employers have a significant interest in encouraging their employees’ pursuit of well-being. A growing number of employers are now including non-cash incentives in their wellness solutions. A survey of 157 large employers found that 62 percent offered incentives in 2010, up from 57 percent the previous year.

Research shows incentives make a real difference in people’s health. A good weight-loss incentive solution can increase employee participation rates from 12 percent to 35 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, a 2010 study from the American Journal of Health Promotion shows individuals who regularly participated in the Vitality solution experienced shorter and fewer hospital stays than those who didn’t participate.

Make it Personal

The main drivers of success are personalized plans and the ability of participants to self-select their rewards. In the case of HumanaVitality, this approach works in two ways. First, HumanaVitality provides participants with personal pathways they can follow as individuals to improve their health and well-being. Next, participants who pursue those pathways earn points that allow them to choose among more than 600,000 rewards ranging from electronics to vacations to charitable donations.

The key is self-selection: choosing the pathway to follow and working toward redeeming rewards that are personally motivating and significant. HumanaVitality is based on a philosophy that rewarding small, personalized steps today – taking a few extra minutes to exercise, choosing one more healthy meal a day – can add up to meaningful change over time.

In a time when companies regularly use rewards to earn brand loyalty of the American consumer, Utah companies should stop to consider if they are doing enough to build loyalty. Solutions like HumanaVitality reward consumers for making healthy choices in the short run, but the real payoff – the biggest reward of all – is sustainable change toward long-term health and well-being.

This article was written by M. Curt Howell, a market president for Humana with responsibility for commercial operations in Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

Salt Lake Chamber Chief Economist Natalie Gochnour believes the U.S. economy has been slow to recover for a number of reasons, many out of our control.

This month, in her Utah Business magazine column, she hones in on the impact of “disjointed and clumsy economic leadership that fails to unify us behind common goals. Tax policy by the month, brinkmanship on the debt ceiling, an unpopular and anti-business healthcare law and failure to move important national priorities like energy, immigration and others forward have created economic ambiguity, indecision and insecurity. Uncertainty prevails, while unity is a forgotten virtue that holds the key to our economic renewal.”

Gochnour takes the position that for America to regain its economic leadership in the world, our elected officials will have to find greater economic unity.

You can read the entire column here.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on ksl.com May 2, 2012. The video above features former Salt Lake Chamber President Fred Ball sharing the story of the Chamber’s role in winning the Olympic bid and bringing the Jazz to Utah.

It seems it has become a bit fashionable to paint business as the source of all evil these days.

While I would stop short of declaring all businesses and business leaders worthy of sainthood, I think the vast majority get a bum wrap. Especially here in Utah.

The business community provides leadership in our state. Businesses form and join chambers of commerce to speak out with a unified voice on issues that impact the economy and matter to the community. Just last month, the state’s largest and longest-standing business association, the Salt Lake Chamber, marked its 125th anniversary. Established April 23, 1887, the Chamber has been a place where business leaders come together–often setting aside their natural rivalries–all in the spirit of doing something bigger than their individual mission statements.

And we all benefit because of it.

Even the biggest, most influential businesses in the state can have a more powerful voice when they work together.

As business leaders and policy makers from across the country visit Utah, they often ask about Utah’s “secret sauce.” Unless they’ve visited Crown Burger, we’re pretty sure they’re not talking about fry sauce. They are, instead, bewildered by both our ability to avoid the petty arguments that cripple progress and our penchant for getting things done.

Industry is part of who we are in Utah. It says so on the state flag. The symbol of our state, the beehive, suggests a spirit of cooperation, diligence and purpose. It says something that our state’s largest business association has roots pre-dating our statehood.

A quick scan of our state’s history finds the business community’s fingers prints all over our success.

When people outside our state think of Utah, they think the Greatest Snow on Earth. In 1937, at the heart of the Great Depression, it was business that brought the first ski lift to Alta–just the second such contraption in North America. With that initial $10,000 investment and visionary leadership, Utah’s ski industry was born.

At the time, skiers could pay 15 cents per ride or buy a day pass for $1.50. Today, skiing is a significant part of Utah’s diverse economy, thanks in large part to business leaders who wanted to make Salt Lake City the winter sports headquarters of the United States.

Utah’s ski industry eventually stood front and center on the world stage. The 2002 Olympic Winter Games brought thousands of visitors to our state and introduced the natural wonder of Utah to millions more watching throughout the world. Business played a role in landing the Olympics, too.

The Chamber was part of the Olympic bid effort from the very beginning in 1969, vying for the 1972 Games. While the initial goal was to get people to think of Utah when they thought about skiing the Rocky Mountains, the group continued to bid, ultimately winning the honor of hosting in 2002. No single event has ever brought more attention to our state. We reap the economic benefits of being an Olympic host city to this day.

Airport
Connecting Utah to the rest of the nation and the world has always been critical to our state’s economic prosperity. The business community played a role in the development of rail lines to our state, to building the airport and to securing our status as a hub for Delta Air Lines.

Earlier this year, the reconstruction of the Salt Lake City International Airport was announced. As recently as 1930, the airport was expanded to included two gravel runways. Today we have a much better facility, but one that is at maximum capacity with little room for growth. Over the next several years, the international airport will be rebuilt to accommodate a rapidly growing population, increased business travel and robust tourism.

Roads and Rails
Today, the business community continues to push for investment in our mobility infrastructure. UTA is in the final stages of a plan to build 70 miles of rail over seven years–and will likely meet that goal a few years ahead of schedule. That plan includes a TRAX line connecting the airport to downtown and the entire rail system.

UDOT is putting the finishing touches on the I-15 CORE project, the largest state-funded road project in the history of the state. The Salt Lake Chamber has played a critical role in the rapid expansion of our mass transit options and freeway capacity, and business leaders are committed to continued investment in building and maintaining our roads and rails.

Basketball Business
While we are all watching the Jazz take on the Spurs in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, it is worth mentioning the role the Salt Lake Chamber played in bringing the Jazz to Utah. The Chamber decided it was time to Salt Lake City to become a major league town. Knowing Sunday NFL games would be a challenge, and not being large enough for a Major League Baseball franchise, then Chamber President Fred Ball and the Chamber chairman at the time, Wendell Ashton, who was also the publisher of the Deseret News joined Mayor Ted Wilson to search for the least supported and least unsuccessful team they could find.

That team was the New Orleans Jazz.

At the time, the Jazz played in the cavernous New Orleans Superdome, which seated 50,000 fans. That was plenty of room because the Jazz had a season ticket base of just over 1,000. Ball and Ashton returned to Utah and sold 6,000 season tickets, holding the money in escrow. Their success was perhaps partly due to the buy-one-get-three-free offer. Their efforts ultimately persuaded the ownership to move the team.

Of course, business giant Larry Miller played a well-known and remarkable role in keeping the Jazz here and building the EnergySolutions Arena.

Today, business leaders are working to contain skyrocketing health care costs, to invest in the future workforce of our state, to bring new businesses and industries to Utah, and to address issues including energy development, immigration and transportation.

Utah would be a very different place today without a business community willing and eager to make a difference. It’s part of what makes our state great and something we can all be proud of.