Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has adopted Towers Watson’s private exchange, OneExchange,to deliver health care benefits to 26,500 full-time activeemployees and their families beginning April 1, Towers Watson saidMonday.

Jeff Cava, executive vice president and chief human resourceofficer of Starwood, said the move to the private exchange was thenext logical step for the company as they explored many options inbenefits offerings for its employees.

“Starting in 2009, we moved to account-based health plans supported byhealth savings accounts, and invested inprograms to improve our associates’ health and reward those whotake healthy actions,” Cava said. “Moving to a private exchangemodel for delivering health benefits is a natural next step in ourhealth care strategy.”

It’s the latest growth for the private exchange, which is ownedand operated by Towers Watson.

Last month, Time Inc. announced they selected Towers Watson’sOneExchange to deliver medical, prescription drug, dental andvision benefits to its full-time active employees. The number ofemployees covered by the exchange was not disclosed.

OneExchange supports all workforce populations, including full-and part-time active employees, and pre-Medicare andMedicare-eligible retirees. It has more than 1,100 employers and800,000 customers, representing every industry, according to theconsulting firm.

Private exchanges continue their rise in thehealth care industry. According to the Private Exchange EvaluationCollaborative, a nonprofit coalition of business groups, nearlyhalf of employers have implemented or plan to consider using aprivate exchange for full-time, active employees before 2018.

Read: How one private exchange found success

“As health care costs continue to rise, forward-lookingemployers are taking advantage of new market-driven solutions formanaging costs and staying competitive in their industries whiledelivering quality health benefits that can improve the health andwellness of their workforce,” said Jim Foreman, managing directorof Exchange Solutions for Towers Watson.