Danny Timblin, President and CEO of Onlife Health, Inc., discusses how incremental behavior changes in areas like exercise, nutrition, tobacco use, stress, and weight management can lead to significant savings in healthcare costs and improved quality of life. Data from Onlife Health clients shows that participating in more wellness programs correlated with lower per member per year claim costs, with average savings of $5,712 for members in 3 programs compared to $2,892 for non-users. Specific behavior changes like exercising 150 minutes per week or quitting smoking were each associated with over $200 in reduced claims costs per member per year. Timblin argues that advancing the core areas of wellness, using data analytics, mobile technologies
2. The Power of Three
Incremental Behavior Changes Can Lead to Significant Savings and Improved Quality of Life
$5,712
$4,248
$3,120
$2,892
Non-Users 1 Program 2 Programs 3 Programs
PMPYCLAIMSCOST
Average PMPY Costs by Participation Level
Risk Category Behavior Change Savings PMPY
Exercise 150 minutes/week $494.64
Tobacco Quit smoking $235.36
Stress Reduce by one level $100.44
Weight
Lose 5% of total body
weight
$43.08
Nutrition
Eat 5 servings of fruits
and vegetables daily
$35.16
3. National Retail Client
EXERCISE OVER
150 MIN/WEEK
56% STOPPED
SMOKING
29% STRESS REDUCED AT
LEAST ONE LEVEL
48% LOST 5% OR +
OF BODY FAT
11% EAT 5 FRUITS &
VEGGIES /DAY
27%
4. Large Employer Client
EXERCISE OVER
150 MIN/WEEK
54% STOPPED
SMOKING
29% STRESS REDUCED AT
LEAST ONE LEVEL
48% LOST 5% OR +
OF BODY FAT
18% EAT 5 FRUITS &
VEGGIES /DAY
21%
5. The Future of Wellness
1. Advance
The Core
2. Data
Analytics
3. Mobile 5. Outcome
Based
Incentives
4. Financial
Well Being
Notas del editor
Make healthy changes and save
Members who engage in one or more wellness programs and make behavior changes have a higher likelihood of improving their health and driving significant medical cost savings.
These PMPY numbers are based on a 3-year analysis of claims and health assessment data across the commercial population of BCBST for members who had completed at least two health assessments.
Making small behavioral changes can lead to significant cost savings and improve quality of life.
Do more, save more
Members who participate in multiple wellness programs have lower medical claims cost than members who participate in fewer programs or do not participate at all.
Based on a 1 year analysis comparing differing levels of member participation in wellness programs (coaching, trackers, self-directed courses and milestone assessments) and the impact on claims cost
Offering a broad range of activities, tools and programs is essential to driving higher level of participation
National Retail Client (Dollar General)
Data is for a 1-year period (2014)
Overall engagement rate of 45% is very good given this is a difficult population to reach with 12,000 locations across 43 states. Engagement is measured as a percentage of members who qualified for coaching and participated in one or more coaching programs. Qualification is derived from claims, HA answers, and/or biometric screening data.
Overall medical trend decreased 3.7%, which is significantly better than industry trend (compared to national trend of an increase between 4.5-6.5%).
Favorable outcomes include: 28.6% quit smoking, 48% reduced stress, 56.4% exercised more than 150 minutes per week, etc.
Even for a dispersed workforce, a demonstrable percentage of employees engaging in wellness and making one or more behavioral changes can result in significant savings.
Large Employer Client (Group 44)
Data is for a 1-year period. (2014)
This client is our parent, BCBST. It has a much more centralized employee population and a strong culture of health including a robust incentive program. This group has a very high overall engagement rate of 90%, and high percentages of members engaging in one or more healthy behavior changes.
Members engaging in multiple programs results in behavior changes that drive cost savings and improve outcomes.
Advance the Core
Enhance core wellness programs to increase and sustain participant engagement.
Tactics include enhancements to the member portal, mobile apps, device integration, and consumer tools.
Data Analytics
Determine new data-driven strategies for engagement.
Tools include predictive models, consumer segmentation, and multi-channel personalized communications for consumers.
Outcomes-Based Incentives
Shift to value-based rewards for outcomes
Tactics include multi-year, outcome-based incentive strategy, and personalization of incentive schedules.
Mobile Experience
Blend mobile-based personal and virtual coaching systems to drive improvements in weight loss, pre-chronic condition management, and other preventive interventions.
Financial Well-Being
Will become as common as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).
Improve the financial health of participants which will lead to a higher sense of well-being.