Federal employees with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's health plan will soon have access to personalized health management tools like risk assessments, online health coaching and a 24/7 nurse advice line.
The approximately 5 million federal employees, retirees and family members covered by the BCBS Association will be offered the tools in 2014, under a contract with WebMD Health Services.
The wellness and risk assessment tools are broadly aimed at behavior change and self-management for patients with chronic conditions, with an eye towards the growing use of mobile devices for health and wellness, said Mark Emkjer, CEO of WebMD Health Services.
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The risk assessment includes questionnaires of personal habits and lifestyle, as well as biometric screenings like blood pressure and cholesterol. The survey categorizes members by low, medium or high risk, and they're offered personalized information and interactive tools through a behavior change platform. (They can also share the information with their primary care doctors.)
Emkjer said the platform, which is also available for mobile devices, offers members digital health coaches and apps for tracking goals like exercise and nutrition and also personalizes information aggregation from WebMD's consumer-focused content.
"It creates a very rich profile, in terms of the health risk assessment, the individuals' interactions with the online coaches and then the personal health record is populated as well with claims and lab data," said Emkjer, who worked as CEO of the pharmaceutical and biotech software firm Accelrys before joining WebMD Health Services in 2009.
"The system begins to understand that individual's profile, and begins to interact with that individual, in the way they want to be interacted with," he said.
With middle aged, middle class consumers like the BCBS federal employee plan members increasingly using mobile devices for work and personal life, Emkjer said the goal is also to bring members web content and health tracking and management tools on iPhone and Android systems. WebMD has eight smartphone and tablet apps, such as for pregnancy, allergies, pain management and heart health.
"We do quite a bit with mobile applications," Emkjer said. "That's a very specific focus, because we're finding that the interaction with those devices, at least with our large health plan and large employer base, we're seeking massive uptake with the mobile web and native applications."
The BCBS federal employee plan is also offering members an online personal health record and 24/7 access to a nurse advice line, while health plan administrators will have a population health tool to track the program's use.