Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBSGa), the state's largest insurer, will use SoloHealth's network of health and wellness consumer kiosks as a tool to engage its members where they shop and attract new members.
Beginning Aug. 1, BCBSGa's members will be able to access the bilingual kiosks, called SoloHealth Stations, in more than 125 select Walmart and Sam's Club stores in Georgia, according to a news release Friday. The agreement is an example of how insurers are seeking out strategies and tools to involve their members in their health.
The SoloHealth Station provides consumers with digital, self-service tools to conduct biometric screenings, health risk assessments, health tracking and to obtain health and wellness information that can educate about conditions, including obesity and hypertension. The technology has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration and is HIPAA-compliant, the release said.
The kiosks offer the insurer another way to connect with the consumer and collect data that can be merged with the insurer's systems, said Morgan Kendrick, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, of Georgia, Inc. "This is a nice intersection for us to connect to our consumers where they shop and in some cases where they work," he said. "We will deploy 50 of these kiosks at the sites of some of our large-employer clients over the next year."
Kendrick added that as the relationship with SoloHealth progresses, "we see deeper connectivity that has broader market impact and broader clinical impact for our organization and members."
Bart Foster, SoloHealth CEO and founder, said that BCBSGa is "also getting ahead of the new healthcare marketplace by connecting and engaging with potential new members through the kiosk." BCBSGa will also use the kiosks to generate permission-based leads from consumers seeking information on either Medicare Advantage or individual exchange-based plans.
Although financial terms and details of the agreement were not disclosed, pricing will be calculated on a per-member-per-month (PMPM) basis for member engagement services and cost-per-lead (CPL) for member acquisitions, the release said.