A survey last year of 450 major employers by Hewitt Associates found that close to half either offer or plan to offer incentives to employees to participate in health- or wellness-related initiatives.
With that number expected to rise in coming years, officials at Silverlink Communications, a provider of healthcare communications services, expect their recently announced partnership with IncentOne to generate business for both companies.
"If applied appropriately in healthcare incentives are an influential lever to motivate healthcare behaviors, arguably the most powerful force for changing the economics of healthcare," said Stan Nowak, co-founder and CEO of Burlington, Mass.-based Silverlink, in a press release. "We're excited to be partnering with IncentOne to design highly flexible, personalized and incentive-driven outreach that enables health plans to better connect with an engage their members to drive healthcare behaviors and reward them at the same time."
The concept of incentivizing healthcare is relatively new, but ties directly into the current trend toward consumer-directed healthcare. By providing individuals with access to information about their healthcare choices, employers, health plans and healthcare providers are aiming to promote personal health and wellness. A more healthy population, in turn, puts less pressure on the healthcare system, reduces unnecessary medical costs and creates a more productive workforce.
According to recent research by the global consulting firm Watson Wyatt, the most effective health and wellness programs are three times as likely to use incentives to spur participation.
Through its Adaptive HealthComm Science platform, Silverlink combines technology with decision support methodologies to deliver personalized, one-on-one communications to preconfigured populations, such as health plan participants. Silverlink's customer base includes nine of the nation's top 10 health plans as well as pharmacy benefit managers, medical supply companies and population health companies.
IncentOne, based in Lyndhurst, N.J., provides incentive solutions to health plans and employers focused on reducing healthcare costs and increasing productivity through positive health behaviors. Those solutions will be integrated into all Silverlink service offerings.
"This is a truly integrated technology partnership that seamlessly connects healthcare consumer participation to incentives," said Michael Dermer, IncentOne's CEO. "Silverlink and IncentOne together can deliver complementary solutions that drive participation and ultimately cost savings in healthcare. The combination of our expertise in finding the right incentives and Silverlink's personalized communications to drive comsumer behavior delivers the ability to implement more effective programs."
How would you create incentives to promote wellness and better health? Send your ideas - and your successes or failures - to eric.wicklund@medtechpublishing.com.