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Wellth recently surpassed their 6 millionth member check-in and wanted to celebrate by highlighting one of our incredible partnerships that made this milestone possible.
Priority Health is a non-profit Michigan based health plan that serves over 1 million members in Medicaid, Medicare, Individual, and Employer group plans. As the #1 Individual Medicare Advantage plan in Michigan, Priority Health was eager to partner with other member-centric organizations to engage the hardest to reach members and close care gaps.
That’s where Wellth comes in.
In Fall of 2020, Priority Health was looking for a solution that could:
Ian Straayer, Manager of Quality Improvement at Priority Health, said, “We knew we had patients who were either delaying care or unable to receive care; this led to non adherence with member care plans. It also meant we lacked the ability to get the data for HEDIS performance.”
The goal of this effort was to find a solution that would be beneficial to the population at large and non-discriminative while controlling cost of care and ultimately boosting the member experience.
Wellth’s platform is designed to provide members with a personalized experience that rewards them for taking consistent action on their care plans (i.e., monitoring glucose and blood pressure, meal check-ins, or medication reminders).
By using behavioral economics, Wellth’s platform provides a cue-routine-reward cycle that turns daily behaviors into long term habits. Wellth partner organizations have seen improvement to quality measures, a decrease in high-cost utilization, and higher satisfaction ratings.
Together, Priority Health and Wellth created a customized solution of daily cue, routine and reward in order to meet the needs of the population.
Priority Health and Wellth initially included members with multiple chronic conditions, high utilization and those who were hardest-to-reach.
Through the Wellth program, members received daily cues for glucometer readings, blood pressure readings, meal check ins, as well as medication (although medication check ins were not financially incentivized). Wellth applies the behavioral concept of loss aversion in their application of member rewards. By checking in, members keep an allocated reward amount that is paid every 30 days. If a member misses a day of checking-in, a portion is taken out of this reward amount. Loss aversion doubles the rate of behavior change.
The areas of improvement targeted by Priority Health and Wellth were:
A year after the Priority Health + Wellth program launched, the results have exceeded the prior expectations, and 84% of all activated members continue to check-in on the app everyday.
Wellth was able to improve or stabilize members’ inpatient, emergency department, and urgent care utilization while non-Wellth members' high-cost utilization increased significantly.
“Priority Health started the program in fall of 2020 (amidst the pandemic). A year later, members started engaging with their primary care providers again. So to see only a 4% increase in ED days…that was a really strong improvement for us to see.”
Clinical measures for Wellth members improved as well, showing 2.7x greater improvement to A1c and 2x greater improvement to blood pressure control compared to members who did not participate in the Wellth program.
“For those not enrolled in the Wellth program, we did see an improvement in controlled A1c – we are running other programs,” said Ian, “But for those in the Wellth solution, we saw a 24% improvement of our A1c, and when you listen to our member stories, you will hear how this program helps our members every day.”
With a target Net Promoter Score of +50, Wellth exceeded that target with an NPS of +72, which Ian refers to as “knocking it out of the park.”
“When you think about CAHPS and engagement, what better way to engage your population than having 84% of members actually check-in every single day.”
The Wellth program has also exhibited high engagement rates in additional behaviors such as connecting with care resources, accessing education, and completing in-app surveys with 86% response rate.
When members are engaged they feel more connected to their care plan, they are better equipped for condition self management, and health plans can identify barriers and opportunities for timely interventions.
“This program really works. My A1C was off the roof: 11 and higher. And now it’s down to 7 because I’ve been taking my medicine. You win when you let the program help you...I wasn’t taking good care of myself. I got on the ball and started eating right and taking medicine and the program really helped me out.”
-Robert, Priority Health and Wellth member
Wellth standard reporting includes information on how members utilize their rewards.
Priority Health and Wellth members were shown to spend their rewards primarily on everyday necessities.
With these rewards, Priority Health is able to help their members combat social determinants of health—not only by supplementing their members’ day-to-day necessities, but also by putting money back into member communities since essentials are often purchased within 20 miles of home.
“The ROI we have received has paid for itself when you think about the decrease in utilization and improved outcomes that we see.”
Wellth and Priority Health are eager to expand their partnership by offering the program to more members, while staying compliant within CMS regulations. Ian noted, “The opportunities are endless. Anyone who partners with Wellth will receive a unique solution for whatever you really want to do based on your goals.”
For Wellth, the partnership has confirmed the effectiveness of digital health interventions with populations that are often assumed to be technology averse, like seniors. “We need to get more comfortable engaging with seniors through technology,” said Ian.
“That’s one thing that kind of blew apart a lot of biases that I had about our Medicare Advantage enrollees and opened doors for us—we are now supporting additional types of communication methods to engage our populations.”
Together, Wellth and Priority Health are opening doors, innovating new and exciting ways to engage members, minimizing care costs and improving the overall member experience. Contact us to learn more about how Wellth can support your organization’s efforts.
Contact us to learn more about how Wellth can support your organization’s efforts to uplift your members!
