Only 35% of Consumers Engage in Their Wellness Program at Least Once Per Week: HealthMine Survey

DALLAS, Sept. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. health plan sponsors invest $8 Billion annually in wellness programs that promise health improvements for participants (Kaiser Family Foundation). But only 35% of consumers enrolled in these programs engage in them at least once per week. Despite growing adoption of wellness programs, less than half of those who participate say their wellness program helped them improve mental health/emotional wellbeing (27%), lose weight (30%), or eat healthier (49%). Most wellness programs are still heavily focused on lifestyle management rather than disease prevention and management. The findings are based on a survey of 750 insured consumers enrolled in wellness programs. The results are now available in the 2016 HealthMine Consumer Wellness Report: Trends and Attitudes Towards Sponsored Wellness Programs.

Here are the key findings from HealthMine's report:

Top Findings

Offerings: The most common wellness program offerings today, according to participants, are Health Risk Assessments (59%) fitness subsidies or challenges (54%) and nutrition/healthy eating (54%). Onsite events (23%), financial wellbeing (16%) and medication adherence (16%) are the least common wellness program offerings.

Smoking: Two thirds of consumers say their wellness program does not medically test for smoking. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of wellness programs do not include smoking cessation, according to participants, although 32% admitted to smoking within the last two years.

Cancer: Cancer screenings are absent from 74% of wellness programs, participants report. Eighty percent (80%) of wellness program members say they do not get incentives to complete cancer screenings.

Chronic Disease: Forty-four percent (44%) of consumers in wellness programs report being diagnosed with a chronic condition. Only 14% of all respondents say their wellness program helps them manage their disease.

Engagement: Only 35% of consumers report engaging in their wellness program at least once per week. One quarter (25%) of consumers engage in their programs just two times per year or less. Sixty-eight percent (68%) say that better incentives would help them engage more often, and 42% report that "feeling better" would motivate them to participate more regularly.

Incentives: Less than half of wellness programs offer incentives for key preventive health actions, according to consumers. For example, 80% do not offer incentives for cancer screenings, and 52% do not offer incentives for fitness/weight loss programs. Forty-one percent (41%) of consumers haven't earned all of their available incentives nor completed all of their recommended health actions in the past year.

Healthcare Consumerism: Seventy percent (70%) of program participants still don't price shop for healthcare services. Only 29% of wellness programs include a price comparison tool, according to respondents.

Impact: Sixty-two percent (62%) of program participants said their wellness program helped them lower their healthcare costs. Thirty-eight percent (38%) said their wellness program helped them take fewer sick days and 33% said their program helped them be more productive at work.

Bryce Williams, CEO and President of HealthMine said, "The promise of wellness programs is to improve health outcomes and lower costs one member at a time." He continued, "But to deliver on that promise, plan sponsors must use clinical data to close gaps in care."  

About the Survey
The HealthMine Wellness Program Survey queried 750 insured consumers who are enrolled in a wellness program. The survey was fielded by Survey Sampling International (SSI) in May 2016. Data were collected via an opt-in panel. The margin of error is 4%. Survey Sampling International (SSI) has been the Worldwide Leader in Survey Sampling and Data Collection Solutions, across every mode, for 37 Years.

About HealthMine
HealthMine uses clinical data to close gaps in care, one person at a time. The HealthMine Personal Clinical Engagement solution automatically collects and analyzes clinical and lifestyle data from multiple sources to create a health profile for each member. Serving as an early warning system, our solution identifies health risks and chronic conditions and automatically triggers alerts. The HealthMine solution delivers health recommendations to members' smartphones in near-real time so they can take action immediately. With HealthMine, plan sponsors can engage and sustain all members in personalized health and disease management activities. HealthMine has more than 1 million users and has saved health plan sponsors more than $100 million in healthcare costs. HealthMine is on the web at www.healthmine.com.

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SOURCE HealthMine

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