ANN ARBOR, MICH. – November 24, 2008 – HealthMedia, Inc., the pioneer in applying advanced technology to emulate a health coaching session via the web – without the coach – for wellness, disease management, behavioral health, medication adherence, and aging well, has introduced one of its most comprehensive product and service releases. The new release includes HealthMedia® Move™, a physical activity intervention that helps individuals overcome barriers that prevent them from being physically active. The release also adds innovative elements of design, content and style adaptations, biometric data capabilities, and expanded recruitment and reporting features.
HealthMedia Launches Move™
HealthMedia® Move™ is intended to help individuals with sedentary to moderately active lifestyles break down barriers to physical activity. The program is designed to help users move to the next level of physical activity at a safe, gradual pace that is suited to their own unique characteristics and state of health. Move was created to get people engaged in a daily activity regimen, to experience the short-term health benefits, and, as a result, maintain the motivation and commitment to stay active for the long term. The goal of the program is to help users enjoy longer, healthier, and more productive lives.
“Move is truly an innovative approach to physical activity and gets to the root of why so many other programs fail,” said Dr. Vic Strecher, HealthMedia Founder and Chief Science Officer. “Move speaks to each individual – to his or her unique characteristics, barriers, and interests - and helps individuals reconnect to their physical selves and reframe their thoughts and feelings around physical activity.”
Move gets to know each user through an in-depth interview process and helps to identify the types of activities that are appropriate, accessible, and enjoyable to the user. It then creates a personalized plan utilizing the HealthMedia® Step by Step™ activity and pedometer tracker that was launched in July, 2008. Move’s advanced tailoring technology features a new visual questionnaire that provides images that correspond with subject matter within the question, further enhancing comprehension capability and overall user experience. Visual imagery and messaging throughout the Move program have also been highly tailored to take on a user’s personal traits and characteristics such as age, gender, and ethnicity; whether or not they have pets; and their home surroundings, providing each user with a one-of-a-kind comprehensive plan to get moving and keep moving.
“The problem with most physical activity programs is that they focus on exercise and assume that the individual is ready for the gym and wants to workout,” said HealthMedia President Ted Dacko. “Move understands that for some people, the first step is literally getting up off the couch, which requires addressing things like a person’s motivation, self-confidence, and barriers to change.”
“We want to offer our employees every opportunity to live healthy, productive lives and that means we have to find creative and engaging ways to get them up and moving,” said Barbara Pelletier, Director of Health and Wellness at Baystate Health. “Physical activity is key to better health and quality of life, and we think Move is a practical, innovative approach to reframing thoughts employees have about exercise and addressing barriers they face for becoming more active and sticking with it."
Baystate Health is among several HealthMedia customers, including top health plans and large employers, planning to launch the Move program early next year. Pelletier says Baystate will make Move available to its entire population of more than 10,000 employees in January.
Upgrades to HealthMedia’s Step by Step Activity Tracker
New upgrades to the HealthMedia® Step by Step™ activity tracker maintain the original pedometer interface functionality, but add options for tracking and goal setting for time and distance for activities such as cycling, swimming, and running, in addition to steps. Users can set goals for each activity and monitor their progress on a daily basis and over time, using a newly implemented charts and graphs feature. Step by Step is an integral part of the Move program, but will continue to be accessible via the Tools icon and the Balance weight management program. Once entered, data is synced between the three entry points to ensure program accuracy and consistency.
HealthMedia® Succeed™ Upgraded for Biometric Capabilities and Enhanced Program Design and Content
HealthMedia has added the ability to import biometric information from health screenings for its Succeed online health risk assessment (HRA). This first phase of the new functionality defines a standard file format to allow biometric data such as height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels to be imported. Future enhancements to this functionality will address the ability to import biometrics after a participant has taken the Succeed HRA.
A series of new elements have been added to program design and content for HealthMedia® Care for Your Health™, Care for Your Back™ and Balance™. These features present participants with a newly architected user interface, newly styled content layout, and sharper and enhanced visuals as well as improvements for elderly populations.
More Advanced Tailored Recruitment and Increased Reporting Capabilities
HealthMedia® Connect™ is a comprehensive recruitment and participation strategy that uses tailored email to recruit individuals into targeted behavior change interventions and enhance behavior change outcomes. HealthMedia has the ability to both import and export data to and from third-party sources such as Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), Personal Health Records (PHRs), and HRAs. Connect has been updated to make third-party recruitment more easily accessible for independent recruitment to third-party programming.
The company has also expanded its Executive Summary Reporting (ESR) capabilities, which compare aggregate or employer-specific population data around health behaviors, disease statistics, productivity, and risk prevalence with national statistics as well as data from HealthMedia’s book of business. Executive Summary Reporting inventory now includes: HealthMedia® Overcoming™ Depression, a self-help intervention for depression; HealthMedia® Overcoming™ Insomnia, a strategy for discovering healthy, restful sleep; HealthMedia® Succeed™ online health risk assessment; HealthMedia® Balance™, a weight management and physical activity intervention; and HealthMedia® Care for Your Health™, a program for chronic conditions management.
About HealthMedia, Inc.
HealthMedia, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, is the world’s innovator in combining advanced technology and behavioral science to effectively emulate a health coach via the web. HealthMedia applies its revolutionary Fusion™ technology to address the most problematic pain points facing the health industry today: participation, scalability, cost, efficacy, ownership, and return on investment. HealthMedia’s suite of interventions provides automated web-based coaching for wellness, disease management, behavioral health, and medication adherence with proven outcomes, increased compliance, reduced medical utilization, and increased productivity – boosting profitability for health plans, employers, pharmaceutical companies, and behavioral health organizations. Clients include Kaiser Permanente, Daiichi Sankyo, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Inc., Community First Health Plans, and nine Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations across the United States. HealthMedia partners include APS Healthcare, LifeSynch, Health Dialog, Wellsource, SHPS, and StayWell Custom Communications, LLC. For more information, visit www.healthmedia.com.
Editorial Contact
Caren Kenney
Director of Corporate Communications
508-942-4407
ckenney@healthmedia.com
Secondary Contact
Mia Cupp
Corporate Communications Manager
734-536-2006
mcupp@healthmedia.com