UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm Integrate New Wearable Devices With Wellness Program; People Earn Millions of Dollars in Financial Rewards for Being Active
UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm Incorporated, through its wholly owned subsidiary Qualcomm Life, Inc., today announced enhancements and the expansion of UnitedHealthcare Motion™, a wellness program that provides employees with activity trackers at no additional charge and enables them to earn up to $1,500 per year by meeting certain goals for the number of daily steps.
UnitedHealthcare Motion is being showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017, the annual technology convention in Las Vegas.
The two companies introduced UnitedHealthcare Motion in 2016 as a pilot in 12 states to select employers, using Qualcomm Life’s 2net™ Platform* for medical-grade connectivity that features multiple safeguards to help keep data secure. Following the successful test, the program was expanded to 40 states and will now include access to additional customized activity trackers through a ‘bring-your-own-device’ (BYOD) model. The program is now available to self-funded employers with five or more eligible employees, and companies with fully insured health plans with 101 or more eligible employees.
All UnitedHealthcare Motion devices enable employees to earn up to $4 per day in deductible credits based on F.I.T. goals, which stands for frequency of walking goals (six times per day with 300 steps within five minutes at least one hour apart), intensity (3,000 steps within 30 minutes) and tenacity (10,000 total steps each day). Employers can obtain premium savings based on program participants’ combined F.I.T. results. People who consistently achieve the F.I.T. goals tend to improve their health and reduce their medical expenses1.
Qualcomm Life will leverage its global connected health ecosystem and connectivity expertise to provide secure data transfer from the devices, to the Motion app and to UnitedHealthcare. Qualcomm Life will also enable the BYOD model to allow the integration of more activity trackers into the 2net Platform and UnitedHealthcare Motion, providing participants with more choice. Integrated activity trackers will be customized to enable users to see on their wrists how they are tracking against the program’s three daily F.I.T. goals.
“The growth of UnitedHealthcare Motion showcases the value of providing companies and their employees with personalized, connected health and wellness resources,” said Richard Migliori, M.D., chief medical officer of UnitedHealth Group. “Wearable technology can help encourage employees to walk each day and earn financial rewards at the same time, using secure technology that we believe is intuitive and convenient.”
The Fitbit Charge 2™ will be the newest activity tracker integrated and validated with 2net and UnitedHealthcare Motion in this BYOD model. The custom feature can be activated during early 2017 on any Charge 2 device in market by any eligible program participant.
“As the global wearables leader we have taken another big digital-health step forward by collaborating with UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm Life to enable people to fulfill their fitness goals and be rewarded for living a healthier lifestyle,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO, Fitbit (NYSE:FIT). “Our team custom-designed this feature to help give UnitedHealthcare Motion program participants activity insights right on their wrists, as part of our commitment to make our products integral tools to evidence-based consumer health programs.”
Employers are expected to incorporate more than 13 million wearable and fitness tracking devices into their wellness programs by 2018, according to technology consultancy Endeavors Partners. A related study published in Science & Medicine showed people tend to overestimate how much exercise they get each week by more than 50 minutes, and they underestimate sedentary time by more than two hours, underscoring the importance of a wellness program like UnitedHealthcare Motion.
“By combining UnitedHealthcare’s leadership and pioneering pro-consumer benefit designs with Qualcomm Life’s unique ability to provide effortless connectivity across an expansive ecosystem of wearables, UnitedHealthcare Motion will continue to help engage people throughout the country with the goal of enhancing their well-being,” said James Mault, M.D., F.A.C.S., vice president and chief medical officer of Qualcomm Life.
Qualcomm Life and UnitedHealthcare at CES
Qualcomm Life and UnitedHealthcare will demonstrate at CES new technologies designed to simplify the consumer health care experience by making helpful, practical information more accessible through personal technology devices such as computers, smartphones and wearables.
The two companies will give away 500 activity trackers to CES attendees as part of a fundraiser. All 500 device recipients will be encouraged to walk 10,000 steps on Saturday, Jan. 7, with the goal of collectively walking 5 million steps. As part of the walking challenge, UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm will combine to donate $50,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Results of the challenge will be available at www.qualcommlife.com/5millionsteps.
UnitedHealthcare Motion will be displayed at the Qualcomm booth (No. 10948) in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and near the Digital Health Studio Live in the Sands Expo and Convention Center. Follow along on Twitter @QualcommLife or on www.qualcommlife.com/ces2017, through the #DigitalHealthCES and #5MillionSteps hashtags or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
At CES 2017, executives from both companies will speak, including:
- Dr. Mault will speak on a CES panel, “Prescription for Profits: The Value of Connected Health,” on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 10:15 a.m. in the Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall, N261. He will speak on a panel, “The Big Debate: Snake Oil or Slow Start,” on Friday, Jan. 6, at 4:30 p.m. in the Venetian, Level 4, Lando 4303.
- Craig Hankins, UnitedHealthcare vice president of digital products, will speak on a session titled “Beyond Those 10,000 Steps” on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 3:15 p.m. in the Venetian, Level 4, Lando 4303.
- Dr. Deneen Vojta, UnitedHealth Group executive vice president of research & development, will speak on a panel, “Tech Combats the Terrible Trio: Obesity, Diabetes and Heart Disease,” on Friday, Jan. 6, from 9:35 to 10:20 a.m. at the Venetian, Level 4, Lando 4303.
- Dr. Migliori will provide a keynote, “Exploring the International Frontiers,” on Saturday, Jan. 7, at 11:15 a.m. in the Venetian, Level 4, Lando 4303.
- Tom Beauregard, UnitedHealth Group executive vice president and chief innovation officer, will speak on a panel, “The Palpable Future of Workplace Wellness,” on Saturday, Jan. 7, at 11:30 a.m. in the Venetian, Level 4, Lando 4303.
