A Merative Health Insights analysis observed
that engaged program participants took a more proactive approach to
managing their wellbeing, potentially yielding health and cost
benefits
PROVIDENCE, R.I., May 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Personify
Health, the first and only platform company to bring health,
wellbeing, and navigation solutions together, today announced the
results from a new two-year study that showed the company's
wellbeing offering drove notable improvements for employer clients
and members. The independent study, conducted by the Merative
Health Insights research team, found that engaged participants in
the Personify Health wellbeing program had 14% lower healthcare
costs year-over-year compared to industry benchmarks.
Merative Health Insights conducted the analysis of more than
61,000 members to evaluate the impact of member engagement on
utilization, and medical and pharmacy costs, and compared data from
five Personify wellbeing clients to industry benchmarks available
through the Merative MarketScan® Research Databases. The
researchers' analysis concluded that employees and spouses who were
engaged in the wellbeing program had more favorable utilization
behaviors compared to a control group, including higher utilization
of preventive services, lower inpatient care, and improved overall
mental health.
"Today, holistic wellbeing is no longer a nice-to-have health
benefit. It's proven to make a significant impact on health and
should be a core part of every modern benefits package," said
Jeffrey Jacques, MD, chief medical
officer for Personify Health. "Personify's personalized,
human-centered health approach inspires positive behaviors that
improve health outcomes and reduce costs. This can have a long-term
positive impact, such as increased use of preventive services,
better medication compliance, and fewer high-risk, high-cost
procedures for participants."
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, the
U.S. will face a steep rise in healthcare costs from $4.7 trillion in 2023 to $7.2 trillion by 2031. The average per-employee
cost of employer-sponsored health insurance rose 5.2% in 2023,
reaching $15,797, with increases
continuing this year, Mercer reports. These trends make it critical
for employers to proactively manage spend while encouraging better
health.
When members have the insights and motivation needed to make
more impactful and cost-effective healthcare choices across
inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy, they can improve their chances
of achieving better health and reducing health costs. The Merative
Health Insights study showed that engaged participants in the
Personify wellbeing program took a more proactive approach to
preventive healthcare when compared to a non-engaged control
population. These participants had:
- 38% lower pharmacy costs
- 29% lower inpatient costs
- 6% lower outpatient costs
When comparing engaged participants vs. the non-engaged control
group, Merative Health Insights found that clients using
Personify Health had:
- 23% more preventive visits, including cholesterol, mammogram,
and cervical cancer screening rates
- 11% fewer acute admits
Despite the challenges of the years following the height of the
COVID-19 pandemic, program members also experienced positive mental
and emotional health trends, including reduced growth rates in
depression and anxiety costs and prevalence. Engaged participants
experienced:
- A three and 14 percentage point cost efficiency improvement in
depression and anxiety, respectively, from 2021 to 2022
- Lower growth rate of depression (three percentage points) and a
lower growth rate in anxiety (six percentage points), indicating
the wellbeing program drove positive mental and emotional health
outcomes
"Not only does Personify recognize the value of wellbeing
programs, but it understands the importance of measuring their
effectiveness with trusted, independent data and analytics," said
Casey Graves, general manager for
Merative Health Insights and MarketScan. "The data doesn't lie.
Personify Health's holistic approach helps them make progress
towards the ultimate goal: improving people's lives."
Personify Health offers a suite of services through its
innovative personalized health platform to optimize employers'
investment in their members' health and wellbeing. Through
data-driven, whole-person support, the Personify wellbeing program
empowers members to proactively manage their health with highly
personalized recommendations and content, including mental health,
nutrition, sleep, movement, and exercise guidance. By addressing
individual member needs holistically, the solution helps members
get ahead of more serious illnesses that can lead to costly
care.
Study Methodology
Merative Health Insights studied the
impact of member engagement on healthcare costs and utilization for
five clients of Personify Health who also use Merative's data
warehousing services. They compared these clients to the Merative
MarketScan®, a benchmark database of approximately 4,500
customers and approximately 293 million lives.
These mid- to large-size employers, representing various
industries like utilities, finance, manufacturing, and higher
education, started the Personify Health wellbeing program in early
2021. Merative Health Insights analyzed data for each employer
individually and as a group. The pooled group contained 61,202
individuals comprised of currently eligible employees and spouses
with two years of continuous enrollment in their employer's medical
and pharmacy benefit program.
To ensure a balanced cohort analysis, members were matched based
on demographic characteristics, health risk, socioeconomic status,
health plan type, and region of United States. To study
program impact, Merative Health insights also compared a population
meaningfully engaged in Personify's wellbeing program to a
population that was not meaningfully engaged in Personify at any
point during the two-year period. This analysis was in addition to
the MarketScan database comparison.
More information about the Personify Health Wellbeing Program
Study, conducted by Merative Health Insights, can be found in a new
research paper, available here.
About Merative Health Insights
Merative Health
Insights is a portfolio of healthcare data and analytics solutions,
backed by 40 years of deep healthcare expertise. We provide trusted
insights and proven expertise to help employers, health plans, life
sciences organizations, and government agencies drive better health
and financial outcomes. With market-leading solutions like Health
Insights and MarketScan®, we serve 7 of the top ten U.S.
health plans, more than 40% of the Fortune 100, and the top 20
global pharmaceutical companies. Learn more
at merative.com/healthcare-analytics.
About Personify Health
Virgin Pulse and
HealthComp have merged to become Personify Health, the company
driven to engage and empower people to live healthier lives. By
bringing industry-leading health plan administration, holistic
wellbeing, and navigation solutions together, all in one place, we
have created the industry's first and only personalized health
platform. With decades of experience and global operations, we
empower diverse and unique businesses – and diverse and unique
people – to engage more deeply in health at a lower cost. Through
our proprietary combination of data-driven personalization,
science-backed methodology, and concierge-level clinical expertise,
our end-to-end platform makes it easier to proactively address
people's needs across their lives. With a personalized, holistic,
and powerfully simple experience, we are redefining industry
expectations and what it means to manage health. Learn more at
www.personifyhealth.com.
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SOURCE Personify Health