UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm has announced the expansion of UnitedHealthcare Motion™, a wellness program that provides employees with Fitbit Charge 2 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.
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.
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.
All UnitedHealthcare Motion devices enable employees to earn up to $4 per day in deductible credits based on the following F.I.T. goals:
– Frequency: Complete 300 steps in five minutes an hour apart, at least six times per day;
– Intensity: Complete 3,000 steps in 30 minutes, at least once per day; and
– Tenacity: Complete at least 10,000 steps per 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 expenses[1].
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.”
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.
