In the previous smart health article, we delved into the reasons why consumer health wearables do not work . While findings indicate that wearables by themselves are not very effective for the general improvement of fitness and wellbeing, the health of groups and individuals remains a very important topic. This is especially true for enterprises, where it is no longer an option for managers to just sit around without minding the health of their employees – there is value and a

It is common knowledge that unhealthy habits accumulate over time, having a negative impact on a person's quality of life and eventually decreasing their lifespan. More short-term, unhealthy habits can also immediately affect personal emotions, stamina, focus, and performance, as well as team culture and group results.

Target Audience: (Healthy, At Risk & Borderline)

Teams or groups are separated into 3 categories based on their health statuses: healthy, at risk/early stage and late stage.

Source:

Holmusk

Healthy (65%) - On one end of the spectrum, the largest percentage of the population is healthy. People in this category can remain healthy and avoid becoming at risk by maintaining healthy habits.

Late Stage (5%) - On the opposite end of the spectrum, people with mild to severe chronic conditions usually include those with type 2 diabetes and heart diseases which require expensive interventions (medication, personal medical equipment, frequent doctor and ER/hospital visits, etc.). These individuals can be extremely costly in terms of productivity, but the power an organization has over the effective management of these chronic diseases is very limited.

At Risk/Early Stage (30%) - In the middle of the spectrum, there are people at borderline or suboptimal health. Many people in this group with an obese BMI have at least one early stage symptom, such as prediabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure. These symptoms can lead to chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other chronic diseases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 17.9 million people die from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) each year , while 422 million people are living with diabetes. This is an alarmingly large number which indicates that members from any organization are likely to be suffering from one of these conditions.

If there is no intervention in unhealthy behaviors, individuals are at risk of chronic diseases. These are real lives at stake. However, this is also an opportunity to transform lives in a positive, cost-effective, and scalable way.

Methodology: (Lifestyle changes)

Daily habits, surrounding environments, accessible healthcare, and genetics all impact the health of an individual. As the chart below illustrates, the daily habits of an individual, such as diet and physical activity, have the greatest impact. This means that lifestyle changes will result in a significant improvement in health.

About ten years ago, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute of Health (NIH) studied patients with pre-diabetes symptoms to see if type 2 diabetes could be prevented. The result was positive: with an intense, high quality behavior counseling plan, individuals can be motivated to adopt better long-term habits and lower their weight. The effect of a counseling plan is more effective than that of mediation.

Source:

NIH

Difficulties and Challenges for Managers

Traditionally, enterprise managers did not have sufficient resources to understand or track the health of employees, and were therefore unable to identify those at suboptimal health, let alone draft plans for behavior intervention. However, as the above figure suggests, the at risk/early stage population could benefit greatly from digital therapeutic software-based tools such as HealthOn .

HealthOn is a comprehensive health management solution. Through health-related data aggregation and analytics, HealthOn can stratify users according to their health risks and provide clear plans to promote health improvement, especially for healthy or at-risk individuals. Plans cover diet, fitness, and other health content in formats like challenges and rewards.

With a mobile-first strategy, HealthOn can be used at any time and any place to improve quality of life and prevent debilitating chronic conditions. HealthOn helps companies avoid real losses incurred by unhealthy teams while achieving corporate social responsibility goals – a win-win situation. Stay tuned for our next article, in which we will cover "digital therapeutics" and how these can be employed in the enterprise.

About TPIsoftware

TPIsoftware is the no. 1 FinTech software company in Taiwan providing proprietary iPaaS middle platform DigiFusion and conversational AI product SysTalk.ai domestically and overseas. TPIsoftware also offers comprehensive software solutions and cloud services with extensive cross-national project experiences. Globally recognized, it is trusted by customers across industries such as BFSI, government, retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, healthcare and more.

Media Contact

Peggy Tsai

+886-2-2658-0508 #1606

peggy.tsai@tpisoftware.com

Digital Strategy and Tools for Group Health Engagement: First Steps and Considerations

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