Wellframe’s Q2 2021 Impact Report Highlights Engagement Among Seniors and Other Key Findings
By Mohammad Jouni, Chief Technology Officer, Wellframe
The healthcare industry went through enormous change over the last year, including a vastly accelerated adoption of digital tools to inform care. At Wellframe, we’re proud to have played a part in ushering in a new era of care delivery, creating a deeper relationship between patients and clinicians.
In order to provide more meaningful connections with health plan members who use Wellframe, we’ve been publishing “The Health Plan Member Impact Report” starting in February of 2021. These quarterly insights shine a light onto members’ health needs. Each report focuses on different areas of concerns, and for our Q2 2021 report, we focused on engagement trends and how health plans can improve care transitions.
The population that informed the report spans several health plans across the U.S. The median age of respondents was 54, with members having four chronic conditions on average. Among the chronic conditions tracked, 19% of members reported issues with pain/mobility, 15% hypertension, 12% hyperlipidemia, and 9% obesity. Across this population, 56% of members identified as female and 44% identified as male.
Here are the key findings.
Average rates of engagement
At Wellframe, we’ve found that on average 35 digital health management touch points are happening per member per month. (A touch point is defined as a single message sent, a completed item in a daily health checklist, or a checked-off reminder.) January and March 2021 experienced the highest levels of touchpoints, with 33.4 per member in January and 33.8 per member in March. Tuesdays were the most engaged day of the week for engagement in Q2.
The senior population saw the greatest benefit from digital health
There’s a common misconception that seniors face the biggest challenges in adopting and adhering to digital care management. Our impact report completely debunks this theory. Seniors were the most positively impacted by digital health, benefitting from a drastic decrease of inpatient utilization (40%) and ER utilization (29%).
Mobile care programs improved outcomes
Mobile care programs arm members with the tools to better manage and feel more in control of their health through Wellframe’s mobile app. The members who were the most engaged and compliant with their mobile care programs experienced a 36% reduction of subsequent inpatient admissions to the hospital and a 32% reduction in ER utilization.
Women and men impacted differently by digital health interventions
Both genders experienced improved outcomes but were affected by digital care management in different ways. Men showed stronger improvement in reducing inpatient admissions and ER utilization by using digital interventions. Women experienced a 15% increase in office visit utilization whereas men only experienced a 7% increase.
We’re grateful to have access to an abundance of data that allows us to better understand the members we help on a regular basis. The ability to understand how to best engage with members is critical to our ability to ultimately improve their care and overall healthcare outcomes.
To review the full report findings, see here.