When you know more, you can make a bigger impact
2021 Health Plan Member Impact Report
To truly affect outcomes, plans need a window into their members’ health needs at home. This quarter, Wellframe’s report offers a view into engagement trends plus insights that can improve care transitions.
The big picture
See how members are engaging with their health plan, according to data on the Wellframe Digital Health Management platform
How often are members connecting with their health plan?
Which demographics adopted digital health?
Most engaged care areas
Hospital readmissions cost the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $26 billion per year. To help health plans improve these outcomes, our data scientists uncovered new insights from the Wellframe dataset of members who recieved a Care Transition intervention.
How to improve care transitions
Member 360
Here's what we found.
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2
3
4
Digital health interventions drive better outcomes
Seniors were the most positively impacted by digital health
Higher digital health engagement is associated with better outcomes
Women and men were impacted differently by digital health interventions
Show me the data
Jump to the findings
About the population
44% male
56% female
Demographics
Members had 4 chronic conditions
on average
Chronic conditions tracked (considered)
Pain/Mobility
Hypertension
Obesity
Anxiety/Depression
Cardiovascular disease
Pulmonary Conditions
Anemia
Cancer
Chronic Kidney Disease
Tobacco
Liver Conditions
Other Behavioral Health
Substance Abuse Disorder
Methods
We examined claims data as well as platform-generated data from a large sample size of adults on the Wellframe digital health management platform. These members were admitted to the hospital for medical or surgical procedures between January of 2017 and January 2020. By applying a new peer-reviewed evaluation methodology, our data scientists assessed the impact of a digital intervention via rigorous comparison to a control group, while minimizing the effects of factors that often bias similar studies.
Digital health interventions significantly reduced subsequent inpatient admissions and ER episodes in the first 30 and 90 days after discharge.
Digital health interventions drive better outcomes
Improving utilization trends with digital interventions
40%
decrease in utilization among members 60+
Seniors were the most positively impacted by digital health
Inpatient utilization
decrease in ER visits among members 60+
er utilization
29%
As part of the digital intervention, members received a daily mobile checklist with articles, surveys, medication reminders and more. These resources are all designed to help members make appropriate health decisions.
Higher digital health engagement is associated with better outcomes
Members had better outcomes when they completed more tasks from their mobile care program
When given a digital intervention, both genders improved outcomes compared to the control group. But both genders were affected in different ways.
Women and men were impacted differently by digital health interventions
Reduction in inpatient admissions
What does "engagement" really mean? +
What was the digital health intervention? +
The importance of improving health literacy +
33%
Subsequent
admissions
ER
ultilization
Physical medicine
utilization
Office visit
utilization
41%
17%
25%
30-day outcomes
90-day outcomes
18-27
28-37
38-47
48-57
58-67
68-77
78-88
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
The population spans several health plans across the country. The median member age was 54.
Percent of members
Number of chronic conditions
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Pain/Mobility
Hypertension
Obesity
Anxiety/Depression
Cardiovascular disease
Pulmonary Conditions
Anemia
Cancer
Chronic Kidney Disease
Tobacco
Liver Conditions
Other Behavioral Health
Substance Abuse Disorder
16%
15%
9%
9%
6%
5%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
1%
Age
+
+
Methods
Office visit
utilization
12%
Physical medicine
utilization
12%
18%
Subsequent
admissions
11%
ER
ultilization
30-day outcomes
90-day outcomes
Day of the week members are most engaged this quarter
Tuesdays
33.4
January 2021
February 2021
Average touchpoints per member, per month in Q1
March 2021
31.6
33.8
Digital health management touchpoints per member per month on average
35
Consisting of messages sent, medication reminders checked off, physical activity reminders checked off, articles read, and surveys completed
29% Male
71% Female
Percent of members
Age
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Below
10
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
70-79
80-89
90 or
Above
1
2
3
4
5
Maternal
Health
Oncology
Wellness
Diabetes
Care
Transitions
A member is considered engaged if they have sent a message, completed an item from their daily health checklist, or checked off a reminder in the past 7 days.
People with limited health literacy tend to have higher rates of hospitalization, are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions, and often skip important preventive care that can help drive better health outcomes and lower the expenses of subsequent treatments.
The intervention consisted of a mobile application that connected members to their health plan care team via a web-based dashboard.
Members who completed the most tasks had a 36% reduction of subsequent admissions compared to the control group
ER utilization
Percent of content read that was assigned by care managers
0
100
200
300
50
350
250
150
400
0-30%
30-80%
80+%
Wellframe
Control
Inpatient admissions
Percent of content read that was assigned by care managers
0
50
100
150
200
0-30%
30-80%
80+%
Wellframe
Control
Members who completed the most tasks had a 32% reduction in ER utilization compared to the control group
WOMen
Compared to the control group, women utilized more office visits
15%
Increase in office visit
utilization
Men
7%
Increase in office visit
utilization
Men
WOMen
Men showed stronger improvement in reducing inpatient admissions and ER utilization by using digital interventions
17%
14%
7%
Reduction in inpatient admissions
Reduction of ER
utilization
Reduction in inpatient admissions
Reduction of ER
utilization
21%
KEY FINDINGS
Hyperlipidemia
Hyperlipidemia
12%
Diabetes
Diabetes
6%
Percent of population
18%
Despite misconceptions about technology usage among seniors, this group saw a significant benefit from using digital health
Let’s continue the conversation
See how a Digital Health Management strategy can provide a full picture of your members' needs
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