Healthcare organizations are realizing they can leverage technology to help personalize the experience with needed motivation and guidance. Consumers benefit from expert information and tools tailored to their individual goals and interests. These personalized resources not only motivate but also guide the consumer through their “decisions of daily living”. They need guidance when determining how to eat more healthy, improve their fitness as well as manage their stress.

“Help me set realistic fitness goals and give me ongoing feedback on my progress.”

 “Just tell me what to do to lose the weight.”

“Keep reminding me about ways to lower my cholesterol.”

“Help me find way to improve my sleep.”

“Motivate & Guide Me” Opportunity:   Gain commitment, proactively push to reach goals, deliver actionable information, provide decision support tools and share ongoing feedback.

Engagement in Action:

• Wellcoaches  offers a high touch service enabled by technology which  puts the consumer in control of their plan and progress towards goals. The Wellcoach continues to hold their client “accountable” for making needed changes to reach these goals. Armed with insight about the consumer’s preferences for exercise and diet, the coach constantly pushes for progress incorporating these preferences into the plan. In addition, the Wellcoach serves as a cheerleader celebrating accomplishments along the way.
• Sensei leverages technology to deliver a personalized experience for weight loss. The “virtual dietician” recommends meals based on the consumer’s stated food preferences and lifestyle. Sensei pushes out the fitness message as a reminder for today’s activity plan  “motivational messages” showing progress toward the goal and “behavior” messages to focus the consumer on healthy alternatives. MySensei provides access to tools including a shopping list to motivate healthier food choices.

Motivation is individual and varies based on the consumer’s unique set of health issues and readiness for change at that time. Even consumers who are self-motivated need information and tools to guide them and help them confidently navigate the decisions when coming to a fork in the road.

Most consumers need a more comprehensive solution which responds to triggers for need, delivers personalized information and tracks effectiveness to inform future touches. 

Most healthcare organizations believe they are effectively providing information to educate consumers about their health. In reality, they are in “broadcast” mode, sending out their communications from many sources in which that are telling “all consumers” about everything.

“They are sending me so many communications and I have such little time to look at them.”

“It is frustrating sorting through all of their health information to find what I need to manage my health”.

“I want sign up to receive certain health alerts on my mobile phone since I am not at my computer very often.”

“Teach Me” Opportunity: Provide a comprehensive yet personalized selection of health education information and tools, that is written at a level that patients can understand, is delivered through online and mobile channels and enables two- way communication.

Engagement in Action:

In order to share different approaches with you, I have selected a few examples which demonstrate how various decision support and social media tools are being utilized to educate the consumer.

• Mayo Clinic has launched their Medical Edge Weekend, online radio show led by specialists discussing selected topics while patients engage through email and twitter to share  comments and questions. Mayo also offers “patient friendly” podcasts organized by topics such as “Women’s Health”, “Men’s Health” and “Children’s Health” as well as different conditions.
• American Heart Association has designed the “Profilers” tools to help consumers understand their treatment options. Each question begins with an overview to make sure she is informed before responding. The tool captures personalized information and provides a customized report to share with my doctor for a more in- depth discussion.
• The Eat This Not That tool is designed to teach the consumer about food choices. Consumers are challenged to get the right answer by evaluating the two options placed side by side. With the ticking clock, consumers are rewarded with more points when making the right choice faster. Although the depth of questions in each category (e.g. breakfast, snack, dessert) is not yet available, the tool succeeds in engaging while teaching the consumer about making better food choices.
• CDC has created a FLU IQ Widget which is a tool to test for knowledge for getting and spreading the flu. The widget delivers 10 questions in succession, and gives the correct answer after each one. At the end of the quiz, a final score (out of 10) is displayed along with a message to challenge others which helps spread the learning. This is truly viral!  

Each example above offers only a piece of the puzzle. For the full picture, companies need to bring the consumer into the development process and understand their overall need for education from the “outside in”. This insight will help guide the development of a complete solution with new capabilities for communication, collaboration and personalization to “teach” the consumer.

Read about other key engagement drivers:

   #2: "Support Me"

   #3: "Motivate & Guide Me"

   #4: "Challenge Me"

   #5: "Reward Me"

Innovation is occurring all around us. Companies are actively exploring new ways to engage the consumers. They are "testing" eHealth solutions targeted to different audiences and are learning what is required to get consumers to participate in their own health. These companies are borrowing approaches from various industries as they "package" and deliver needed capabilities to consumers through the appropriate channels. With effective online tools and personalized information, companies are influencing the consumer's "decisions of daily living" and impacting their behavior to achieve better health.

Over the past ten years in the health technology industry, I have built a network of colleagues who are also passionate about the consumer. Through this blog, I will be tapping into my network to bring new perspectives into the changes that are driving our market. And during my ongoing discovery into innovative offerings, I will "connect the dots" and synthesize the value of these products for the consumer as well as share new and thought provoking ideas to get you thinking about what is to come. I invite you to come along for the journey...