Swapping Personal Exercise Data for a Free Apple Watch; What ' s the Catch?

I have previously blogged about the use of wearables to generate health data with feedback to health insurance companies (see:Apple Watch"Gifted" to Insurance Policy Holders; Any Gotcha's with the Deal?;Microsoft Publishes Guidelines for"Health Wearables"). As part of this trend,UnitedHealthcare is now offering a freeApple watch for customers who meet certain activity milestones. This was described in a recent article (see:UnitedHealthcare Offers Apple Watches to Wellness Program Participants Who Meet Fitness Goals) and some of the details are provided below....[L]everaging the popularity of mobile health (mHealth) wearable devices, UnitedHealthcare (UHC) has found a new way to incentivize employees participating in theinsurer ’s Motion walking program. UHC is offering free Apple Watches to employees willing to meet or exceed certain fitness goals. This is the latest wrinkle in a well-established trend of incentivizing beneficiaries to meet healthcare goals, such as stopping smoking, losing weight, reducing cholesterol, and lowering blood pressure.It ’s an intriguing gamble by UHC and presents another opportunity for medical laboratories that are equipped to monitor and validate participants’ progress and physical conditions. CNBC reported that UHC ’s Motion program participants number in the hundreds of thousands. And, according to a UHC news release, they can earn cash rewards up to $1,000 per year.The idea is that participants pay off ...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Innovations Healthcare Insurance Medical Consumerism Medical Ethics Point-of-Care Testing Preventive Medicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs