Funding wearable health

As technology becomes more and more ubiquitous in everyday life, the role of wearable technology has increasing prevalence, and importance, in the healthcare space. With devices able to track critical biometrics, wearable technology has given individuals access to a wealth of health and wellness metrics. And, more so than this, wearable health technology has empowered individuals by enhancing their ability to manage their health on a daily basis.

Various technology companies have introduced devices that can track everything from your heart rate and blood pressure to the steps you take and the calories you burn each day. Technology giants Apple, Samsung, and Google are reportedly working on innovative ways to bring wearable devices such as smart watches to the forefront of disease prevention and management. The aim is to enable these devices to check glucose levels – without needing an invasive finger prick. Experts estimate that by 2018, the overall number of wearable devices globally will reach 130 million – making them an ideal health touch point.

The ability of wearable devices to bring about a positive change in behaviour and increased engagement can be illustrated through Vitality members’ use of wearable devices. “At Discovery we are committed to finding innovative ways to encourage our members to live healthier lives. One of our big focus areas is on facilitating behaviour change,” says Head of Vitality Wellness, Dr Craig Nossel.

Commenting on the growing popularity of fitness devices, Nossel adds: “Members who link their devices to Vitality and use them on a regular basis have shown a 43% increase in the number of daily steps taken in the first two weeks of use. This is then followed by a sustained increase in the number of steps taken over time, resulting in members increasing their daily number of steps by nearly 60% within two months.”

In addition to allowing individuals to measure, monitor, track, and store their health data, health devices are also moving into the collaboration space – allowing users to share their health details with healthcare practitioners.

“We’ve incentivised our members to use health devices,” says Nossel. “With our Vitality partnerships with Fitbug, Fitbit, Jawbone, Garmin, iHealth, and Polar, members can get up to 25%cash back on a selected range of fitness devices with the HealthyCare benefit (where members can get up to 25% cash back on a range of HealthyCare products from Clicks and Dischem)and the HealthyGear benefit (where members can get up to 25% cash back on a range of gear and sports equipment from Sportsmanswarehouse and Totalsports).”

Members can also earn 150Vitality points for each workout uploaded with a Vitality-linked device or app each day and, from 1 January 2015, can also claim an extra R750from their Discovery Health Medical Scheme day-to-day benefits if they have funds available.

“Through Vitality, we are using behavioural economics to promote healthier lifestyle choices,” says Nossel, “And we are seeing that those who engage in Vitality are healthier, live longer and benefit from rich, tangible rewards from our world-class partners – with wearable health technology playing an important role in this environment.”