Modern technology has the power to transform well-being in the workplace. Whether it’s the latest wearable, application or platform, innovations are making it more convenient than ever for people to be their healthiest.

Recent breakthroughs are also driving more people than ever before to use health tech. In the U.S. alone, there has been an impressive 330 percent increase in the use of health and fitness apps from 2014 – 2017.¹

The rise in the popularity of health tech is enabling people to do so much more than simply track their activity, too. Nowadays, they can monitor their sleep, manage chronic conditions, make progress toward health goals and more—all through smart, individualized and user-friendly experiences.

Employers and health plans play an important role.

There will always be challenges when trying to encourage people to improve their well-being—no matter how much technology evolves. Often, people will let their wearable gather dust after they’ve earned an incentive, reached a personal health goal or simply grow tired of using their device. In fact, nine out of ten people who buy fitness trackers stop using them within 12 months.²

Overcoming these types of obstacles is possible though. Across the country, organizations have created careful strategies based on recent industry trends, which has helped them successfully implement technology into their well-being programs and improve the health of their employees and members.

To help you create your very own strategy, I’ve listed four of the most popular trends in health tech today.

1. Fully embracing technology.

Organizations with the most successful well-being programs are going all-in on health technology, especially wearables. It’s estimated that in 2018, 13 million wearable fitness and activity-tracking devices were projected for workplace wellness programs.³ In the coming years, that number will almost certainly continue to rise.

These organizations are also fully integrating wearables into their well-being programs. They’re incorporating them into well-being challenges, connecting them to their online portals and offering ongoing guidance on how to get the most out of them.

As a result, many organizations are building a strong well-being culture, lowering their health insurance costs, bolstering their well-being program and most importantly—helping their populations achieve and maintain their well-being goals.

2. Moving beyond personalization.

As consumers continue to adopt new and emerging health technologies, they now expect a basic level of personalization. In order to keep people engaged, we must move beyond personalization to deliver relevant experiences. Gathering information from your employees and members to provide more specific, unique and relevant experiences are key to driving well-being program loyalty and engagement to new levels. To make this happen, organizations should follow certain best practices:

• Create a program that’s informed by individual preferences.
• Design a portal based on a large set of data points.
• Deliver a true one-of-a-kind experience.

While it can be difficult to obtain personal health information in an age where privacy is a constant concern, many individuals are willing to share. According to a recent study, four out of five people are willing to provide personal information in exchange for an interaction in which they’re immediately known and understood.⁴ For more on personalization, check out this e-book; Your Guide: The power of Personalization.

3. Providing a seamless well-being experience.

In today’s age, people expect a seamless digital experience. Whether they’re shopping, paying bills or managing their health—most look forward to a simple and intuitive customer journey.

When it comes to well-being, this seems to be especially true. 96 percent of health and fitness app users only use one app and 75 percent of consumers expect a consistent experience across all channels.⁵ That’s why it has become increasingly common for organizations to offer a connected experience through a single portal.  One where people can go to sync their wearables, track their progress toward well-being goals and manage their health information—all from a single place.

4. Developing a strategy for savvy seniors.

Seniors are rapidly adopting health technologies for their own unique priorities. Wearables have become increasingly popular with seniors. Among those who are 65 and older, wearables adoption has grown by 264 percent—that’s more than five times the adoption rate of the general population!⁶

Organizations have taken notice and are making wearable technology more available to their senior populations. It’s helping this population track their heart rate, monitor their activity levels, set reminders to take medications and take advantage of real-time assistance for monitoring chronic illnesses. Plus, wearables gather vital information about an individual’s well-being, which they can share with their healthcare provider to receive truly individualized care.

With the help of wearables, seniors can stay independent and in control of their health for as long as possible.

The future of tech and well-being.

As technology continues to evolve and improve the lives of people in unforeseen ways, health tech will become an even larger part of everyday life. But, in order to keep up with industry trends and the rapidly changing pace of health tech—it’s important to create a sound strategy that will improve well-being at your organization today, tomorrow and for years to come.

Related Content:

• E-Book: Your Guide: The power of Personalization
• Blog: Empower Your Workforce with Health Tech

Privacy is a precious commodity. It seems like a week doesn’t pass without a company announcing some kind of data breach that has exposed the personal information of thousands, even millions, of people. Even more worrisome, in some cases it may take months before an incident is revealed to the public.

Financial institutions, social media and Internet companies, even retailers offering credit cards have all been targets of some of the biggest data breaches. Healthcare providers are high on the list, too.

In fact, 62 percent of healthcare organizations have suffered a data breach in the past year, according to a recent Ponemon Institute survey of hospitals and payer organizations. The healthcare industry has been the second-most targeted industry for data breaches four consecutive years and yet only slightly more than half of organizations in the survey have implemented a program to respond to these incidents.

That’s perplexing, especially when respondents in the survey reported that it cost about $4 million to clean up after they had been compromised.

It’s no surprise that consumers are losing trust in anyone who handles their personal information. It’s gotten so bad that they don’t even feel comfortable sharing with their doctor. A staggering 89 percent of adults who visited a healthcare provider in 2016 said they were unwilling to share their full medical history with their providers, a Black Book survey found.

It goes without saying that this sort of news is deeply troubling. Not just because privacy protection and consumer trust are things we take incredibly seriously, but also because of the warning it sends to our entire industry. How can we truly serve the individual needs of each person if nine out of 10 of them are afraid to share their electronic medical records or other sensitive health information for fear they may be stolen, or shared without their knowledge?

To honor the trust that consumers and our clients have in WebMD Health Services, we have achieved the gold standard in health data security:  HITRUST CSF Certification. The certification covers Personal Health Manager, Site Manager, Active Coaching, and Supporting Infrastructure, which includes personal health data across all WebMD Health Services’ core offerings, products and platforms.

This gives peace of mind to those who interact with WebMD Health Services.

For consumers who take our Health Assessment, talk to a WebMD Health Coach or use another of our products, this certification further underscores our commitment to protecting their privacy and honoring the trust they already have with the WebMD brand. For our health plan and employer clients, this demonstrates that WebMD Health Services’ data security infrastructure has met industry-defined requirements, is appropriately managing risk, meets federal and state regulations, standards and frameworks, and incorporates a risk-based approach.

Forgive us, for a moment, as we toot our own horn. This is an incredible achievement. Data privacy and security is one of our core values at WebMD, and we’re proud to join an elite group of companies that have met this benchmark certification in the healthcare industry. Suffice to say, it took a lot of hard work but it was something we were committed to achieving.

As part of the rigorous certification process, HITRUST visited WebMD Health Services locations in Indianapolis and Portland, Oregon, as well as each of our data centers on the east and west coasts. We were measured on 349 different requirements across 66 control categories.

Those data centers now have all new hardware as part of a complete infrastructure refresh. As we work to maintain the HITRUST CSF Certification standard and comply with future updates, this new foundation will serve our customers better and ease adoption of future requirements.

For more information about HITRUST CSF Certification, visit https://hitrustalliance.net.