Can the Healthcare Industry Improve New Year’s Resolutions?

The New Year brings an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months and set goals for self-improvement. Most of us will dust off old resolutions given that most end in failure (almost 90% according to one study). Considering half of people will make a health resolution this year, there is a huge opportunity for healthcare companies to engage an unusually captive audience to keep them on the right path. I believe they can get involved in three ways:

1) Goal Setting: Using industry research or proprietary data, healthcare companies may be able to identify improvement areas, provide specific guidelines to set realistic targets, and clearly illustrate how achieving the goal will improve the consumer's life. For example, a health insurance company may use data to identify specific risk factors and potential behavior changes for a member (e.g., Patient X needs to lose weight based on BMI). Based on their research and Patient X’s profile, they can calculate the optimal amount of weight Patient X should lose over a year. Finally, by demonstrating the insurance premium savings and added life expectancy, Patient X may feel motivated to set these goals

2) Program Development: Users need to develop a realistic action plan and healthcare companies can help users create a timeline and provide advice. For example, after Patient X decides to lose weight, milestones can be set throughout the year (e.g., how much weight should be lost each month) and the company can provide advice on steps to take each month. While Patient X’s insurance company may not provide the services it recommends (e.g., gym memberships, health food providers), the company could partner and offer discounts with other suppliers

3) Program Tracking: Users also need an easy, unobtrusive way to track their progress. This tracking could be through a smart phone app or website, but would ideally be linked to the custom timeline and provide reminders / motivation to the user

The challenge with these solutions is that they require significant infrastructure and data, and ROI could be difficult to calculate. If this is appealing, however, a company could start with program tracking – there are some apps and websites dedicated to monitoring progress (e.g., Big Change). By partnering with one of these developers, a company could start helping customers achieve their existing goals and gradually roll out other features over time.