This week Fidelity Investments launched a mobile app that helps its 1.2 million welfare and health plan members access their health benefits from their mobile devices. The app, called Fidelity Health & Insurance, is now available for iPhone and Android users as a native app and also accessible via any mobile phone's browser.
The new Fidelity Health & Insurance app includes coverage information, provider data, copayments and contact numbers, all of which the company characterizes as standard fare. The app also includes benefits summaries, in and out of network coverage, dental and vision content, and a pharmacy locator tool that is powered by MapQuest. Fidelity also pitches the app at parents of college kids: "For participants with dependents who may need remote access to health benefit content, such as a child away at college, the app includes a sharing option to send the information in an email," the company wrote in its release.
"We understand that today's hectic lifestyles require mobility tools to help us juggle busy schedules and simplify the volume of information we need to manage our daily lives," said Julia McCarthy, executive vice president, Fidelity Investments. "In response, Fidelity is continually developing new and engaging ways for people to leverage their mobile devices for easier access to their workplace benefits wherever they are."
Fidelity is just the latest payor to provide mobile health apps to its members. The trend has been picking up momentum in the past year. Health plan applications typically include features that enable users to look up claims history, research drug prices, display an electronic medical ID card, view health savings account info, and access a GPS-integrated physician network directory.
Few have taken it to the level health plans like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida has -- its app allows users to buy coverage straight from the application.
At the beginning of this year, David Passavant, the senior director of consumer innovation at UPMC Health Plan, which is owned by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, predicted that mobile health apps will quickly become an important tool for unraveling the “incredibly complex and confusing” world of health insurance for consumers.
More on Fidelity's app in the press release below:
PRESS RELEASE: BOSTON, Mar 05, 2012 -- Fidelity Investments(R) today launched its Fidelity Health & Insurance mobile application, a distinct new resource for the firm's nearly 1.2 million health and welfare participants(1) to better access and navigate health benefits on the go. The app is available to eligible workplace participants with an iPhone, iPod touch(R) or Android(TM) smartphone, and through their mobile browser.
Today's launch is the latest in a series of innovative mobile advancements from Fidelity that reinforce its commitment to exceptional service to both workplace participants and retail investors and help them better manage financial decisions. Recent mobile enhancements include retirement account access by workplace participants through the company's NetBenefits(R) participant portal, improved trading and research capabilities, comprehensive international market analysis and mobile check deposit for IRA and brokerage customers.
"We understand that today's hectic lifestyles require mobility tools to help us juggle busy schedules and simplify the volume of information we need to manage our daily lives," said Julia McCarthy, executive vice president, Fidelity Investments. "In response, Fidelity is continually developing new and engaging ways for people to leverage their mobile devices for easier access to their workplace benefits wherever they are."
The Fidelity Health & Insurance mobile app complements traditional medical plan coverage cards and benefit information available online at NetBenefits(R) by providing an enhanced experience for mobile device users. The app goes beyond coverage information, such as provider data, copayments and contact numbers, and delivers mobile access to benefits summaries, in and out of network coverage, dental and vision content, and a helpful "find a pharmacy" tool powered by MapQuest(R). For participants with dependents who may need remote access to health benefit content, such as a child away at college, the app includes a sharing option to send the information in an e-mail.
The Fidelity Health & Insurance App is available for free from the App Store(SM) on iPhone and iPod touch(R), at www.itunes.com/appstore , or the Android(TM) Marketplace. It may also be accessed through NetBenefits.com/health.
Media-Ready Graphic Illustrating Mobile Application Available
To download a graphic depicting Fidelity's Health and Insurance mobile app on a smartphone, click: H&I MOBILE APP
