Samsung and Cigna, which signed a partnership agreement last fall, have launched their first joint product, a feature on Samsung's S Health app called Coach by Cigna, which will launch exclusively on the Galaxy S5. The platform is being launched in 36 countries and 26 languages.
The software, which Cigna describes as a "digital health guidance system," will incorporate health information collected either manually through the smartphone or via sensors in the Galaxy Gear or Gear Fit. It will use that information to generate a personal health coaching regimen for users.
“By integrating Cigna's health expertise and knowledge with Samsung’s leading edge technology, we expect to help our customers improve their health throughout their everyday lives,” Hankil Yoon, Senior Vice President of Global Product Planning Group, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung, said in a statement. “The approach of Coach by Cigna resonates with today’s modern exercise practices and behaviors, because it is targeted toward establishing healthy habits that enable successful management of exercise, weight, sleep, stress, and nutrition.”
First-time users of Coach by Cigna will take a survey to establish their goals in the areas of exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress, and weight. Then the app generates small, achievable "missions" meant add up to behavior change that leads to the eventual goal. Those efforts are supported in the app by self-tracking, motivational messaging, health assessments and achievement badges. Users are also assigned a "lifestyle score" based on those five factors, which goes up as they achieve goals.
The content in the app is generated by Cigna nurses, nutritionists, coaches, and behavior specialists, while the tracking technology integrates with Samsung's existing S Health app (which added a stress tracking capability just this week). Users set goals in Coach, but they use S Health to track when they complete the goals and unlock achievements.
When MobiHealthNews spoke to Cigna about the partnership last fall, spokesman Joseph Mondy said the eventual plan was to get more medical by connecting patients to doctors and hospitals.
“We’re very much engaged in trying to deliver health improvement capabilities that engage folks where they are, and where they are is on mobile devices,” Mondy said at the time. “We looked to partner with a global leader in mobile devices to work with to deliver some of our health [related] capabilities.”
