Looking to the personalized medicine space, Blue Shield of California announced yesterday that it is relaunching its wellness platform Wellvolution, angling to give its members options on how to pursue individualized health and wellness goals. 

The new technology is born from a collaboration between the insurer and Solera Health, a digital marketplace for benefits and chronic disease management programs. The platform helps link users to other apps or resources that can meet their specific needs. 

Specifically, the insurer named sleep, stress, physcial activity, diet and exercise promotion, smoking cessation and cardio-metabolic disease prevention as some target areas the new platform could help patients focus on. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Personalized medicine is on its way to becoming the buzzword of the year, with more companies looking to expand its suite of options. And with physicians more vulnerable to stress and burnout than ever, many are turning to digital tools are one way that people could get that personalized care.  

“The point is human data is going to change medicine, everybody here recognizes that,” Dr. Eric Topol said at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose in March. “It is going to empower patients even more and make the lives of clinicians far better. The point that is essential is recognizing that each human being is unique, but we didn’t have the tools to understand that until recently.” 

THE LARGER TREND

This isn’t the first time Solera has teamed up with Blue Shield of California. In 2017 the insurer teamed up with Solera to offer Diabetes Prevention Programs (DPPs) to commercial health plan members. Blue Shield members can access the Solera program — which offers both digital and in-person programs through a network of 1,000 CDC-recognized DPPs — at no extra cost through the original Wellvolution. 

Solera has also joined forces with Blue Cross Blue Shield. The plan is for Solera Health to work with BCBS and tailor its platform to link people up with community-based providers and other resources that could contribute to social determinants of health. It will match patients to resources that fit their personal needs, goals or care plans. The idea is to provide support to patients outside of the inpatient setting. According to the companies, the resources will be paid for through outcomes-based claims.

ON THE RECORD 

“Traditional wellness programs are clearly dead — too costly and ineffective — yet the zombie health management program epidemic continues. Enough already,” said Bryce Williams, VP of lifestyle medicine at Blue Shield of California, said in a statement. “With Wellvolution, Blue Shield members and their families can now meaningfully utilize lifestyle to meet their health needs whether they’re trying to reverse disease such as diabetes or simply get a better night sleep, and it won’t cost them a penny more.”