UnitedHealthcare is launching a rewards program that will leverage wearables to pay up to $1,000 per year to eligible members who complete health goals. 

Under UnitedHealthcare Rewards, members who are active for 15 minutes or more daily, track their sleep for 14 nights and walk 5,000 steps or more per day receive compensation via a prepaid debit card or with payment in a health savings account. 

Beneficiaries can also complete a health survey, get a biometric screening and use paperless billing to receive funds.

The rewards program is available to select employers with fully insured plans at the start of their plan year. The company aims to make the rewards program purchasable by self-funded customers in 2024. 

"UnitedHealthcare Rewards is a more modern approach to employer-sponsored well-being programs, leveraging gamification elements and giving members the opportunity to earn incentives for any number of activities that may promote health," Brandon Cuevas, chief growth officer at UnitedHealthcare, said in a statement. 

THE LARGER TREND

Wellness programs have increasingly been offered to employees as an incentive for recruitment and retention, although employee engagement in these programs can be difficult to obtain. 

UnitedHealthcare is touting its rewards program as a way to change that by including daily incentives and integration directly into its app as well as "expanding the definition of wellness."

In 2018, UnitedHealthcare offered Apple Watches to its members enrolled in its incentive-based "Motion" program. Members of the employer-sponsored program were able track their daily activities using their personal Apple Watch, or one purchased and earned through the program. Participants would pay off the cost of the Watch by meeting daily fitness goals.