Remember the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea?
Something happened thousands of times, maybe more, that is already having an impact on your health and wellness program.
Athletes, fans, coaches, and media staff took selfies, sent text messages, posted videos, and made status updates on social platforms. And millions more checked in on the Games via mobile devices from around the world.
Mobile. It’s the go-anywhere trend that’s changing everything, including wellness program engagement.
Search engine data shows consumers start with mobile.
A recent report from Hitwise argues that in the U.S., mobile search is roughly 58 percent of overall search query volume.
The company “examined hundreds of millions of online search queries” across PCs, smartphones, and tablets between April 10 and May 7, 2016 for prominent topics and themes.
The second most common category of online searches? You guessed it: health.
Another report shares that more than half of all smartphone users gather health-related information on their phones.
It’s no doubt that consumers are on their phones more often, and looking to learn more about their health. But does it matter if your health and wellness program is mobile friendly?
Mobile: a wellness solution
Research shows some incremental gains from mobile application use in aiding health behavior change, but many gaps in knowledge exist in how to properly engage and influence mobile application users.
The same report showed that the use of mobile applications was associated with:
- Higher participation rates in health assessments (54% vs. 49%)
- Higher completion of biometric screenings (51% vs. 48%)
And that means health and wellness programs that aren’t tapping into mobile may be missing out on engaging participants when it comes to things like the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit or health risk assessment.
If you’re not quite mobile-enabled yet, you’re not totally in last place...yet. Use of mobile applications was not associated with higher participation in interactive health coaching programs.
Anyone, anywhere
Imagine this scenario: You’ve just begun taking your health risk assessment, and you’re stopped when you receive a phone call. You pick up where you left off, but then are interrupted again. Later, you’re at home. And you receive an email or text message reminding you that you’ve got a few questions left. You pull out your phone and attempt to pick up where you left off. If your workforce health strategy doesn’t include mobile, you may be missing out on increasing your participation rates.
More engagement, more data
As a population health administrator, participation and completion of your health risk assessment is crucial. You want to make it as easy as possible for your population to complete an HRA.
For some, a desktop PC is just fine. But mobile is fast becoming the medium of choice for email, text messages, and online activity like completing an HRA. Get more people to participate, and you’ll get better data and reporting metrics you need to implement the right programs to improve your population’s health.
Is your health risk assessment mobile-friendly? If it’s not, how are you going to maximize engagement and stay connected with your population? And more importantly, capture important data about your wellness programs?
How about some help? Our suite of health risk assessments are mobile-friendly and ready to integrate with your platform. Want to learn more?
Check out 10 Reasons to Outsource Your HRA.
