How To Select the Right Well-Being Program

How To Evaluate Well-Being Programs

If you’re embarking on the undertaking of selecting a well-being program, you no doubt have many questions in your mind. Whether you are new to these programs or you are looking at how to take an existing program to the next level, knowing how to evaluate your options is a must. While there are lots of factors to consider, we feel these six elements are important to evaluate when it comes to choosing a well-being program:

1. The consumer experience
2. Programming flexibility
3. Solution integration
4. Brand trust
5. Client and consumer support
6. Investment value

Let’s look at each of them in detail.

1. The consumer experience

At the heart and soul of your well-being program are the people who will use it every day — your employees and perhaps their spouses and partners or even your retirees. The consumer experience must be a positive one if it is going to engage people beyond an initial interaction and drive true value on your investment.

Whether it’s shopping for clothing, choosing a restaurant, or deciding what to watch, technology has enabled a highly personalized, seamless digital experience. Your employees will expect the same type of experience when they interact with the well-being program. Look for:

• A simple and secure login process that makes it easy for people to get in and start using the solution.
• Intuitive navigation so people can easily find what they want.
• Mobile and desktop access to reach all of your people anytime, anywhere.
• Guidance, education and personalized action plans that develop internal motivation and accountability.
• Digital tools that support setting and achieving short- and long-term goals.
• Motivating messages that keep people engaged and give them something new each time they interact with the program.
• Custom communications included as part of the standard offering that address your varied populations.

2. Programming flexibility

Well-being is personal, which means employees will want to engage with your program in ways that are meaningful to them—whether they’re managing a chronic condition, quitting tobacco, or looking to increase physical activity. The well-being solution should allow participants to select the tools and resources that help them achieve their personal well-being goals, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

To make sure your program is as customized as possible, ensure it offers:

• Tools to address holistic well-being, including mental health, financial wellness, and social connectedness—in addition to physical health.
• Multiple ways to connect with a health coach—via phone, text or in person.
• Varied communication channels such as email, text, workplace social media, employee portal, leadership/manager communication, in-office promotions, home mailers and more.
• Condition management support for people who need help managing a chronic condition as well as lifestyle support for things like quitting tobacco.
• Wellness challenges that engage even the healthiest members of your population.
• An incentives platform that gives you the power to promote your program and reward engagement in the way you need.

3. Solution integration

Due to the intrinsically personal nature of well-being, even the most robust well-being program can benefit from outside tools and resources (also known as “point solutions”). However, if employees must log on to many different well-being solution websites, you will not see the utilization you are hoping for. The trick is to ensure that your population has one centralized way to access all your well-being offerings.

Get more bang for your buck with a solution that:

• Easily lets people share fitness tracker, app and other device data, such as steps taken or calories burned, with your well-being program.
• Provides multiple components that seamlessly integrate with each other.
• Connects with point solutions and programs to facilitate people getting the help they need when they need it.
• Delivers the technical expertise needed to maintain data integrity and security when transferred between programs and vendors.
• Offers batch and real-time data transfers between different solution components to deliver a truly integrated program.

4. Brand trust

Whether they’re working with a health coach, getting a biometric screening or setting and tracking personal health goals, people need to know they can trust the well-being partner to give accurate and credible guidance, and that their personal health information is safe.

A good program can generate trust through:

• Programs certified and accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
• Proven and documented outcomes that support the effectiveness of the program.
• A brand known by your population and trusted as an expert in health and well-being.
• Technology and processes that deliver exceptional data security and privacy.

5. Client and consumer support

Supporting your population’s well-being involves more than just programming a platform and letting it run. Every aspect of your program should reflect your organization and properly address your population’s needs. You should also be able to get help whenever you or your consumers need it. Whatever the issue—from a complex rewards programming question to planning your next well-being challenge—good help should never be more than a phone call or email away.

Look for a partner that:

• Leverages internal solution architects and other technical team members to ensure your program implementation is seamless and easy for you.
• Gives you a designated account management team who learns your company and culture and helps you make programming decisions to support your goals.
• Makes it easy for you to get the word out about your program with an in-house communications team that can create custom materials.
• Provides you with regular data and feedback about your program that you can use to evolve it over time.
• Delivers exceptional support to your consumers, ensuring only the most positive experiences.

6. Investment value

As with any investment, it’s important to be able to track the value of your well-being program. While some of the benefits of a well-being program may be slightly subjective, they are nonetheless very powerful. From a stronger culture that facilitates your recruitment and retention efforts to reduced health risks or improved health outcomes, there are many ways to demonstrate the value your program delivers for you.

Choose a vendor that offers:

• A robust set of standard and customizable reports that lets you see engagement across different population segments as well as outcomes.
• Expertise to help you translate analytics into ongoing programming enhancements and results.
• Programming options and effectiveness that reflect positively on your company, strengthening employee or member loyalty.
• A trusted brand that promotes the strong engagement you need to achieve positive outcomes.

Putting it all together

Choosing the right well-being program is a lot like pursuing well-being itself—it takes thorough consideration of a number of different components. You can find the program that’s right for you by carefully evaluating the products, the process and, especially, the people. Because, when you come right down to it, that’s what your program is all about.

So, what should you do next?

• Craft questions for a request for proposal that focus on your company’s needs, culture and desired outcomes.
• Create a timeline to meet your implementation goals.
• Contact us at connect@webmd.net or schedule a live demo of the WebMD Health Services solution to see how we can help you and your population.