Employee wellness programs have become a top priority for companies all over the world.
Such programs have been shown to help improve mental, financial, and physical health. In fact, a report from the Harvard Business School once found that for American-based wellness companies, medical expenses fell by $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs. Employee absenteeism also fell by $2.73.
According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), programs promoting wellbeing and health, and providing disease prevention plans can potentially influence more than 150 million employees.
And consider this. Having no programs in place can be costly. For example, “The World Health Organization recently reported that an estimated 12 billion working days will be lost to untreated depression and anxiety by the year 2030, resulting in a global cost of $925 billion,” as noted by Work Place Mental Health.
That’s where companies like Newtopia Inc. (TSXV:NEWU)(OTC:NEWUF) come into play.
In fact, the company just announced it is launching the category of habit change provider to enable employees to live healthier every day.
In pioneering this new category, Newtopia created an individualized whole-person approach that prevents, reverses and slows the progression of chronic disease while enriching mental health, resilience and human performance.
A pandemic-fueled surge in health risk factors
Employers, health plans and payers have long recognized the significant direct and indirect costs of chronic health conditions and have sought to manage these risks through condition management programs and lifestyle-oriented benefits such as gym memberships and increasingly individual digital point solutions for employees.
However, this approach has proved unsuccessful; 80% of the U.S. population has at least one risk factor for chronic disease, and now health risks are surging as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — from decreased physical activity and weight gain to mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety and depression to increased substance abuse — adding to the urgency. Without active intervention , these risk factors lead to chronic conditions affecting individuals not only physically but mentally and often cascade into further personal, familial and societal problems, often manifesting in reduced work productivity.
“The world has changed, and managing employees’ health risks is no longer enough. It’s time to double down and eliminate these risks through primary prevention,” said Jeff Ruby, Newtopia’s founder and CEO. “The so-called health care system is ill-equipped to help people lead healthy lifestyles because it’s designed to treat people after they become sick. There’s no pill for prevention. Primary care physicians may make lifestyle-related recommendations, but they don’t have the training, experience, incentive — or time — to provide ongoing one-to-one attention and motivation needed to help people make good choices and turn those choices into sustainable habits.
Who is going to keep people healthy so they don’t need medical intervention? Newtopia is launching the new category of habit change provider to address this critical need.”
Because health systems do not adequately support primary prevention, self-insured employers as well as public and private payers have been attempting to fill this void with a patchwork of point solutions for condition management, nutrition or fitness, , that deliver short term results at best . A more effective approach is to engage with a habit change provider who will take the time to get to know each individual and design unique experiences that help employees develop beneficial lifestyle habits that will enable them to maintain or improve their health over time.
What is a habit change enabler?
A habit change provider is a partner that is focused on preventing, reversing and slowing the progression of chronic disease while enriching mental health, resilience and human performance. These results are achieved through an integrated, whole-person approach that emphasizes one-on-one coaching to help individuals develop and maintain better nutrition, exercise and behavioral well-being habits.
The habit change process
To begin the process with a new client, Newtopia measures the employee population risk through existing biometric screening, claims data or an online risk screener and then stratifies the population to identify where to intervene (prevent, reverse or slow progression). Based on their risk factors, employees are assigned to either a broad-based disease prevention program or an individualized program focused on diabetes prevention, weight management, hypertension and heart health, or healthy living with diabetes.
Within these programs, individual interventions are tailored to each participant based on their genetics, medical history, motivation, social determinants of health, and personal preferences and goals. Virtual coaching by a personality-matched Inspirator provides accountability, while long-term engagement is supported by digital tools such as connected devices and interactive apps.
Proven results
Habit change is not simply another one-size-fits-all program. It is an individualized experience that delivers long-term results.
The effectiveness of Newtopia’s broad-based, whole-person approach to promoting lasting habit change outcomes was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, based on a randomized controlled trial of at-risk Aetna employees, demonstrated that sustained engagement with Newtopia’s prevention program decreased participants’ metabolic risk factors and resulted in a reduction of US$1,464 in medical costs per participant in just the first year.
Another recent , by Santa Barbara Actuaries, showed that Newtopia’s habit-change programs can deliver similar medical cost savings — up to US$1,700 per participant in the first year — among Medicare Advantage populations.
Newtopia’s Alternate Diabetes Prevention Program has also received full recognition from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, helping reduce the burden of a disease that costs $15,000-$20,000 per person per year to manage.
Newtopia is also currently evaluating how its habit change offerings positively impact employee mental health through the clinically validated PROMIS® tool. Newtopia offers performance-based pricing, taking into account indicators such as employee engagement rates, biometric change and mental health impact, and health care utilization and costs.
The company has experienced 100% year-over-year growth over the past five years and currently has contracts for 375,000 at-risk lives which is growing quickly.
“Changing habits takes one-to-one human involvement and relationships, not just an educational curriculum, algorithm or an app,” said Lara Dodo, chief growth and operating officer at Newtopia. “Every person is unique, so one-size-fits-all programs won’t solve the problem, and self-education and self-motivation have not been shown to be effective long term. A new way is needed, and habit change providers are the path forward.”
Employee Health and Wellness Has Become Essential
Ontrak Inc. (NASDAQ:OTRK), a leading AI-powered and telehealth-enabled, virtualized healthcare company, today released a new report, “How to Address the Growing Behavioral Health Crisis Among Seniors ,” examining the growing and challenging problem of recognizing and engaging older Americans in need of behavioral healthcare. One in 5 older adults experience a serious mental health disorder, a number that is expected to double to 15 million by 2030, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. However, these conditions are often hard to spot or are missed entirely among older Americans. This can lead to lower quality of life, worsening chronic conditions, and a risk of death through suicide or substance abuse.
Teladoc Health Inc. (NYSE:TDOC), the first and only comprehensive virtual care system, and DexCom, Inc., the leader in real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), announced that joint Livongo for Diabetes and Dexcom members will now receive CGM-powered insights, a new set of features and reports that help members more easily visualize their health information and understand how lifestyle decisions affect their blood glucose levels. By combining Dexcom CGM data with additional signals from Teladoc Health, including activity data and food intake, CGM-powered insights offer members a complete health profile and recommendations that support ongoing diabetes management. In Jan 2020, Livongo, which merged with Teladoc Health in October, and Dexcom announced the first phase of their strategic relationship, a data sharing agreement for Livongo for Diabetes members using Dexcom CGM technology.
American Well Corp. (NYSE:AMWL), a national telehealth leader, announced the launch of Amwell Psychiatric Care, a solution that provides hospitals and health systems with on-demand and scheduled telepsychiatry services. The solution addresses the growing need for behavioral healthcare across the U.S. APC offers behavioral health support and clinical expertise from Asana Integrated Medical Group, which became part of Amwell in 2019 as part of its acquisition of Aligned Telehealth. Asana Integrated Medical Group has been recognized with The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Behavioral Healthcare Accreditation, making it one of just a few virtual care organizations to receive this honor for behavioral health. This designation exemplifies the company’s continued commitment to delivering quality patient care.
Mid-2020, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced a health care pilot with Crossover Health, an expert in comprehensive primary care services, to establish local, convenient health centers near Amazon fulfillment centers and operations facilities across the country. The first Neighborhood Health Center location will be available for Amazon employees and their families in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Across the U.S., an increasing number of patients do not have easy access to a primary care physician and instead utilize emergency or urgent care options, which is not only more expensive for patients, but also overlooks important preventative care opportunities,” said Darcie Henry, Amazon’s Vice President of Human Resources. “We want to solve that for our employees, and the launch of these new Neighborhood Health Centers will provide a range of quality primary care services for employees across the country.”
Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement Winning Media has been paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services for Newtopia Inc. by a third party. We own ZERO shares of Newtopia Inc. Please click here for full disclaimer.
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