Project Deliverables

1
IBCSSocial-Networking in Employer-Based
Wellness Programs
2
Chronic Health Problems

• Chronic diseases are the 1 causes of MM in
  industrial world (Obesity, Lung Disease,
  Diabetes, CAD/CVA)
• Most of these diseases are related to behavior
  (smoking, inactivity, diet)
• Large Proportion of them are preventable.

3
Wellness Programs

• Employers or insurance cos sponsor programs to
  improve wellness through health-living behaviors
  (exercise, diet, smoking cessation)
• Reasons
• Improve productivity
• Lower healthcare costs
• Enhance your corporate image and long-term
  interests by promoting health beyond the worksite
• Help the nation achieve its health objective for
  the year 2010

Ref Healthy Workforce 2010 An Essential Health
Promotion Sourcebook for Employers, Large and
Small http//www.prevent.org/images/stories/File
s/publications/Healthy_Workforce_2010.pdf
4
Social Network targeting behavior

• Social interactions influence human behavior
• Social network identify represent maps of
  interactions
• Social network targeting could increase
  cost-effectiveness of health behavior
  interventions

5
Market Workplace Health Programs (2004)
Other large small businesses with lt50 employees
5.89 million
Total of WHP (gt50 employees)
330,087
Smoking cessation /or phys activity
126,118
Employee interest in programs
80,186

• Growth 7
• Initial Market Value
• Total WHI 41.9b
• Target market 5.6b

Without an improvement plan
44,115
6
Competition IP Status

• IP

• Competition

• Many companies offer wellness programs
• None utilize Christakis
• Social-Network targeting
• No direct competitors
• Avoid by consulting to wellness programs, insur co

• Filed Patent Application 2007
• Some prior art
• If patent issued in 1-3 years, will be weak,
  computer business-process patent
• Protection thru trade-secreted software
  expert-analysis

7
Business Model

• Recommendation pursue
• Path to market License to start-up
• Start-up would be consulting company, initially
  to
• Insurance Run, Employer-targeted Wellness/Health
  Program
• Use invention to provide more cost-effective
  wellness and health interventions

8
Status

• Stage of development Idea/Proof of Concept
• Technically feasible? Yes, but will require much
  work
• Technical roadmap
• Build network analysis requirements (info,
  importation of data)
• Develop software link to both employer
  insurance data
• Analyze sample networks with software
• Risks
• Can we get sufficient info to build rich networks
• Privacy/confidentiality concerns of peoples data
• Will Social-Networking targeted interventions
  work more effectively?

9
Go To Market Strategy

• Business feasible?
• Roadmap
• Identify and sell to corporate partner
• Procure funding from corporate partner
• Build analysis tools do pilot
• Prove effectiveness
• Identify Insurance Run, Employer-based Wellness
  Program to partner pilot
• Health insurance (e.g. Harvard Pilgrim, Vanguard,
  BCBS)
• Build SN analysis software and provide consulting
  services for tailored SN-targeted intervention
• Measure costs and outcomes

10
Thank you!

• Alvin Yu
• Harvard Medical School
• Marie-France Hivert, M.D.
• Massachusetts General Hospital/Clinical Scholars
  Program
• Yuri Maricich, M.D.
• Harvard Business School

11
Back up Slides
12
Challenge requires change in behavior

• Even with the gold-standard intervention for
  behaviors change (one-to-one counseling), many
  individuals are not successful at achieving their
  goal
• For example in the Diabetes Prevention Program,
  after 3 years of intervention, only 38 of the
  participants had lost and maintain ?7 of weight
  loss
• Worksite wellness programs have tried to
  increase and maintain participation or goal
  achievement by use of incentives (money, raffles,
  gifts), but there is still a lot a room for
  improvement
• Cost

13
Employer-Based Wellness Programs Benefits

• Improve productivity
• Attracting superlative workers in a competitive
  global marketplace
• Reducing absenteeism/lost time
• Improving on-the-job decision-making and time
  utilization
• Improving employee morale and fostering stronger
  organizational commitments
• Reducing organizational conflict by building a
  reservoir of good-will toward management
• Reducing employee turnover

14
Employer-Based Wellness Programs Benefits

• For the employees
• Improve the physical health, stamina, and general
  wellbeing
• Improving their focus at work
• Increasing job satisfaction and fostering
  positive outlook on life
• Bettering relations with co-workers and
  supervisors

15
Employer-Based Wellness Programs Benefits

• Lower healthcare costs
• Unhealthy behavior cost more
• Smokers generated 31 higher claims costs than
  non-smokers
• Workers with unhealthy weights had 143 higher
  hospital inpatient utilization than those with
  healthy weights
• For each dollar spend on health promotion 3.35
  save in healthcare expenses

16
Employer-Based Wellness Programs Benefits

• Enhance your corporate image and long-term
  interests by promoting health beyond the worksite
• Building a healthy community (pool of healthy
  future employees, current employees and family
  healthier)
• Demonstrating social responsibility
• Building public goodwill and a reputation as a
  good corporate citizen
• Directly and indirectly promoting the health of
  company employees, retirees, employees families,
  consumers, and/or service providers- all of whom
  can have an impact on a business long-term
  success

17
Employer-Based Wellness Programs Benefits

• Help the nation achieve its health objective for
  the year 2010
• Have 75 of employers offering a wellness program
• Have 75 of employees participating in wellness
  program when available on worksite
• Recommendations for major focus of wellness
  programs should be
• Tobacco use
• Alcohol/drug use
• Physical inactivity
• Overweight/obesity