Using Virtual Wellness Programs to Drive Member Engagement

July 26, 2019 - Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan (BCBSM) is revolutionizing the way they promote wellness among their employer-sponsored health plan members through their virtual wellness program, according to Cindy Bjorkquist, the payer’s director of Health and Well-Being.

During a recent Xtelligent Healthcare Media webcast, Bjorkquist outlined how BCBSM developed virtual and on-site wellness programs, leaning on health IT to get to the core of what a member needs to achieve health and wellness.

Critical to understanding a member’s health is knowing the member’s answers to questions like “are you happy? Are you resilient? Are you scared about your finances in the future? Do you think that you are on the right path, or are you lonely?” Bjorkquist said.

“Supporting our members in this whole health view of their personal journey and adding this important perception of life on a daily basis, were the main reasons we decided to develop the Virtual Well-Being Program,” Bjorkquist said.

This program has seen significant success. In the first quarter of 2019, BCBSM’s Virtual Wellness program engaged about 2,200 employers and 8,000 members.

READ MORE: Taking a Personalized, Digital Approach to Wellness Programs

“The program uses a virtual format, allowing us to be scalable and deliberate,” Bjorkquist explained. “It has separate sessions for members and employers, on the same topic, and delivers content using live webinar capabilities, PowerPoint, and graphics. The intent was always to host the sessions live with audio and video, as opposed to just a podcast or audio webinar, which most people are doing.”

The sessions are TEDx style, lasting approximately 13 to 14 minutes and focus on key wellness activities that will ideally improve member health.

These sessions focus on kindness, mindfulness, financial well-being, emotional health, exercise, nutrition, meditation, social isolation, and other relevant topics. The virtual coordinator offers tips, examples, and promotes opportunities for the members to engage in activities related to the subject of the week.

Some weeks, the virtual coordinator will invite a subject-matter expert onto the webinar to discuss a more specialized topic such as pharmacy, nutrition, senior care management, or other well-being factors.

The sessions are grounded in science, Bjorkquist added. A BCBSM staff member compiles articles, news, and supporting research and submits it to the virtual coordinator to update the programs.

READ MORE: Large Employers to Average $3.6M on Wellness Programs in 2019

BCBSM put significant thought into the look of the session, Bjorkquist explained. Instead of a simple PowerPoint page which flips across the screen as the speaker progresses, they incorporated a live video component, showing the speaker. They also purchased natural backgrounds for the virtual coordinator to use each week.

In addition to the virtual coordinator’s scenery, members who log into the session early are greeted with soft natural sounds such as chirping birds or rolling waves. Users will also see a nature scene on their screen and inspirational quotes that reflect that week’s subject matter.

These visual choices are all intentional, Bjorkquist explained, citing studies showing that 90 minutes in a wooded area each day decreases the segment of the brain that processes anxiety and depression.

The member and employer webinar has a live chat enabled that allows participants to send questions to the virtual coordinator which he answers at the close of the session.

At the end of every session, members are also prompted to complete a survey. The program has received positive feedback through the surveys.

READ MORE: Short-Term Wellness Programs Not Impacting Healthcare Costs

“We actually have heard back from participants, that say they think through the [tips and opportunities],” Bjorkquist said. “It's actually filtering into their brain every day, these quick tips and stuff. We're pretty excited about that as well.”

As of June 2019, the program encompassed nearly a year’s worth of topics across 52 weeks of sessions.

While significant emphasis has been placed on telehealth, telemedicine, and utilizing technology to address wellness, BCBSM did not downplay their in-person wellness strategies.

In fact, the payer would say that the fact that their virtual sessions feel nearly in-person through the dynamic virtual coordinator and live chat is part of what makes them effective.

“The way he delivers the content with audio and video, you feel that he is speaking directly to you. That was super important for the members,” Bjorkquist said of the payer’s virtual coordinator.

Bjorkquist provided examples of on-site programs that promote mental health through positive and resiliency-building activities, such as drawing something that makes the member happy or engaging in a wellness-centered dialogue in a natural environment.

Through BCBSM’s premium program, on-site well-being coordinators are placed within the company to increase engagement, tailor the company’s wellness strategy, and help facilitate a wellness culture.

The well-being coordinators host classes, screenings, and promote Blue Cross programs for substance use disorders, provider selection, isolation, and more. They rely on “old school programming,” as Bjorkquist calls it, to improve members’ wellness, incorporating activities such as journaling, community involvement, and traditional wellness activities into their in-person, on-site program.

The on-site wellness program engages employers as well. In an executive well-being call, a well-being coordinator visits the executive in the morning and helps them remap their brain using mindfulness techniques rooted in neuroscience.

“We're not deleting all of the wellness things that have been out there for 30-some years that we've been talking about,” Bjorkquist stated. “We're adding on top and layering all those newest things. We've developed webinars on rewiring the brain towards happiness, gratitude, resilience, kindness, compassion.”

Going forward, Bjorkquist said BCBSM hopes to develop a resiliency program, which the payer will ideally release soon.