PITTSBURGH, Pa. (May 3, 2018) – Highmark Inc. has entered into a six-year partnership with Sharecare, the digital health company helping people manage all their health in one place, to exclusively offer innovative, personalized health and wellness solutions to its employer group customers in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. Additionally, beginning January 1, 2019, Highmark members will have access to Sharecare’s personalized mobile and web-based platform that will help them better manage and understand their health, and provide timely and actionable steps to improve it, no matter where they are in their health journey.
“Consumers are more active in their own health care, but they are challenged with credible real-time information to help with health care decisions,” said Dr. Charles DeShazer, senior vice president and chief medical officer for Highmark. “Sharecare is laser focused to meet consumer expectations and ensure an exceptional member experience, and further sets its platform apart with personalized articles, videos and health content from trusted sources like the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association and Centers for Disease Control – all through the smartphone and in the palm of your hand.”
Sharecare’s real-time data and personalized messages are also beneficial to employers, who are looking for ways to keep employees engaged, healthy and productive.
“We are excited to offer Sharecare to our customers with easy to implement wellness programs that produce meaningful outcomes,” said Matthew J. Rhenish, president, national and specialty markets, Highmark Inc. “Through a personalized, mobile experience, employers will be able to reach and engage their entire workforce, motivate employees to make positive health changes, and measure the results.”
Each member starts by taking Sharecare’s proprietary, scientifically-validated health risk assessment, RealAge, which calculates the actual age of their body versus their chronological age. Based on their RealAge results, the member receives personalized information, actionable plans and programs, and multimedia content from leading health experts and organizations to support them in their health journey. Utilizing technology already built into the smartphone, Sharecare helps the member track daily markers that have the biggest impact on their health, including sleep, stress and steps, as well as diet, blood pressure and medications.
Sharecare will be offered as the digital companion to Well360, Highmark’s comprehensive care management platform, which helps members close gaps in care, access appropriate care and decrease health risks. Whether used via mobile app or the web, Sharecare gathers – with the member’s permission – important information and dynamic data that improves Highmark’s ability to provide targeted care management solutions and efficiently coordinate care for members. Within Sharecare, members also can access their other health benefits provided by Highmark, making it more convenient than ever to engage in and manage their health.
“Highmark shares our vision to improve the health of diverse populations by engaging the member, and leveraging data-driven insights to provide people with real-time access to the tools and resources they need to best manage their health,” said Jeff Arnold, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Sharecare. “We are excited to partner with an organization as committed to its members as Highmark, and are eager to use our integrated platform to deliver Highmark customers and members with a comprehensive experience that ultimately will result in better outcomes and reduced costs.”
“Employers that offer Sharecare and Well360 will see healthier employees through more connected care, improved access to the right care and a personalized health care experience,” continued Dr. DeShazer. “Reward programs for achieving wellness goals, and employee challenges – such as a biggest loser contest – offered by Highmark can also help keep employees engaged in the program.”
“The goal is to transform the approach to health from episodic – I go to the doctor when I’m sick – to I understand my health, I’m managing my health and I’m taking action every day to improve my health,” he said. “We’re very fortunate to have found a perfect partner in Sharecare to help us do that.”
The Sharecare partnership is just the latest transformative effort by Highmark. The recently-launched Doctor Match, an innovative online tool to help consumers find the right doctor, is helping to make it easier for consumers to switch to a doctor that fits their needs and health care philosophy. Highmark is also seeing great success with its True Performance physician reimbursement program that is lowering costs and reducing ER visits and hospital stays.
About Highmark Inc.
Highmark Inc. and its health insurance subsidiaries and affiliates collectively are among the ten largest health insurers in the United States and comprise the fourth-largest Blue Cross and Blue Shield-affiliated organization. Highmark Inc. and affiliates operate health insurance plans in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia that serve 5 million members and hundreds of thousands of additional members through the BlueCard® program. Its diversified businesses serve group customer and individual needs across the United States through dental insurance, vision care and other related businesses. Highmark Inc. is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit www.highmark.com.
About Sharecare
Sharecare is the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place. The Sharecare platform provides each person – no matter where they are in their health journey – with a comprehensive and personalized health profile where they can dynamically and easily connect to the information, evidence-based programs and health professionals they need to live their healthiest, happiest and most productive life. In addition to providing individual consumers with direct access to award-winning and innovative frictionless technologies, scientifically validated clinical protocols and best-in-class coaching tools, Sharecare also helps providers, employers and health plans effectively scale outcomes-based health and wellness solutions across their entire populations. To learn more, visit www.sharecare.com.