Health insurers satisfy appetite for information with array of apps
Kevin Lyons
Health care is probably the last thing many students think about when heading off to college. But for parents worried that their college students won’t know where to go in case of a health care emergency, such as alcohol poisoning or mono, there’s a smartphone app for that.
Many of the major health insurance companies offer free apps that can perform nifty functions such as displaying an electronic ID card or giving directions to the nearest hospital in an insurer’s network.
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| The Sunlight Foundation’s Sunlight Health app. |
Some insurers’ apps, such as those from Aetna and Humana, allow users to look up drug prices at nearby pharmacies. United HealthCare’s app connects users to social networks such as Facebook. You can see the balance of a health savings account on apps from Health Net as well as Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
The technology keeps students and medical professionals connected. For instance, users of Health Net’s app can show a mobile ID card that verifies eligibility for benefits.
“Students are more prone to walk into a physician’s office with a mobile phone and not a (health) ID card, so this serves a practical purpose and is a sweet spot for the college-aged demographic. We are communicating with them on their platform,” says Michele Stankowski, director of technology at Health Net.
Stankowski says her company even is looking at making a customer’s personal health records available in a mobile format.
Christine Paige, senior vice president for marketing and Internet services at Kaiser Permanente, estimates 14 percent of visits to the Kaiser website are from mobile devices and smartphones.
“We want our members who have those devices to have easy access to all of the same high-quality online tools on their mobile devices as they have from standard computers,” Paige says.
Health Net released its mobile app in September 2010 for iPhone and Android users. Other big insurers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, CIGNA, United HealthCare and Aetna also provide policyholders with varying degrees of access to crucial health care information through smartphone apps.
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| Humana’s myHumana app. |
One nonprofit organization has taken the health care app to another level. Relying on data from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation’s new Sunlight Health app offers information on nursing homes, hospitals, dialysis clinics and home health services. It also delivers drug information from Consumer Reports and information about health care suppliers.
“This is information not influenced by an insurance company,” says Liz Bartolomeo, a spokeswoman for the Sunlight Foundation.
The Sunlight app also uses the federal data to rank health care facilities and point out potential problems. For example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data in Sunlight Health’s app shows Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia does not do as good a job as its peers at keeping blood sugar levels under control before surgery, and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia does a poor job of treating pneumonia.
“There is so much information out there, and consumers don’t always know where to look, so this app is perfect for a parent sending their kid off to college because this is the kind of information they can use to make better health care decisions,” Bartolomeo says.
MyOptumHealth.com, a subsidiary of United HealthCare, has a social networking tool for users of Microsoft Windows 7, iPhone and Android devices that lets customers track their progress on a number of health and fitness challenges. The results can be integrated with Facebook.
Karl Ulfers, vice president for consumer advisory solutions at OptumHealth, says “competitors stay motivated and inspire others by celebrating their success on Facebook or even sending out ‘kick butt’ jabs.”
Here are details about various health care apps on the market.
1. For iPhone and Android.
2. Not affiliated with a health insurance company. Draws information from government sources such as the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
3. Uses GPS to locate nearby hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis clinics, home health care providers and health care suppliers.
4. Provides ratings on these facilities using information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s database.
5. Supplies information on prescription drugs by drawing on data from Consumer Reports.
1. For iPhone and Android.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Health Net network.
3. Offers mobile ID card.
4. Provides plan details, effective dates, co-pay and deductible information, and schedule of benefits.
United HealthCare’s OptumHealth
1. For iPhone, Android and Windows.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the United HealthCare network.
3. Lets someone create and track health and fitness challenges and share the results on Facebook.
1. For iPhone and BlackBerry Curve.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Aetna network.
3. Checks personal health records, accesses ID card, reviews claims.
4. Compares prescription drug prices.
Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Blue National Doctor and Hospital Finder
1. For iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Blue Cross Blue Shield network. Performs nationwide search for a health care provider by specialty and name.
1. For iPhone and Android.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Humana network.
3. Checks prescription drug prices.
4. Reviews past claims.
5. Provides member ID number.
6. Looks up balances for health care spending accounts.
1. For mobile web and iPhone.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Kaiser network.
1. For iPhone.
2. Keeps track of personal medical information, such as immunizations, medications and medical contacts.
3. Provides widgets to check whether you’ve gotten recommended vaccinations for your travel destinations.
CIGNA
1. For mobile web.
2. Uses GPS to help locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Cigna network.
3. Checks prescription drug prices.
1. For iPhone.
2. Uses GPS to locate physicians, hospitals and other urgent care facilities in the Highmark network.
3. Delivers information about medical conditions.
4. Offers health care tips as well as information on health and wellness programs available to Highmark members.
