Engage Employees in the Nation’s Leading Wellness Program

Executive Summary

Increase participation and improve participants’ health metrics for Geisinger’s employee wellness program using digital content, tools and resources.

80% Boost in participation rate among benefit-eligible employees

2x Increase in utilization of health coaches, which increases the participant's likelihood of success

1,200 Participants improved their health dramatically by reversing their pre-diabetes

The Challenge

Geisinger Health Plan (GHP), ranked the best health plan in Pennsylvania, is part of Geisinger, a 12-hospital system that cares for 1.2 million Pennsylvanians annually. GHP offers myHealthRewards, an outcomes-based wellness program that provides members with discounts on their health insurance premiums if they meet personalized health goals around BMI, high blood pressure, glucose levels and cholesterol.

Digital Health Strategies was tasked with developing and managing a digital engagement program to:

Increase registration in the myHealth Rewards program
Increase the number of participants who improved their health by meeting their personalized health goals

The Solution

Create behavioral-driven communications strategies for different audience segments

We collaborated with Geisinger’s behavioral insights team to develop a series of science-backed “nudge” messaging and communications for different audience segments, including previous participants who did not hit goal and members with chronic conditions who had never participated. In some cases we segmented members based on their conditions (diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, BMI, etc.). Communications included illustrated emails, recipe cards, polls, quizzes, listicles, infographics, testimonials and webinars.

Develop cross-platform content to drive enrollment

We created full-color booklets that were mailed to members’ homes, emails, web content and on-site posters to encourage enrollment.

Geisinger MyHealth Rewards 2020 home mailer

Promote incentives to drive “Early Bird” registration

Since participants who sign up earlier in the year are more likely to complete the wellness program successfully, we promoted weekly raffle prize incentives to encourage early registration.

Geisinger MyHealth Rewards food swaps and pathway to success collateral

Educate members on the connection between small changes and lasting results

Our nudge messaging emphasized the importance and ease of small changes, such as swapping out high-cholesterol ingredients with healthier choices, parking further away to increase walking and brushing your teeth after lunch to discourage snacking.

Increase utilization of health coaches

We created an educational series that communicated the support and resources a free health coach could provide. Communications included user testimonials, an interactive “Meet the Health Coaches” listicle, fun quizzes and illustrated guides on easy, coach-approved exercises you can do anywhere, any time.

Boost engagement via opt-in text messages

We created a series of text messages designed to inspire, educate and engage with varied calls to action, such as standing up, downloading an educational guide or registering for Geisinger’s “Step It Up” walking challenge.

Launch “Ask the Expert” series

We collaborated with GHP to create a webinar and email series featuring Geisinger experts providing tips on nutrition, sleep, stress management and physical activity to help keep members engaged and excited about their wellness journey.

Geisinger Ask the Expert promotional graphic

Use advanced analytics to connect content engagement with registration and success in reaching goals

Using a mix of cross-domain tracking, custom URL and advanced google analytics, we traced the customer journey from engaging with digital content and registering to engaging with the program’s interactive online dashboard.