ValueOptions® Partners with Audax Health™ to Launch Personal Health Management Pilot for Medicaid Beneficiaries
Program Leverages Social Media Tools to Create Supportive Communities
Norfolk, VA (August 18, 2011) – ValueOptions® and Audax Health™ (Audax) today announced a joint agreement to pilot an interactive health management program for Medicaid beneficiaries that aims to improve health outcomes by using social networking and game mechanics to engage members and assess their needs.
As part of the six-month pilot program, ValueOptions® will use the Audax Careverge® platform to engage its Medicaid members in their own health management to identify and address their potential health issues. The platform enables ValueOptions® to engage with members to assess their health, to build personal health management plans, and also, to send personal messages to help members keep their appointments and take their medications. It also provides online communities, where members may interact with experts in the field and share their experiences with others facing the same challenges.
Careverge is an innovative personal health management platform from Audax. Leveraging the proven power of social networking, game mechanics, and Web 3.0 technology, Careverge tracks detailed health information in real-time, intelligently identifies potential issues and serves up personalized information to empower consumers to make better health care decisions.
Driving healthier behaviors and getting people well are fundamental to health care reform in this country, said Grant Verstandig, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Audax Health.
“The challenge is in engaging consumers to be part of a process that is largely impersonal and unrewarding,” Verstandig said. “Social media and gaming sites have exploded because people are rewarded when they engage in often very personal ways online. When you make personal health management tangible, quantifiable, interactive and rewarding, like ValueOptions® will be doing, you engage consumers to improve their own health and wellness.”
ValueOptions® will use Careverge to help break down the barriers that often exist in engaging individuals with physical and behavioral health needs. The platform will empower individuals to play an active role in their care and provide support and access to important health services. ValueOptions® will initially use Careverge to support Medicaid members in Florida.
“The interactive capabilities within the Audax Careverge personal health management platform allow us to engage members, unobtrusively, to help better assess their physical and behavioral health needs and refer them to an appropriate treatment setting before a potentially serious incident occurs,” said Bob Esposito, ValueOptions® Chief Information and Technology Officer. “ValueOptions® will use the Careverge Web solution to provide a sense of community for our Medicaid members, giving them a platform where they may reach out to other members, share their experiences and even research health-related information privately.”
About ValueOptions®, Inc.
ValueOptions®, the nation’s largest independent behavioral health and wellness company, manages publicly funded and employer benefit programs that cover 32 million individuals nationwide. Maintaining a national network of more than 127,000 provider locations, we partner with national and regional health plans to deliver superior behavioral health care management for their members. When working directly with employers, we are an industry leader, managing mental health and substance abuse services, employee assistance programs and a wide variety of wellness benefits for organizations of all sizes – including more than 10 percent of the Fortune 500. We also serve both military and civilian employees of the federal government with innovative programs that positively impact daily life. And, we hold public sector contracts in 14 states, providing care management services and an array of cutting-edge, community-based programs to Medicaid-eligible populations. At ValueOptions, we help our clients build a Culture of Health. We help members move down the path to wellness and embrace recovery and resiliency in their daily lives. We help people live their lives to the fullest potential. Visit www.valueoptions.com for more information.
About Audax Health™
Audax Health™ is a Washington, D.C.-based privately held company committed to transforming the environment in which health care decisions are made. Audax’s innovative Careverge provides a personal health management platform that tracks detailed health information, intelligently identifies potential issues and serves up personalized and private information to empower consumers to make better health care decisions. For more information, go to www.audaxhealth.com.
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