significant,” he says. Some large, well-known players in the health care industry
are attempting to do just that. One major
payer, UnitedHealth Group, which serves
38 million members in commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans, has been exploring ways to infuse video games and other
game elements into health and wellness
activities for consumers. In addition to
seeking out game development partners,
UnitedHealth has built a handful of its own
games, says Bob Plourde, vice president of
innovation and R&D.
These include “Baby Blocks,” a Web-
based game aimed at young mothers on
Medicaid. UnitedHealth is also piloting
“Join for Me,” a multi-faceted weight-
loss program targeting obese children,
which incorporates the Xbox/Kinect in-
teractive exercise technology platform,
from Microsoft. “We want to do things to
help bend the cost curve,” says Plourde.
“We have looked at games as clinical in-
terventions. The worst thing to do is put
something out that looks cool but doesn’t
do anything.”
The Baby Blocks program attempts to
encourage low-income, young mothers
to attend to wellness checks and nutri-
tion during their pregnancy and beyond,
Plourde says. “There was an immedi-
ate need in the Medicaid program,” he
says. “There are a lot of costs associated
with young people who are pregnant.
They may or may not want to take care
of themselves. We are weaving the game
into Medicaid benefit packages at the
state level.” The cost, says Plourde, will be
absorbed in part by the local plan and in
part by UnitedHealth itself. UnitedHealth
is considering expanding the offering to a
broader commercial market, he adds.
The obesity program is being evaluated in a controlled study taking place
in three states, Plourde adds. Results are
under analysis, as the payer wants to determine if the presence of the Xbox had
any impact on kids’ activity levels. About
85 children participated in the study. If
proven effective, the Join for Me program
could be commercialized and sold to
other health plans, he adds. “Games by
themselves are not the answer, but they
can help.”
A survey that UnitedHealth conducted
backs up that proposition. Conducted in
April 2012, the survey of over 1,000 adults
found that just over half said that video
games with an exercise component would
encourage them to be more active. Sixty
percent of the respondents said children
should be encouraged to play videos that
require body movement to control screen
activity as a complement to traditional
exercise. “The intersection of health and
video gaming holds enormous potential
benefit for individuals, families and the
entire health care system,” says Richard
Migliori, M.D., UnitedHealth’s executive
vice president of health services, in a state-
ment. “We are continuing to explore ways
to make this a reality for consumers.”
Determining the future
Awesome potential notwithstanding,
knowing exactly how, when and where
games can help improve clinical outcomes
and encourage preventive health behaviors will determine their future in the
health care industry, experts concur. Clinical relevance and demonstrated behavior
change are critical.
“Games hold a lot of promise, but an
Angry Birds for health care won’t solve
any problems like a lot of buzz in the industry is hoping,” says Adam Dole, business planning manager at Mayo Clinic, a
Rochester, Minn.-based health delivery
system.
That doesn’t mean Mayo dismiss-es health games out of hand. Dole is
charged with finding games with clinical
value that Mayo could potentially adapt
or help commercialize. “Mayo is not a
game company, but we could work with
a development company,” Dole says.
