I know, I know. It looks like another workplace wellness rewards programs trying to encourage behavior change by asking users to track calories and fitness activities in exchange for prizes.
Not exactly. EveryMove is taking a bit of a different approach, working behind the scenes to aggregate data that users are already generating and turning it into rewards from health plans, employers and brands.
“We’re trying to develop a layer that turns the activity into something of value,” said EveryMove co-founder Russel Benaroya. “We’re not trying to be a tracker; the idea is to be able to connect your EveryMove account to whatever it is that people use, and then allow EveryMove to run in the background, similar to how frequent flyer miles work.”
Whereas other health incentive programs are run through employers or insurers, this online and mobile platform puts the consumer at the center of the model and gives him control of his own data, Benaroya said.
Benaroya’s vision has EveryMove grabbing information from programs like Foursquare, RunKeeper or FitBit and creating a standard format for assigning points for behaviors that are tracked.
The program’s reward partners go beyond brands and employers, and brings insurers into the mix to offer savings on out-of-pocket health plan costs. The value for insurance providers is that they’re always looking for healthy, active customers that are valuable to their network, Benaroya said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
EveryMove worked directly with Premera Blue Cross in developing the program, and the health plan eventually became its first customer, joined later by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska.
Both plans were also investors in the company’s recent $2.6 million series A round, joining BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners (managed through Sandbox Industries) and angel investors including founders Co-op, Summit Capital, Jonathan Sposato, Geoff Entress, Matt Shobe, William Lohse, Andy Liu, Ken Kuntz, Josh Hug and others.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to hire team members and launch EveryMove with four health plans in the next year and a half. Currently, the program is still a work in progress, Benaroya said, but is in private beta pilots and plans to launch with members of the Blue Cross insurance plan in the third quarter.
In addition to signing on insurance companies, EveryMove will make money by taking a share of each reward that is redeemed. But, Benaroya cautioned, that may evolve as the company matures. “We’re trying to get away from traditional pricing models that don’t really align with consumers being at the center.”
Having early backing and business from a high-profile health insurer is a boost for the company, but it’s working in two crowded spaces — wellness and mobile technology — and is likely to experience several hurdles along the way. “Technically, it’s a hard problem to solve, not just to aggregate their information but to create a compelling user experience that makes it really easy to connect to their account,” Benaroya said. “User experience is not a field that healthcare has traditionally been very good at.”
The company was co-founded in 2010 by Marcelo Calbucci and Benaroya, and graduated from TechStars Seattle last fall. Watch Benaroya’s pitch at Demo Day below.
