The Wellvolution announcement comes on the day before the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, which focuses the attention of millions of smokers on the lifetime benefits of quitting tobacco.
Today, Blue Shield of California announced three smoking-cessation online providers to its popular Wellvolution platform, the largest Digital Therapeutics (DTX or PDT), and community network in the healthcare industry. With 49 million Americans using tobacco of some kind, the increased risk for multiple diseases has largely driven Blue Shield to add three new clinically proven health solutions for the 23,000+ members enrolled in Wellvolution.
As an employer group that has worked closely with Blue Shield over the years to develop and manage a non-smoker incentive program for our employees, we are pleased we can add these new virtual options during the COVID-19 pandemic to help our employees who want to quit smoking and achieve their health and wellness goals.
Tom Hatch, Chief Human Resources Officer at County of Orange
Wellvolution Adds New Digital Therapeutic
Clickotine by Click Therapeutics, Inc.
Clickotine is a comprehensive DTX program for smoking cessation that can be downloaded on a smartphone. The app provides an individualized program that is fully integrated with nicotine replacement therapy. Through cognitive and neurobehavioral mechanisms, Click’s Digital Therapeutics™ enable change within individuals and are designed to be used independently or in conjunction with biomedical treatments.
Clickotine Key Features
- Personalized quit journey with unique and targeted interventions from a program that learns over time
- Strategies to cope with cravings and manage withdrawal symptoms
- Controlled, mindful breathing experience coupled with multisensory stimuli
- Access to proven effective quit aids such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)
- Text messaging tailored to your condition and progress based on your treatment plan, with the ability to reach out to a licensed clinician proactively
- Guided directed, user-centered interviews to promote self-reflective thinking about behavior and intentions to change
- Stress management and problem-solving skill development
- Access to real-life support from friends, family, and community
EX® Program by Truth Initiative
EX Program provides Blue Shield members access to a personalized quit plan; live chat coaching and medication guidance from tobacco treatment specialists; 24/7 peer support; interactive quitting tools and videos; and tailored text messaging. Developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, the program grew out of the national public health organization Truth Initiative’s leading research and long history of building engaging digital interventions that inspire lives free from smoking, vaping, and nicotine.
EX Program Key Features
- A customized EX Plan for how to quit that learns and grows with you
- Info about addiction and quitting medication to help you make informed choices about your quit plan
- 1-on-1 coaching with an expert EX Coach to answer questions or give you tips to quit
- Easy option to get free nicotine patches, gum, or lozenge mailed directly to you after chatting with an EX Coach
- 24/7 support from thousands of former tobacco users and current quitters in the EX Community, an online social network
- Text messages for encouragement, support for cravings and relapse, quit medication guidance and tips, and optional support for quitting e-cigarettes and for expectant women/new moms
- Interactive tools and videos to guide you on your quit path
QuitSmart Mindfully by eMindful
QuitSmart Mindfully takes participants through 12 sessions that include live interactive virtual sessions with teachers and personalized strategies that smokers can integrate into their daily lives. The program demonstrates how smokers can minimize stress and cravings, build awareness of behavior patterns, identify key drivers of purposeful decision making and behavior change, and address addiction issues to nicotine and a smoking habit.
QuitSmart Mindfully Key Features
- 12 live, interactive, online sessions to help you reduce tobacco use
- 2 free one-month supplies of Nicotine Replacement Therapy of your choice, shipping and handling included
- Access to weekly content and mindfulness practices through the website and mobile app
- Personalized mindfulness practices that address the cravings and habits of nicotine addiction
- Support from expert mindfulness teachers, your Quit Mate, and a community to lean on
- Games and a meditation timer to build and sustain your new mindfulness skills
The Wellvolution Program
Created in collaboration with Solera Health, Wellvolution provides members guided on-demand access to a tailored network of clinically proven applications using lifestyle to prevent, treat, and even reverse disease. The platform uses decades of research and leading technology to deliver personalized support, offering nearly 60 digital apps and 30,000 brick-and-mortar community locations, the largest network of such providers in the nation.
Wellvolution is a digitally based lifestyle medicine and health personalized to each of its members’ individual health needs and preferences. Participants can curate a personalized, proven strategy to address individual needs and concerns, whether the need is for help quitting smoking, getting more exercise, or managing stress. It is available to most Blue Shield members with their benefit plan at no additional cost. It is an example of how the nonprofit health plan is reimagining health for individuals, families, and communities.
These award-winning programs were designed in conjunction with leading medical centers from around the country, such as the Mayo Clinic and Duke University, and offer interventions consistent with recommendations from the US Public Health Service, USPSTF, and the U.S. Surgeon General. They were selected after an extensive review process that focused on a proven history of results. Participants in these programs historically have shown five to eight times greater quit rates than the baseline average. Each member who joins will receive no-cost nicotine replacement therapy and ongoing coaching as part of the program.
Overall this is great news for the DTX sector. Earlier this month Delaware-based health system ChristianaCare chose to expand its innovative work to transform care through data and technology by adding Pear Therapeutics prescription DTx’s to treat substance use disorder and opioid use disorder.
About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably affordable. Blue Shield of California is a tax-paying, nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, with over four million members, 6,800 employees, and more than $20 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in San Francisco and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid, and Medicare healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $500 million to the Blue Shield of California Foundation since 2002 to have an impact on California communities. For more information about Blue Shield of California, please visit https://www.blueshieldca.com/.
About Solera Health
Solera is committed to changing lives by guiding people to better health in their communities. The company has built a dynamic platform that provides intensive, evidence-based lifestyle and behavioral, social interventions to impact the country’s costliest chronic conditions. Solera’s marketplace strategically matches consumers to curated disease prevention with a network of community organizations and digital therapeutics providers, delivering the most meaningful health outcomes. Solera is HITRUST certified, the most prestigious certification for meeting healthcare regulations and requirements for protecting sensitive private healthcare information. For more information, visit Solera at www.soleranetwork.com.
