New Evidence-Based Offering Supports Successful Health Behavior Change

BOISE, ID--(Marketwired - December 01, 2015) - With the Centers for Disease Control finding that up to 40 percent of annual deaths are preventable through behavior and lifestyle changes, the time is right for tailored health education and interventions that meet individuals' specific needs, wherever they are on their health care journeys. Healthwise, a nonprofit producer of health education, technology, and services, today announced the release of Healthwise^® Behavior Change Navigator to meet this challenge, giving care coaches and population health programs the ability to deliver behavior change support matched to a person's specific stage of change.

When a care plan, health education, and support all align with a person's own priorities, there's a much higher chance of successful behavior change. With Healthwise Behavior Change Navigator, organizations can increase the effectiveness of their programs within populations by pinpointing an individual's needs at any given moment and aligning the care accordingly.

"We know that changing health behaviors is difficult. After years of work with clients and partners, we've developed a health behavior change approach that fits into existing workflows so that care managers can deliver the best intervention for a person's change stage, track his or her progress, and help the person make lasting changes," said Jim Giuffré, Healthwise president and COO.

Healthwise Behavior Change Navigator is grounded in the Sustainable Change Logic Model, an evidence-based meta-model from researchers at Cardiff University who looked at more than 3,000 published studies of behavior change in chronic illness. Their research identified five stages of change: awareness, learning, motivation, behavior, and sustainability. The researchers then isolated and mapped the behavior change techniques (BCTs) that are the most successful for each stage.

Behavior Change Navigator goes beyond standard, static behavior change tools by supplying the right education and tips for any given condition, for any stage of change. Using a brief, tested assessment within the existing workflow, a care manager can easily identify a person's change stage. The care manager is then prompted with coaching tips crafted specifically for each stage and provided with an automated selection of health education tailored to the person's condition and change stage.

To provide health education that is engaging and that has the greatest impact, Healthwise now develops content by incorporating specific BCTs. Content is mapped to the change stages, providing a fast, automated way to pull up the right information for each individual. Healthwise also offers expert training and consulting services to help organizations develop effective behavior change strategies and programs.

Catherine Serio, Ph.D., senior director of behavior change strategy said, "Health care organizations need interventions that align with their strategies to engage people and support outcomes. They see Navigator as a huge step in that direction."

Healthwise Behavior Change Navigator is part of the Healthwise^® Care Management Solution, which connects care managers -- seamlessly, in their workflow -- to health education and tools. It also gives members a secure, online message center to access engaging, tailored health education wherever they are on their behavior change journeys. The Healthwise Behavior Change Navigator will also soon be available in the Healthwise^® Patient Engagement Solution, Healthwise^® Population Health Solution, and Healthwise^® Shared Decision Making Solution.

About Healthwise
Healthwise is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help people make better health decisions. In 2014, Healthwise merged with the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation to further advance the mission. People have turned to Healthwise information more than 1.5 billion times to learn how to do more for themselves, ask for the care they need, and say "no" to the care they don't need. Healthwise partners with hospitals, electronic medical record (EMR) providers, health plans, care management companies, and health websites to provide up-to-date, evidence-based information to the people they serve. www.healthwise.org. 1.800.706.9646.

© 2015 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise.