Feb 19, 2021
PITTSBURGH –UPMC Health Plan has received the prestigious American Journal of Health Promotion “Papers of the Year from 2020 Award” for its “Impact of Physician Referral” outcomes study, the company announced today. The study evaluated the impact of leveraging the credibility of the provider’s “white coat,” as physicians essentially “prescribed” health coaching for their patients to improve patients’ health and better manage disease.
The study demonstrated a 300 percent greater patient engagement in health coaching compared to traditional outreach approaches when physicians used UPMC Health Plan’s Prescription for Wellness. This innovative program enables physicians to refer patients for health coaching directly through the provider’s electronic medical record’s linkage to the Health Plan. This unique approach, designed using the 6 Sigma process, has been used by 2,000 providers to assist more than 40,000 patients to work with health coaches