mPulse Mobile Recognizes Leaders in Health Equity and Innovation in its Fifth Annual Activate 2022 Awards

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–mPulse Mobile, the leader in conversational AI and digital engagement solutions for the healthcare industry, announced the winners of its Activate 2022 Awards. The awards program, held every Fall during mPulse Mobile’s annual Activate conference, recognizes key customers and healthcare organizations who showcase industry-leading health outcomes, technology innovation, and health equity results for patients.

The participating organizations include highly competitive, industry-leading health plans, FQHCs and PBMs dedicated to improving patient outcomes, access to care, health literacy, and other critical aspects of the consumer care journey. The health organizations are on the cutting edge of patient engagement, using AI and digital solutions to build meaningful relationships with consumers and move them to positive action for their own health. A panel of judges considered both qualitative and quantitative metrics in five categories to evaluate submissions: progress toward health equity, application of behavioral science, positive consumer experience, innovative use of technology, and significant patient outcomes.

The Activate 2022 Award winners include:

AltaMed: Achieving Health Equity

AltaMed Health Services is the largest independent community health center in the U.S., serving primarily Latinx patients in Southern California. Colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings saw a precipitous drop during the COVID-19 pandemic, and several additional barriers make the rate of screenings especially low among vulnerable Latinx communities. AltaMed sought to address these barriers by delivering culturally-tailored mobile content, in the familiar fotonovela format, to overcome lack of awareness around CRC screenings and other cultural and behavioral barriers.

AltaMed created two fotonovelas, tailored to male and female patients, that aimed to address these barriers and educate the member population. In a randomized controlled study, patients that viewed the fotonovelas (19%) were more likely to submit a sample for cancer screening than patients in a control group (11%). 63% of members who responded to the fotonovelas liked or loved the content, and 39% indicated it made a positive impact on their behavior regarding taking a test. The innovative delivery of content helped AltaMed address a major health equity challenge in their population and made a direct impact on patient lives.

A Leading Information and Technology-Enabled Health Services Business: Best Use of Behavioral Science

mPulse partnered with one of the nation’s leading information and technology-enabled health services businesses, dedicated to helping make health systems work better for everyone, with more than 210,000 people worldwide, delivering intelligent, integrated solutions that help to modernize the health system and improve overall population health. This organization’s partnership with mPulse Mobile involved the creation of a first-of-its-kind vaping cessation program that helps teens quit vaping. Teen vaping is an enormous yet often overlooked public health challenge in America—currently at epidemic levels today.

Both collaboratively conducted a pilot to address the behavior among a cohort of teen members, using personalized SMS messaging, behavior change models, natural language understanding (NLU), and tailored streaming health videos encouraging vaping cessation. Over 4-6 months, videos were delivered to participating teens with young adult actors portraying their quit journey, offering tips to manage cravings, and helping teens connect with a coach via SMS texting. The program received an impressive 85% engagement rate and 69% completion rate, and 73% of participating teens set a quit date, a key step toward freedom from vaping addiction.

CalOptima Health: Most Improved Consumer Experience

CalOptima Health is a County Organized Health System that provides publicly funded healthcare coverage for low-income children, adults, seniors and people with disabilities in Orange County, CA. CalOptima Health serves more than 925,000 members with a network of more than 10,600 primary care doctors and specialists as well as 44 acute and rehab hospitals.

CalOptima Health set out with mPulse Mobile to create a multilingual, two-way SMS texting program that addressed language barriers around food security. The program educated members on the availability and benefits of the state’s SNAP program, CalFresh, which provides monthly food benefits to low-income individuals and families, encouraging members to apply through a direct link provided in two-way text workflows. The innovative program expanded to seven languages, allowed members to respond in their native language with simple statements like, “I already have CalFresh” or “I want to apply,” and employed NLU across all languages to provide meaningful interactions via text.

Humana: Most Innovative Solution

Humana, a Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO and PFFS organization and a stand-alone prescription drug plan, partnered with mPulse Mobile to encourage members to schedule diabetic eye exams. With A/B testing, Humana could measure the effectiveness of messaging around the importance of eye exams and address barriers with 30-second health streaming educational videos.

The video content, delivered to users via SMS text with a link, saw a 270% increase in link clicks versus a group of members who did not receive the video. In addition, 11% of members who clicked completed or committed to scheduling their diabetic eye exam appointment. By leveraging dynamic health streaming content and through careful testing, Humana identified a key tool for improving care outcomes among vulnerable patients in their population.

A Leading National Pharmacy Benefit Manager: Most Significant Outcome (tie)

mPulse partnered with one of the nation’s leading pharmacy benefit manager and pharmacy care services businesses, which manages more than one billion prescriptions annually. mPulse Mobile worked collaboratively with the organization to implement 50+ Interactive Voice Response (IVR) campaigns to create more positive member experiences and drive improved outcomes. The customized IVR Prescription Refill campaigns automated actions like refill reminders, order shipping notifications, doctors’ responses, and more.

The IVR campaigns made a significant impact on the organization’s outbound dialer campaign program, with 2.2 million members reached, 5.8 million IVR records exchanged, and delivery rates consistently above 90%. These results helped the organization’s members better manage and adhere to their medication needs, while empowering the organization to connect with members meaningfully and improve the consumer experience.

MetroPlusHealth: Most Significant Outcome (tie)

MetroPlusHealth, part of NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation’s largest public health system, is a health plan serving over 680,000 New Yorkers with commercial and government-sponsored plans. MetroPlusHealth partnered with mPulse Mobile to create a personalized SMS messaging platform that prompts members to refill critically needed HIV medications. The campaign, which sent reminders to members, achieved a 98% enrollment maintenance rate and a 69% improvement in refill completion among contacted members within 7 days of outreach.

About mPulse Mobile

mPulse Mobile is reimagining health engagement to inspire healthier lives and deeper relationships between healthcare organizations and their consumers. A leading healthcare Conversational AI platform combines with award-winning health education for the streaming age to deliver tailored digital health engagement that nurtures, educates, and activates healthcare consumers. With more than a decade of experience, 150+ healthcare customers and 1 billion conversations annually, mPulse Mobile has the data, the expertise, and the solutions to drive healthy behavior change. To learn more visit mpulsemobile.com.