New iPhone app allows live chat between members and health plans

A Minneapolis company has created an iPhone app that will allow people to interact with […]

A Minneapolis company has created an iPhone app that will allow people to interact with their health insurance companies about everything from claims and coverage to disease management.

Warm Health, an healthcare communications and disease management company, announced Monday that the Warm Health App on iTunes is available to plan members of its insurance clients. Although it is free for anyone to download, the app works only if members are enrolled in a Warm Health Care Management Program by their health plan. The company has 25 health plan customers including AmeriGroup, Medica and HealthSpring. Warm Health plans to promote the availability of the app to its customers so they can inform their members of this new communication and disease management tool.

A live chat feature is what makes this app unique, said Jeremy Weizel, marketing and creative manager at Warm Health. This enables a direct line of communication between plan members and the care management staff at participating health plans.

Aside from the live chat feature, an email communication is also possible through the app. People who download the app can also use a journal to record their mood and weight, among other personalized data points that can help to start a conversation with their care manager. Here is how Warm Health chief technology officer Tim Cameron described the app in a news release:

Health plans benefit from a secure, encrypted cloud-based communication channel with their members. Care management teams benefit from a completely integrated communication system that’s capable of reaching out to all members while highlighting those in need of help. Members benefit from the convenience of being able to read personalized communications on their schedule, and from the ability to ask for help whenever they need it. This app represents the next generation of interactive healthcare communications.

Warm Health “crosses the divide between clinical content and communication,” said Weizel, noting that the company provides disease management content on a variety of topics that include maternal health, diabetes, asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder).

It then uses the preferred communication channel of plan participants — be it phone, text messaging, an online dashboard to connect them with their health insurance companies’ care management staff. With the launch of the smartphone app, members have a new communication option to choose from.

Although, the Warm Health app has launched on the Apple platform, an Android version is being developed. That will become available in June.

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