As you start to think about what benefit programs you will engage with next year, there's one question that you should ask all of your potential vendors: what's the quality of your engagement? Asking about the quality of their engagement will provide valuable insight into understanding how they categorize, value, and measure engagement.

But what is quality engagement and why is it important? Quality engagement goes beyond “does someone use the solution?” and dives into how the solution engages and interacts with members. Ask your vendors: what does engagement consist of, how is engagement measured, and what is the impact of engagement?

What does engagement consist of?

Asking a vendor about their engagement is likely already part of your evaluation, but push your vendors to have a conversation beyond how many times a month someone engages with the solution. What does engagement look like to the vendor and what does a member do when they engage? Is a member providing data or receiving information — or both? What type of data is a member providing? How much content do they have and how much time does someone spend in the content?

Asking and understanding how a vendor categorizes engagement will help you better understand if it's a good fit for your population. Additionally, ask if the solution is personalized and interactive, as that drives deeper engagement that will more likely result in behavior change and better health outcomes.

You can also go a step beyond and try the solution yourself. I always recommend that someone use any solution for at least a week before signing a contract. That way you can answer the questions yourself — was it a solution that you wanted to use every day and how much time did you spend inputting data or engaging with the content?

How is engagement measured?

Now that you know how a vendor defines engagement, ask them how they measure it. What do they consider good engagement vs bad engagement? How many members are using their solution? Are they a winning consumer platform? Solutions that have more than a million users are able to provide deeper, more accurate engagement metrics than those who have smaller user populations.

For example, a solution that works for a smaller population may engage certain demographics really well, but until you're able to test and measure engagement at a much larger scale, you can't draw strong conclusions about how the solution would work with your own population. Understanding how a vendor measures engagement will be key in identifying a successful benefits program.

What is the impact of engagement?

It can be great if a member engages, and uses the solution for an hour a day, but what does the engagement result in? Does the engagement result in sustained behavior change? One of the biggest challenges for health promotion programs is demonstrating and ensuring the adoption of new behaviors. If a benefit solution does not specifically target behavior change, there will be minimal impact and certainly no return on investment. Ask your potential vendor if the solution impacts the overall health and wellness of a person for years to come or just triages a current issue.

Be sure to have a clear understanding of how engagement translates into outcomes, and don't be afraid to dive into the clinical outcomes of the solution and find out if it has been tested through scientific research. To ensure that the outcomes are clinically validated, find a solution with at least one peer reviewed study and look for a robust clinical department. Lastly, ask the vendor to review your claims data before you engage to receive a clear analysis showing the potential impact on your population.

Though engagement is likely already a big part of your evaluation process when finding a new solution for your population, you need to make sure the vendor provides quality engagement. Understanding what engagement consists of, how is engagement measured, and what is the impact of engagement will give you the best look into how the solution will benefit your members' overall health and help you reach your HR goals.

Paris Wallace is CEO and co-founder of Ovia Health, a leading maternity and family benefits provider for employers and health plans. Prior to Ovia Health, Paris founded Good Start Genetics, a genomics technology company focused on fertility and reproductive health, which was acquired by Invitae. Paris holds a bachelor's degree from Amherst College, and an M.B.A. and M.P.A from Harvard University.

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Do your vendors have quality engagement?

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