UnitedHealth Group, Comcast launch pilot to evaluate video-on-demand programming for Diabetes Prevention Program
PHILADELPHIA — UnitedHealth Group is looking to evaluate the effectiveness of using video-on-demand programming to deliver its Diabetes Prevention Program.
The insurance company has tapped Comcast to find participants for the study, which will be test marketed in Philadelphia, and Knoxville, Tenn. Enrollment began on Feb. 13; the first VOD programming will be available Feb. 27.
The two companies said they will evaluate making the Diabetes Prevention Program — group lifestyle change program helps people who are at high risk for developing Type 2 diabetes — available on the Xfinity On Demand platform in communities across the country if the pilot proves successful at helping participants achieve healthier weights and reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The 16-episode Not Me VOD programming will use a reality TV format that follows six adults with prediabetes as they go through the Diabetes Prevention Program. Each VOD episode will feature a health-and-wellness coach leading a class of real participants who are working to reach a healthier weight and reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Between each episode, study participants will practice at home the skills they learn from the program. Study participants also will be given tracking assignments each week and opportunities to put what they learn into action.
“We’re excited to partner with Comcast to deliver this program directly into people’s homes,” said Deneen Vojta, SVP for the UnitedHealth Group Center for Health Reform & Modernization. “Taking on the epidemics of obesity, prediabetes and diabetes requires our deep commitment and most creative thinking, and making the Diabetes Prevention Program available in people’s homes is part of an ongoing effort to bring the program to the broadest audiences possible, in the most convenient and cost-effective ways possible.”
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