Health Break: What is RxWell?

Camille: Welcome to Health Break by UPMC Health Plan, your quick guide to health, wellness, and how to make the most of your health insurance plan. I’m your host, Dr. Camille Clarke-Smith. I help to oversee the quality of the plans and programs we offer at UPMC Health Plan.

Angelo: And I’m your co-host, Angelo Bartic. I’m a health coach who works with our members on making healthy lifestyle habits and setting goals. This is your…Health Break.

Today we’re joined by Tish Rohan to get the details on the RxWell app for UPMC Health Plan members. Tish, thanks for taking a Health Break with us today.

Tish: Thanks Angelo. I’m happy to be here and thanks for having me.

Angelo: We’re excited to have you. So UPMC Health Plan has a lot of digital tools available for our members to help them manage their health, one being RxWell. Could you tell our listeners about RxWell?

Tish: Sure I’d be happy to. So, RxWell is a mobile app that’s designed to help people make positive changes to their health, and it’s available both on the Apple and Android stores. You can just go there and download the app. There are 10 different programs. You can do things like helping manage your diabetes. It’s really great for someone who’s newly diagnosed with diabetes or if you’re just having a little bit of trouble managing your diabetes and you’ve had it for a while, that’s OK too—there’s a lot of strategies and techniques that can help you do so. We have lifestyle programs on the application, things like managing your weight or eating healthy and even stopping using a tobacco product. And behavioral health programs as well. So if you’re trying to manage anxiety or depression, our coaches can help you with that and help you manage those conditions.

I’m really excited about a feature we have called Help Me Decide. So if one of those programs that I mentioned isn’t the right program for you or you’re not sure where to get started, our health coaches can walk you through that. You can talk to them about your goals, talk to them about your plan to make changes to your health. Maybe you have, you know, two of the needs that we have programs for and you just don’t know which one to begin with, the coach can help you decide.

One of the things that I think is important to mention about our mobile app is we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for you to use. I know Angelo mentioned that we have a variety of mobile apps at the Health Plan and you can use the same login information for RxWell that you use in your member mobile app. So keep that information and use that username and password and you can log into both. One of the things I will suggest when you get into the RxWell app or your member mobile app for that matter, use your biometric settings, meaning you can log in with your face ID. It just makes it a lot easier when you come back to the applications and want to get started again. And I will mention one other thing. In the application you’re going to find features like notifications. Turn the notifications on if you can because that’s going to let you know when our coaches are trying to reach you or if we have important information that we want to share with you. We won’t send you a lot of them. So we just want to make sure you get the ones that are important.

Angelo: In addition to some of the great programs that are available, what are some of the other ways that UPMC Health Plan members can use RxWell?

Tish: Well, there are so many great ways to use it and one of the ways is just enrolling in one of our evidence-based digital health coaching programs, some of the things that I just mentioned. And these programs are, you know, they are evidence-based. We use a lot of techniques and strategies from literature to help people make changes. And our lifestyle programs are designed from the workbook programs that we’ve been delivering for many years that have been very successful for many of our members. So just enrolling in an evidence-based program and doing some things to change your health.

You can chat with a real live person. So a lot of times you go into a digital app and you’re not sure who’s on the other side of this. We have real digital health coaches who can help you manage your health and make positive changes. There’s a lot of techniques in the program and your health coach can help you personalize the programs to meet your specific needs. And once you’ve done a technique in the application, it’s there for you. You can go back and practice it as often as you’d like.

So if you want to work with a coach, great. If you don’t and you just want to work on some of the techniques in the app on your own, just let your coach know and they’ll be there for you when you decide you need that extra layer of support.

There are a lot of trackers in the application that you can use. We know that a lot of people go on to their mobile device because they’re trying to just keep track of their overall health needs. So things like weight management, you can track your weight from day to day. You might want to track the foods that you’re eating, your activity levels, even your sleep or blood glucose levels if that’s important to you.

I think really one of the big values to using a mobile app is it’s an alternative to using the telephone calls. You know, we have support telephonically and we have video appointments available and for you if you want those you can certainly use them. But the app is an alternative for that and you can do it on your own time and it’s convenient. And if you have a device and you’re looking to get started on something right away, as I mentioned, this is available to you on your own schedule and it’s convenient at any time of the day.

Angelo: I couldn’t agree more. Members tell me all the time how easy it is to use the RxWell app with their busy schedule.

Tish: Yes, a great thing about RxWell is it’s very convenient. You can use it on your own device and at a time that’s good for you. You know, at your schedule. You can do it at night before bed, you can do it over lunch. Really any time that fits into your busy life that works for you.

There are a lot of different other ways that people use the RxWell app. You know, one of the ways we’ve found that people have shared with us is that this has been a great tool for them to use in between doctor’s visits. An example would be maybe you’re working with a therapist in managing your anxiety and you see your therapist once a week. Well in between that you can work on the anxiety program with RxWell and practice some of the techniques you may have learned with your therapist and then go back and share those things with your therapist at your next appointment.

It’s just a great way to help you keep on track in between those types of appointments or even any provider visits. Maybe you’re going back to your doctor’s in six months and this is something you can do in between now and that next visit. And please be sure to share your progress with your providers because they can help you reset some goals and come back and work with us again after you have your visit.

But you also might have finished a program and think, I just need a little bit more help. You know, Angelo here is one of our health coaches and he delivers our telephonic and virtual services. And this might be something you can do in addition to your work with him or afterwards to just help you stay on track and maybe not slip back to some behaviors you might have had before you worked with your coach.

I think one of the big things that I find most valuable with RxWell is it’s really a digital front door to all of our other resources at the Health Plan. So if you come in and download the RxWell mobile app and you do a great program in there, but you think I need some other resources or other support, our digital health coaches can easily connect you to our care managers, our health coaches, or even other things like Member Services if that’s a need. So they’re there to help you and support you. And I think the thing that really sets RxWell aside from other mobile apps like it is we have an entire team that stands behind it.

Angelo: Tish, thank you so much again for taking a Health Break with us and discussing the many great ways that UPMC Health Plan members can use RxWell.

Tish: Thank you so much for having me today and I hope all of you, our UPMC Health Plan members, will go and download the app.

Angelo: Download the RxWell app from your app store and sign in with your member ID to get started.

Find show notes and more information at upmchealthplan.com/podcast. Join us as we continue exploring health, wellness, and how to make the most of your health insurance plan in the next episode of Health Break.

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes. It is not medical care or advice. Individuals in need of medical care should consult their personal care provider. Views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of UPMC Health Plan and its employees.