{"id":353,"date":"2020-04-13T22:45:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T02:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/a-healthy-use-of-data-or-an-unhealthy-breach-of-privacy\/"},"modified":"2020-04-13T22:45:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T02:45:01","slug":"a-healthy-use-of-data-or-an-unhealthy-breach-of-privacy","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/a-healthy-use-of-data-or-an-unhealthy-breach-of-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"A healthy use of data, or an unhealthy breach of privacy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Link<\/a> to article<\/p>\n

What is Vitality?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vitality Health is a data-driven health insurance service that adjusts health insurance premiums based on members opting into using health monitoring technology (such as wearables), which tracks and monitors them against their health goals. By collecting user data from wearable technology (such as Fitbits), Vitality Health is one of the first insurance companies to reward people for adopting healthier living habits. In this blog post, I discuss the potential merits of the service, as well as why Vitality may require us to pause and consider causes for concern.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vitality Health monitors members\u2019 lifestyle behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and eating habits, which is informed by regular syncing of biometric readings (which includes weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels). This data is then translated into a \u201cVitality Age\u201d (in the US, 79% of people surveyed have a higher Vitality Age than their actual age).<\/p>\n

After one\u2019s starting \u201cVitality Age\u201d is calculated, Vitality will create \u201cPersonal Pathway Plans\u201d to improve users\u2019 scores. Vitality not only provides resources and information for members to improve their lifestyles, but also partners with gyms and health clubs to help members progress and improve their scores.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Business model and design features<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today, the Vitality Activity Rewards system is used by 5 million people globally. The gamified user experience, with built-in \u201cmicro goals\u201d and associated rewards, motivates users to maintain and improve healthy behaviors and lifestyles. The company claims this has led to a reduced hospital admission costs as well as shorter hospital stays.<\/p>\n

Vitality gamifies the health insurance by offering \u201cVitality Points\u201d for healthier behavior. Go to a Vitality partner gym and work out \u2013 you\u2019ve just earned Vitality Points. These points can then be redeemed for gift certificates from Vitality\u2019s Partners, which provide offerings such as deliveries of healthy food. Vitality informs such design features through the company\u2019s research in behavioral economics to provide its members with a \u201cgamified approach\u201d to keep them motivated. To users, Vitality positions its service as a \u201cpersonalized wellness journey\u201d that rewards engagement and \u201ccreates long-term behavior change\u201d.<\/p>\n

In additional to individual users, Vitality markets its solutions to employers looking to improve the health of their employees, and also markets its program as a more custom-tailored, cost-effective health insurance plan. \u00a0Vitality also draws retail partner into its orbit by cross-promoting their offerings to improve members\u2019 \u201cVitality Age\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disrupting a classic market of information asymmetry and moral hazard<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The insurance provider market has always been the classic case of asymmetric information and moral hazard; insurance companies have traditionally had difficultly pricing insurance premiums appropriately since they had imperfect information on individuals\u2019 health. But with the steady progress of health monitoring technology, companies such as Vitality are making inroads in offering UBI (user-based insurance), which can not only microsegment insurance premiums at the individual-level, but also dynamically adjust insurance premiums based on a daily feed of health tracking data.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Privacy concerns and personal views<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In principle, this could be a win-win; users could be getting better premiums for their health insurance, Vitality can price more appropriately, healthier lifestyles can be encouraged, and aggregate societal medical expenses may be reduced. But what are we giving up in return? To reap the benefits, users must give up their most intimate data \u2013 i.e. their health data.<\/p>\n

How should we feel about companies monetizing our data in this way? While the evidence certainly seems to suggest that Vitality is helping its users achieve healthier lifestyles, my personal view is that we need to exercise caution with respect to the data we allow companies to monetize; it is not difficult to imagine the potential repercussions of a data breach that compromises millions of users\u2019 health data. Even in the absence of a data breach, at a more fundamental level I find unsettling the proposition of health data being monetized to feed Vitality\u2019s ecosystem of retail partners. What\u2019s your view?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/em><\/h3>\n

[1] “This Health Insurance Company Tracks Customers’ Exercise And Eating Habits Using Big Data And IoT”, https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/bernardmarr\/2019\/05\/27\/this-health-insurance-company-tracks-customers-exercise-and-eating-habits-using-big-data-and-iot\/#6a4dd32d6ef3. <\/a>Accessed April 13, 2020.<\/p>\n

[2] “Why Vitality?” https:\/\/www.vitalitygroup.com\/whyvitality\/<\/a> Accessed April 13, 2020.<\/p>\n

[3] “Vitality – Insights” https:\/\/www.vitalitygroup.com\/insights\/<\/a> Accessed April 13, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health insurance plans meet user data – but is such use of our data a healthy development for society?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11371,"featured_media":354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[465,443,496,497,440],"class_list":["post-353","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-algorithms","category-heath","category-insurance","category-privacy","hck-taxonomy-organization-vitality","hck-taxonomy-industry-insurance","hck-taxonomy-country-south-africa"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/assignment\/lpa-blog-assignment\/","yoast_head":"\nA healthy use of data, or an unhealthy breach of privacy? - Leading with People Analytics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-peopleanalytics\/submission\/a-healthy-use-of-data-or-an-unhealthy-breach-of-privacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A healthy use of data, or an unhealthy breach of privacy? 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