Dubai: A new health and well-being app launched by an international health insurance company will not only provide online health coaching and advice but also direct access to specialist doctors via their global tele-health consulting feature.
It is one of the only health insurance company-created apps catering to its select clients at no extra cost.
Cigna Insurance Middle East’s health and well-being app was launched on Monday and is available to all its 100,00 insurance subscribers in the Middle East, many of whom live in the UAE.
Giving details of the app, Art Cozad, CEO, Cigna Insurance Middle East, told Gulf News: “We launched the app because in a feasibility survey we carried out, nearly 53 per cent of our UAE respondents said that they would be willing to share their health data with insurance companies and 34 per cent indicated their willingness to use an app to achieve their health and well-being goals.
“The well-being app has three aspects. First, the app user gets a free health-risk assessment which is very detailed with 34 questions related to various aspects of the user’s health that are asked. Once this is filled, the second aspect is a personalised health coaching that is patient-specific. The third and most interactive is the tele-health aspect where inpatients can consult specialists via the app for issues that are happening in real time.”
Cozad said the “tele-health consultants” are health care providers from across time zones, available 24/7 giving real advice on various issues, ranging from a headache to a child’s fever where app users can avail of a virtual consultation at any hour of the day.
Cozad hopes that the tele-health feature will not only be used as a second opinion tool but also to effect behavioural changes in people first hand when they consult specialists.
The app which is already being used with great success in North America will work as a pocket health guide and coach for the users in real time.
The Cigna Well-being App is available both on Google Play and Apple App Store on android and iOS platforms.
