RWJF grant will help Partners develop Engagement Engine

Partners HealthCare has been awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the development of an 'Engagement Engine' to support the sustained use of health and activity trackers and engagement in physical activity, in order to improve health outcomes in the general population.

The Boston-area organization plans to help consumers overcome barriers to using personal health technology and successfully incorporate trackers in their day-to-day lives, according to a release.

“As an organization that is taking risk on a large proportion of its patients and moving towards value-based reimbursement, better understanding preventative care is extremely important,” said Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH, senior director of Connected Health Innovation at Partners HealthCare, and principal investigator on this project. “Our patients are also consumers, and this engagement tool will allow us to interact with them in a new way, helping prevent the onset of chronic disease by enabling them to adopt healthy lifestyles.”

Researchers at Partners HealthCare will begin by developing and testing an algorithm for identifying, purchasing and using a physical activity tracker, and then establishing and sustaining a personalized physical activity plan.  The Engagement Engine will leverage machine learning and other big data analytic tools to convert insights from users into targeted feedback. Once the engine is developed, a diverse, representative sampling of adults between the ages of 18 and 65, with BMI (body mass index) in the overweight to mildly obese category (BMI= 25-35), will be recruited to participate in a study to validate it empirically. The Engagement Engine will be available online through Wellocracy, which was created by Partners to educate and empower individuals to use activity trackers, wearable sensors and mobile apps to improve health and wellness.