UPMC Prescription for Wellness

UPMC Health Plan wants to partner with you to help your employees and their families. Through UPMC Prescription for Wellness—an innovative coaching and feedback program—your company can create or nurture a culture of health and better manage rising medical, disability, and workers’ compensation costs.

About 90 percent of the nation’s $3.5 trillion in annual health care spending is for people with chronic medical or mental health conditions.1,2 The key to reducing those costs is changing the behaviors that contribute to poor health. On average, UPMC Health Plan members are 300 percent more likely to enroll in and complete a health coaching program when a physician is involved in the patient referral process through Prescription for Wellness.3

Provider-prescribed, health coach supported, and employee directed

With Prescription for Wellness, providers can prescribe patient engagement with a health coach. The goal is for patients to learn to engage in healthy behaviors, self-manage common chronic diseases, address behavioral health concerns, and/or make informed decisions about surgeries.

Once the prescription is submitted, an electronic notification is sent to a UPMC Health Plan health coach who will "fill" the order. The health coach will connect with the patient by telephone at a time that is convenient for the patient. Afterward, the coach will send the provider feedback detailing the outcome and the patient’s progress.

Our health coaches are nurses, dietitians, social workers, exercise experts, or other licensed or trained clinicians. They will work with your employees to create a tailored plan for achieving employees’ best health. Health coaches can address these and other topics:

  • Weight management
  • Nutrition
  • Tobacco cessation
  • Stress management
  • Physical activity
  • Management of chronic health condition (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or asthma)
  • Making informed decisions about surgeries
  • Improving a family’s well-being

We welcome the opportunity to work with you to effectively manage the health and wellness of your employees. To learn more about Prescription for Wellness, read our employer overview sheet or contact your group health and wellness account manager.

1Buttorff C, Ruder T, Bauman M. Multiple Chronic Conditions in the United States. Rand Corp; Santa Monica, CA: 2017. https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL221.html

2Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. National health expenditures 2017 highlights. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/highlights.pdf

3Hammonds T, Keyser DJ, Parkinson MD, Peele PB, Wheeler JR. Impact of physician referral to health coaching on patient engagement and health risks: An observational study of UPMC’s Prescription for Wellness. Am J Health Promot. 2020 May;34(4):366-375. Epub 2020 Feb 12. doi: 10.1177/0890117119900588