Overview
Way to Health (W2H) is a web-based platform that provides technology infrastructure for sustainable behavior change interventions. The platform's flexible design and focus on automation enable users to deploy tailored solutions for specific patient populations anywhere in the United States with minimal effort at low cost.
When successful interventions are identified, W2H supports implementation in clinical settings so that health benefits can be realized over time. Since its inception, over 280 studies and clinical programs have been run on W2H, engaging more than one million patients.
W2H is supported by the Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation and Penn's Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics. It was co-created by Drs. Kevin Volpp and David Asch in 2009.
Impact
Health systems and research teams that have used W2H have seen improved patient outcomes and satisfaction, increased adherence to prescribed behaviors such as medication adherence, reduced readmissions and morbidity, decreased burden on care teams, and more.
The increased need for telemedicine and remote monitoring, the prevalence of value-based and risk-bearing contracts, and the shift to consumer-driven health care make the outcomes W2H can produce more critical than ever.
Check out the report below to learn how W2H improved health and health care for patients, providers, and populations in 2023.
Members of our team will work closely with you to design, test, iterate, and integrate solutions – supporting your work all the way from idea to implementation.
You can start from scratch and develop a custom solution or use one of our existing programs as a starting place and modify it as needed. Customizing an existing program can reduce launch time from months to days or weeks.
Learn more about the wide range of features and functions W2H users gain access to below.
Communication pathways
W2H users can choose one communication mode or mix-and-match to maximize engagement. Options include two-way texting, interactive voice response (IVR), email, and patient portal messaging.
Languages
The W2H platform can deliver interventions in any language for which project teams provide translations.
Enrollment and eConsent
W2H users can implement interventions in any state in the United States and manage activities remotely using the platform's eligibility and enrollment surveys and eConsent functions.
Arms and randomization
Arms and randomization
W2H users can set up multiple arms for studies, including control arms. Computerized randomization of participants, including configurable choices for stratified, blocked, weighted, and adaptive randomization strategies, is also available. And ongoing management of participants via a triage view can be utilized out-of-the-box.
Patient-reported outcomes capture
W2H allows patients to share patient-reported outcomes (PROs), adverse events, symptoms, and more via structured or unstructured conversations. These can be patient-initiated and follow decision trees.
Vitals and activity monitoring
W2H integrates with numerous wireless technologies, making it possible for users to monitor the vitals and activity of participants over time.
Gamification and incentives
W2H allows users to embed gamification strategies and financial incentives in their interventions to increase motivation and promote patient engagement.
Survey administration
We offer a robust survey library. You can tweak one of our surveys or create your own from scratch to collect patient data.
Automation and exception handling
Automation and exception handling ensure that patients receive timely responses about their health status and that providers receive only messages that need their attention.
Schedule and criteria-based rules
Schedule and criteria-based rules
W2H has a powerful rules engine that allows users to customize interventions using schedules and criteria. For example, you can program your intervention to send a specific message on the third Monday of each month at 7 AM or only when a particular event occurs, such as a patient being discharged from the hospital.
Dashboard views
W2H can aggregate intervention data into dashboard views for easy analysis.
Device integration
W2H integrates with biomedical and other Bluetooth devices such as wireless scales, pill bottles, activity trackers, blood pressure cuffs, and more. New devices can be integrated quickly.
EHR integrations
We believe that electronic health records (EHRs) should be the system of record for all patient data. As such, W2H provides bi-directional integration with Epic.
Foundational Publications
Additional Work Underway
Way to Health is actively supporting around 175 programs in various stages. Curious about what's in progress? Get a taste of what we're cooking up in the following selection of projects underway.
Virtual First Primary Care
A telehealth program piloted with Lancaster General Health that includes text message–based communication between patients and their primary care providers
Longitudinal Mammography Outreach
A program that automatically enrolls primary care patients overdue for a mammogram and sends them monthly reminder messages to schedule a screening
UroTrust
A texting program to help patients self-manage recurring urinary tract infections
Missing Lipids
A pragmatic trial that uses different types of messaging to encourage primary care patients to complete an overdue lipid screening
Penn PALS
Program that remotely monitors patients' CPAP machine use and sends check-ins to help them stay adherent
Way to Health (W2H) enables clinicians and researchers to improve health and health care. We are committed to ensuring the confidentiality, privacy, integrity, and availability of all data on our platform and providing world-class service to our users. The following documents address core policies associated with the platform and program-specific terms of use.
Download consent forms for programs supported by Way to Health.
People
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