15 November 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Since VHI Helathcare announced that their SwiftCare clinics would only accept patients who had VHI policies, other health insurers have been searching for some unique selling points for their own policies. The most obvious solution would be for the other players in the market to open their own premises, or at least cut a deal with a medical provider.
Now, Cork headquartered laya healthcare has announced the launch of their healthcoach benefit. This doesn’t address health issues, but instead moves up the line and tries to prevent them! It gives laya health policy holders them access to a face-to-face consultation with a qualified Healthcoach. This service for adults will allow them to receive a personalised 8-week health programme” encompassing all aspects of their health including fitness, nutrition and mental wellbeing.” It will be available every two years in any of six healthcoach clinics located nationwide. Here in Cork laya are using their HQ in Little Island as the centre.
At each consultation, a qualified Healthcoach will carry out a series of five non-diagnostic health assessments; blood pressure, glucose level, body composition, lung function and a fitness test. Using this personal health assessment, the qualified Healthcoaches will create a tailored health programme encompassing all aspects of a person’s health, from fitness and nutrition to mental wellbeing. The personalised health programmes are then delivered to each individual member through a dedicated healthcoach App, which is available to download via the Apple Store and Google Play and can sync with Fitbit and Apple Watch wearables.
“Much more than a fitness app, healthcoach continuously monitors progress, and motivates members with new challenges and heathy rewards from leading nationwide retailers including Lifestyle Sports, Eason and Deliveroo.”
Logo of the health insurer
Commenting on the launch of healthcoach by laya healthcare, Dónal Clancy, Managing Director said: “This is major news and an exciting departure for us as a health partner to our 580,000 members. We’ve spent over a year in planning and testing, and we’re thrilled today to finally unveil our new healthcoach benefit to the world and open bookings for consultations with our Healthcoaches. With healthcoach, we want to empower our members to live and feel better, every day. It’s about giving them the tools to achieve long-term healthy change and hit their goals, whether that’s losing weight, getting fit, or reducing stress.
“Healthcoach is easy and intuitive to use, and I think what will really impress people is its personalisation. Our members will get a chance to choose their own Healthcoach, who will provide a tailored health programme to help them stay healthy and find the energy, motivation and information to make the right choices for them every day, with full digital support to allow them keep track of their progress and earn rewards for their efforts. We hope it will be a game-changer for laya healthcare and demonstrate to our members our ongoing commitment of ‘Looking After You Always’”, Clancy added.
The good news is that healthcoach doesn’t stop after the first 8-week programme; the benefit evolves with the member, setting new goals and providing motivation, mentoring and expertise to support the on-going health needs of laya healthcare members as they progress and evolve. As well as fitness and nutritional advice, healthcoach will include online support tools such as wellbeing blogs, podcasts and videos to help members achieve their physical and mental wellbeing goals. The healthcoach benefit has a strong focus on wellbeing, with personal action plans supported with expert content from Clinical Psychologists covering emotional wellbeing, stress and anxiety, amongst other topics.
At launch, laya healthcare will have six healthcoach clinics located in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, with additional locations to be announced in 2018.
| Dublin healthcoach clinic | IFSC
Sandyford Santry |
| Cork healthcoach clinic | Little Island, Cork |
| Limerick healthcoach clinic | Thomond Park |
| Galway healthcoach clinic | Oranmore |
Depending on their level of cover, new and existing laya healthcare members can avail of a face-to-face Healthcoach consultation once every two years at no additional cost. They can also choose an online-only consultation where they complete a self-assessment and can access their personalised health programme in the dedicated healthcoach App.
Leading Irish personal trainer and lifestyle coach Karl Henry, says healthcoach is unlike anything he’s ever seen at an Irish or global level, “the whole area of health coaching is exploding right now because people want more than just gadgets and smartphone Apps to track their moves, they want personalised mentoring and motivation to improve everyday health behaviours and achieve measurable goals. What impresses me the most about healthcoach by laya healthcare is the personalised support from a dedicated Healthcoach, delivered through tailored health plans that cover fitness, nutrition and mental wellbeing. Having tried it, I can say with confidence that healthcoach will change people’s lives and I urge laya healthcare members to avail of this transformative new benefit.”
For further information on healthcoach by laya healthcare see layahealthcoach.ie
