Johnson & Johnson Health Partner Leverages the Science of Behavior Change with Technology to Help Patients Better Prepare for Surgery and Recovery

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Nov. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions, Inc. introduces the Johnson & Johnson Health Partner (Health Partner) platform that changes the process of preparing for, and recovering from, knee, hip or weight loss surgery, by tapping into an individual's motivation and underlying drive to get and stay healthy. A connected digital platform, Health Partner can help patients prepare physically, mentally and emotionally for surgery, and connects them with their healthcare team to help ensure customized, real-time care. It learns with the user over time and provides personalized patient care that adapts based on each patient's changing needs and behaviors.

"Healthcare is personal, and helping people achieve their best health is deeply rooted in our commitment as a healthcare company," said Sandra (Sandi) Peterson, Group Worldwide Chair, Johnson & Johnson. "Health Partner has been designed with the 'whole person' experience in mind to help ensure better engagement between patients and their healthcare team, and get patients back to living their lives – because we know that will help enhance efficiencies and quality of care."

The new Health Partner platform consists of three connected digital tools, all putting the patient at the center:

• A website that provides education and resources before treatment even begins;
• A mobile app to help guide a patient through surgical preparation and recovery; and
• A care portal designed for providers and health systems to enable real-time interaction throughout a patient's treatment journey.

Being physically, emotionally and mentally prepared for surgery can help a patient continue to live life to the fullest – and drive better health and economic outcomes. The behavior change strategies integrated in Health Partner are selected based on the best scientific evidence available right now to help increase the likelihood patients will follow pre- and post-surgical care because an informed, engaged, and compliant patient has the greatest potential for treatment success.ⁱ

Health Partner focuses on improving a patient's ability to stick with their care plan by addressing the underlying behaviors that might hinder success, while also providing tools and support to keep patients motivated and engaged throughout their surgical journey by:

• Enlisting them early in their journey, from initial education about treatment options through encouraging healthy behaviors for long-term success;
• Addressing many of the emotional challenges that patients could face – fear, uncertainty and confusion – building confidence in treatment decisions; and
• Focusing on patient preparedness and fostering greater confidence in their ability to return to better health.

Health Partner brings new levels of understanding and analysis to providers, enabling them to personalize care and improve the patient experience like never before. Health systems can benefit from improved outcomes such as reduced length of stays and fewer treatment-related readmissions. These benefits can translate into better patient experiences and greater cost savings for the system.

According to a recent poll of health system executives and clinicians,ⁱⁱ the majority of executives and clinicians share an interest in using behavior science to adjust expectations about how patients and their caregivers engage in health systems (63 percent) and help patients engage in and adhere to their own care pathway (63 percent). The executives and clinicians also believe digital tools can help improve care coordination (74 percent), communication with physicians (72 percent), and patient satisfaction (68 percent). Nine in 10 executives and clinicians feel confident in supporting patients and their caregivers using digital tools to navigate care (91 percent) – and about the same rate are interested in increasing their use of digital tools (92 percent).

"Our collaborative partnership with the Health Partner team had the insights, experience and technology to enable us to strengthen the patient-provider relationship throughout the continuum of care. We believe the ability to customize a patient's care path to their physical and emotional needs is critical for recovery. We want our patients to go home happy, with restored function and little to no pain," said James Demetriades, Vice President, Operations, Princeton HealthCare System, an active Health Partner pilot site. "Health Partner will not only allow our care team to provide critical resources to patients throughout the entire orthopaedic episode of care – pre-op to post-op – but also give the team the ability to monitor patient behavior, track progress and facilitate discussions around results in real-time. We believe this combination will get us to less costly readmissions and post-operative care."

Health Partner will be offered to health systems as part of CareAdvantage from the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies,* an approach designed to help health systems realize better care by aligning the broad capabilities of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies to their individual needs. Learn more at http://www.careadvantagejjmdc.com/featured-capabilities/connected-health/health-partner.

For more information about Johnson & Johnson Health Partner, visit www.HealthPartnerAdvantage.com.

About Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions
Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions, Inc. helps individuals stay engaged in long lasting behaviors that drive positive health habits and improve outcomes. Expertise focuses on designing interventions through a science-based, adaptive learning platform to sustain health behavior change. Businesses, partners and healthcare providers can benefit from enhanced patient and consumer experience to meet the demands of the changing healthcare environment. For more information about Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions, visit www.jnjhws.com. 

About the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies
The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies' purpose is to reach more patients and restore more lives. Having advanced patient care for more than a century, these companies represent an unparalleled breadth of products, services, programs and research and development capabilities in surgical technology, orthopaedics, cardiovascular and specialty solutions with an offering directed at delivering clinical and economic value to health care systems worldwide.

*CareAdvantage from the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies is offered through Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems Inc. The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies comprise the surgery, orthopaedics, and cardiovascular businesses within Johnson & Johnson's Medical Devices segment.

Contact:
Toral Patel
Mobile: 732.421.3130

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ⁱ Lane-Carlson, M., & Kumar, J. (2012). Engaging Patients in Managing Their Health Care: Patient Perceptions of the Effect of a Total Joint Replacement Presurgical Class. The Permanente Journal, 16(3), 42-47. Retrieved October 5, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3442761/.
ⁱⁱ The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies - Voices for Value Insight Series survey. Interviews were collected online between September 7-13, 2017 among 92 executives and clinicians at large U.S. health systems.

SOURCE Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions