Sharp HealthCare, and its health insurance subsidiary Sharp Health Plan, will be the first health system to have early access to Amazon Halo. As announced by Amazon in August, Amazon Halo combines a membership with Amazon Halo Band to provide a new approach to improving health and wellness by bringing together science-backed tools that provide a more complete way for you to measure, understand and improve your health.
Created with input from scientists, doctors and health experts, Amazon Halo Band doesn’t have a screen that distracts you with notifications like fitness trackers and smart watches. Rather, the band quietly and accurately gathers information about your movement, heart rate, and sleep to provide rich insights about your health and wellness in the Halo app.
Sharp Health Plan will distribute a limited number of Amazon Halo Bands to members in October during the early access phase of the product launch. These members will have the option to link their Amazon Halo account to their existing Sharp Health Plan wellness portal, provided by Cerner, where they can track their personal wellness metrics and participate in activities like wellness challenges.
“Amazon Halo truly is a transformative technology that has real potential to change behaviors that improve a patient’s health,” said Michael Reagin, chief information and innovation officer for Sharp HealthCare. “It perfectly aligns with Sharp’s strategy to provide a holistic approach to patient wellness from their first experience as a Sharp Health Plan member throughout their relationship with their physician.”
Sharp HealthCare patients who receive the band will eventually be able to share their body fat percentage number from Amazon Halo to their electronic health record using Cerner EHR. Their physicians will then be able to use that information, similar to other wellness metrics like activity and sleep, to help inform their care plans. Learn more about the Amazon Halo Body feature.
“As one of the largest health systems in the country that cares for a broad and diverse population, Sharp actively seeks and develops innovative ways to improve the health of those we serve,” said Chris Howard, president and CEO of Sharp HealthCare. “Amazon Halo is clearly one such innovation, and it dovetails seamlessly with an integrated system like ours. We are indeed pleased to collaborate with Cerner, our long-time EHR provider, and Amazon on this invaluable initiative.”
Key features and measurements of Amazon Halo are summarized below.
- Activity – The Amazon Halo Activity score helps you find ways to have greater impact in less time by looking at the intensity of your movement, not just the number of your steps.
- Sleep – Amazon Halo measures the quality and quantity of your sleep and suggests simple labs to help you discover better sleep habits.
- Body Composition – Body Composition lets you measure your body fat percentage – a better indicator of health than weight or BMI alone—from the comfort and privacy of your own home. It then creates a high-definition, 3D body model so you can track changes over time.
- Tone – Amazon Halo lets you measure the tone of your voice throughout the day to help you understand how you sound to others.
- Labs – Labs guide members through simple, trackable experiments that test the impact small changes can have across your health.
- Privacy – Amazon Halo is built with multiple levels of privacy protections and controls to keep your health data safe and secure.
