Consumers and retirement homes have turned brain-fitness games and exercises into commercial hits, and now some insurers and employers are incorporating them into wellness programs that promote health for the mind as well as the body.
OptumHealth, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, develops wellness programs for 2,500 U.S. employers. When it launched a pilot study of a Web-based cognitive-function test in January, Danna Lipton, a care advocate, was quick to sign up. Lipton's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at age 62, and though she was just 31, she was looking for ways to start early to maintain her brain health.
Lipton scored fine on memory in the 40-minute assessment, but the licensed clinical social worker was surprised to learn she did not rank so high on some abilities that were key to her job, such as reading emotional and verbal cues. Since then, she has played brain games online at MyBrainSolutions and says she has experienced some improvement.
"It showed me some of those little things about yourself that might otherwise be hard to learn," Lipton said. "It was like having therapy without having a therapist there."
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The U.S. market in brain-fitness software generated $265 million in revenue in 2008, an 18% increase from $225 million in 2007 and up from $100 million in 2005, according to a report this month by SharpBrains, a San Francisco company that tracks the cognitive-fitness industry.
Sales have been driven mostly by retirement homes, more than 700 of which now offer computerized cognitive-training programs, and by consumers doing programs on their home computers or visiting brain "gyms," said Alvaro Fernandez, a co-founder of SharpBrains and its CEO.
The fast-growing sector is expected to skyrocket, with revenue projected to leap to $1 billion to $5 billion by 2015. Fueling the growth are insurers, employers and even governments seeking to reduce direct and indirect health care costs.
Staying engaged on the job
OptumHealth first rolled out MyBrainSolutions to employee assistance programs to help identify mental-health issues such as depression that can accompany other health problems, including diabetes and obesity, said Dr. Eugene Baker, a vice president in OptumHealth's Behavioral Solutions division. The cognitive-function test is three-quarters brain function and one-quarter psychological, he added.This year, the company has begun offering MyBrainSolutions as a wellness feature. OptumHealth hopes to position itself as a leader in the brain-health space for employers, Baker said.
"Improving brain health can result in less 'presenteeism,' the tendency to be at work but be distracted and not able to focus," he said. "If you look at disability costs, absenteeism and presenteeism account for most of the medical costs, and that's a good reason for employers to be focused on brain health."
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Nationwide Auto Insurance added MyBrainSolutions to its employee assistance program in September and began offering it as part of the company's wellness program for all its 35,000 associates in April.
That employee interest in brain health is high could be seen in the swift response: Within two hours after an introductory e-mail was sent, 150 people had signed up, and 500 have since taken the test and started completing the MyBrainSolutions modules, said Kathleen Herath, the associate vice president for health and productivity at Nationwide.
"We have programs for weight loss and smoking cessation, but we also need something for people who are healthy and on top of their game," she added. "This is a nice fit for those folks as well."
Medical insurer Humana also has dabbled with brain fitness for several years and recently partnered with HappyNeuron, a brain-fitness subsidiary of French company Scientific Brain Training, to add five brain games to Humana's Games for Health Web site.
The site, which can be accessed by anyone, not just Humana health plan members, also includes games that focus on good nutrition and physical fitness.
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