UMass Memorial Health Care gets employee FitBit program

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus in Worcester, which is one of the hospitals under the UMass Memorial Health umbrella

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Employees at UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest employer in Central Massachusetts, will be able to participate in a new state program aimed at keeping workers healthy.

Roughly 600 UMass Memorial employees will take part in a program using the fitness tracker FitBit, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Westborough-based Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The collaborative, a state agency, runs a program seeking to use technology to reduce healthcare costs, with UMass Memorial and Boston Medical Center its two most recent recipients.

UMass Memorial's program will include a randomized controlled trial of FitBit's premium and health coaching services to help prevent and manage cardiometabolic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. The goal is to push participants to improve physical activity, nutrition, sleep and stress management.

UMass Memorial participants will be randomly assigned to receive standard healthcare benefits and services offered by the Worcester-based hospital group, or those benefits and services plus FitBit trackers and services, including personalized guidance from a certified health coach. The trial is expected to last through March 2022.