It’s a new year and a new opportunity for health. Now more than ever Hoosiers are mindful of their health and what they can do to make sure they curb their vulnerability to disease. COVID-19 made it clear that chronic conditions can impact your body’s effectiveness in fighting off disease. LifeOmic, a health software start-up in Indianapolis founded by Don Brown is hoping to be a resource for companies looking to combat chronic disease and improve the health of their workforce.

LifeOmic was founded in 2017 with the focus of tackling the hardest problem first: cancer. It started with its precision medicine platform that enables cancer researchers to develop novel and effective treatments for the most aggressive cancers through a cloud-based data platform and patient-facing mobile apps. Their ultimate goal, though, is to move healthcare upstream from treatment to prevention and asking how we can prevent these diseases in the first place. It’s no secret there is work to do. The CDC reports that obesity affects 42% of the US population, costing employers $2741 annually per person. Plus, 10.5% of the US population is diabetic which costs $9,600 per diagnosed person to directly manage. For Indiana, these numbers are even higher. Employees want to be healthier and employers have a major incentive to assist.

This is where the newest product from LifeOmic Precision Wellness can help. LifeOmic Precision Wellness is a corporate wellness solution that uses their same technology to actually produce positive results in the corporate wellness space.

“Traditional wellness programs have mostly been fluff—some cheerleading at the start of the year that gets employees moving for a couple of weeks and then fizzles out.” says Don Brown, founder and CEO at LifeOmic. “We started with a medical-grade platform used to treat cancer and other complex diseases. We added a beautiful mobile app that has been downloaded three million times by people around the world. The result is a next-generation wellness program that leverages the latest discoveries in genetics and precision medicine to provide personalized guidance of the sort that previously only came from physicians”.

LifeOmic Precision Wellness is breaking the traditional wellness mold in two major ways. First the social and gamification aspect that keeps employees engaged past the January hype with a point-like earning system and social media-feel. Secondly, the scientific rigor that goes beyond weight loss.

The foundation is a blood test for employees to measure and monitor their health of more than 72 important biomarkers. These biomarkers span across seven different systems including vitamin levels, cardiovascular, blood health, electrolyte health, metabolic and endocrine health, kidney and urinary health and liver health. This is used as a starting point to measure improvements in overall health as employees track the five pillars of exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, intermittent fasting and sleep that contribute to lengthening health spans and preventing diseases.

As an employee you gain easy to understand health education, healthy habit tracking, real-time coaching, custom recommendations, social support through the use of peer circles and motivation through gamification. For an employer it includes a five minute set-up and web-based administrator dashboard to monitor corporate health trends. The app also provides the ability to implement and payout financial incentives for employees who meet program milestones or win challenges.

LifeOmic acknowledges that some employees may be wary of sharing any data related to their health with their employer. But rest assured, all employee health data is stored in a HIPAA-compliant medical-grade platform. Strict controls prevent anyone in the organization from accessing sensitive health data for any individual employee. Admins can view aggregate information and can monitor the health progress of the organization as a whole or that of different departments. However, they cannot access the personal health data of any individual.

LifeOmic Precision Wellness was first used by LifeOmic internally. Now it is also kicking off with a few local companies such as TechPoint and KSM.

“What is unique about LifeOmic Precision Wellness is that it addresses the whole self when it comes to wellbeing, based in science and extensive research. Ultimately we know what we have to do to feel and look better, and with the LifeOmic solution and the LIFE Extend app we have an accountability partner to help us get there; not to mention the most important impact—living our best lives longer.” says Jim Nester, Chief Human Resources Officer at KSM.

LifeOmic is passionate about driving health outcomes and so the platform is free for companies of up to 100 employees. The LIFE Extend app is also a free mobile app that allows employees to connect with their friends and family within the same platform. You can learn more at www.precisionwellness.io.