Aetna and Mindbloom Team Up to Encourage Healthier, More Balanced Living Through Social Gaming

Aetna and Mindbloom announced a collaboration that will offer Aetna members an enhanced version of Mindbloom’s Life Game™, an online social game for personal wellness. Starting this fall, Aetna members will have access to a new engagement model that uses the science behind social gaming — a unique blend of technology, art and behavioral psychology — to engage people in achieving personal health and wellness goals.

Source: Source: Aetna | Published on May 6, 2011

“Considering that Americans are spending over $200 billion a year on healthy living products and services, but the rates of chronic health conditions and obesity continue to rise, the time is right for a new approach to engaging people in achieving better overall health,” said Kyra Bobinet, MD, MPH, medical director of health and wellness innovation at Aetna. “We think the Mindbloom Life Game will provide a fun, rewarding and effective way for Aetna’s members to make lasting improvements in their physical and emotional well-being.”

Mindbloom is a Seattle-based social media company and the creator of the online Life Game, a personalized wellness application that inspires and helps people to live healthier, more balanced lives. The Life Game helps people focus on many areas of life including: health, spirituality, relationships, leisure, lifestyle, finances, creativity and career. Mindbloom’s players grow and maintain a virtual “life tree” and a forest of their family and friends, earn virtual rewards and most importantly, make progress in their real lives. For an overview of the Life Game, visit www.mindbloom.com/aetna. The Aetna collaboration will involve a significant enhancement to the Life Game as well as new mobile features.

“Most of us recognize the value of maintaining healthy, balanced lives yet we continually fail to make healthy behaviors a consistent priority. It seems the motivation is there but we can all use a little nudge,” explains Mindbloom’s CEO, Brent Poole. “By incorporating social networking, multimedia, a virtual rewards system and psychology-based gaming mechanics — and making it all accessible through mobile phones, email and social media channels —

Mindbloom is bringing the missing ingredient of personal engagement to the wellness equation.”

Mindbloom’s social gaming expertise complements Aetna’s full suite of health and wellness programs, which are designed to help people achieve better overall health. For more information about Aetna’s programs click here. An online demo of the Mindbloom platform and the Life Game is available to reporters who request it.