Just as many advisers and their employer clients are finally adjusting to the concept of a health risk assessment, a North Carolina-based technology company intends to upend the discussion with its introduction of a DRA, or disease-specific assessment.
BioSignia says its DRA differs from traditional HRAs in three main ways: it focuses on specific diseases, identifies specific risks and it compares participants against their peer group.
"Every CEO tries to quantify its company's risk and issues quarterly reports on their financial health, but when it comes to their employees' health they are in the dark -- companies lack the quantifiable number," Dr. Tim Smith, CEO of BioSignia, says.
Dubbed "Know Your Numbers," BioSignia's DRA combines individual metrics -- weight, blood pressure and lifestyle habits among others -- with proprietary analytical tools to produce a report detailing the participant's likelihood of developing specific diseases in the near term.
The assessment looks at the "big five" of chronic preventable diseases -- heart disease diabetes, stroke, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The company says this differs from traditional HRAs, which estimate an individual's likelihood of dying from a specific condition based on mortality rates of others with similar characteristics.
A "Know Your Numbers" report also details what fraction of the individual's chronic disease risk is modifiable, identifying what factors (e.g. lack of exercise, smoking) are contributing to the risk.
For more information on BioSignia and its "Know Your Numbers" DRA, visit EBA's Raw Bar online and listen to an interview with Tim Smith.
