In an interesting case of an insurance company doing something (moderately) cutting-edge, Cigna has launched a pilot project that includes a virtual healthcare community based on virtual world Second Life. Previous companies with an interest promoting healthcare interests on SL include IBM, which debuted its own healthcare island promoting its HIE architecture at this year's HIMSS conference. As FierceHealthIT users are likely to know, SL is a 3-D virtual world where users interact in a realistic landscape using avatars to represent them. Cigna's SL community, which is being promoted in both the U.K. and the U.S., will offer virtual health seminars, educational games focused on preventative care and programs designed to improve and sustain health behaviors. Cigna hasn't yet decided whether the SL content will be provided to employers as a standard part of health plans, or as a free option for plan members.
To learn more about Cigna's offering:
- read this Healthcare IT News article [1]
Related Article:
A hospital builds a virtual version of a new facility on Second Life [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9473
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/live-from-himss08-a-covert-operation-online/2008-02-27