Perx digital app improves self-management of chronic health conditions

A digital therapeutic that utilises incentives and rewards, is supporting behaviour change in consumers with chronic conditions, improving their health management and outcomes.

“Research shows that around 50 percent of patients with a chronic health condition don’t adhere to the treatment plan created with their medical team to maximise their health,” says Hugo Rourke, Chief Operating Officer of Perx Health, a company that creates digital health solutions. The issue first came on to Rourke’s radar when several ageing relatives developed chronic health conditions.  

Harnessing his background in consumer businesses and promotions, Rourke started thinking about how to create a digital care model to support others in the same situation. His primary aim was to encourage and reward health consumers day to day and between hospital stays and medical appointments. This led Rourke to co-found Perx Health seven years ago, with colleague and friend, Scott Taylor. The pair then started working on the Perx digital therapeutic, which has been supported by the Office for Health and Medical Research and angel investors.  

Drawing on health evidence and behavioural science, the founders have created an evidence-based digital care management program to act as a motivator and cheerleader for people with complex medical conditions. “The app collates all aspects of the consumer’s treatment plan and self-care routines into one user-friendly schedule on one digital platform that covers all aspects of their health management,” Rourke explains. “This streamlining is very important because people who live with a disease, may be managing multiple health conditions simultaneously.” 

Development of the digital device

The Office for Health and Medical Research has provided two grants to support the development of the Perx app. “The first grant from the Medical Devices Fund supported us to run trials, which confirmed the effectiveness of the app in real world populations,” says Rourke. “Our recent data now shows that 75% of members use the app daily, opening it on average 4.5 times a day, which is 4O times more than the industry standard. In turn this leads to improved health outcomes and financial savings of around $6,200 per member (due to lower need for medical expenses and insurance costs).” 
 
The second, a Medical Devices Fund COVID-19 Relief Grant, supported the team to build an additional care portal to support virtual care. “This enables health consumers to elect to share ongoing summaries of their health management and status with their doctors and care team,” Rourke says.  
 
Rewarding healthcare engagement  

The Perx Health digital therapeutic can be used on smartphones and tablets. It was designed after consultation involving people living with chronic disease. Health consumers download the app after an invitation by healthcare organisations such as NSW Health, private insurers and other organisations. The app provides access to the Perx platform, which offers self-management programs for many conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease, asthma, back pain and mental ill health. 
 
The Perx app aims to make health management more fun and appealing. “It rewards health consumers for actions such as taking their medications, scheduling and attending medical appointments, engaging in physical therapy and maintaining other healthful behaviours such as exercise,” Rourke explains. “We are not trying to displace the role of the doctor or care team. The app is designed to use digital tools that people can easily access every day to complement traditional models of healthcare treatment.” 

Maximising motivation

Grounded in behavioural science, the Perx app uses motivational techniques including games, challenges and winning streaks. It rewards regular health engagement with gift vouchers for favourite brands and offers altruistic incentives for those who like to give donations to charities. “These rewards are provided alongside the software, user support, community moderation and everything else that we fund the app to provide,” says Rourke. “In addition, the app provides social motivators, where people can collaborate or compete with other users. Over time our engagement system tries to figure out what best motivates the user then personalises the challenges and rewards to the individual, to maintain their motivation.” 
 
Proving Perx efficacy  

The first randomised controlled trial of the Perx app was conducted in Sydney Local Health District hospitals in collaboration with NSW Health and published in the British Medical Journal and the American Journal of Managed Care. It showed that the app helped people with diabetes stick to their treatment plan, improve their health outcomes and lower blood glucose and cholesterol levels. “Since then, the uptake of the Perx app by tens of thousands of health consumers has shown that we can draw people at scale to support large numbers of consumers at once,” Rourke explains. “Peer reviewed research including a study published in the Journal for Medical & Internet Research, has shown that the app can achieve adherence rates as high as 90-95%. This success has helped to open doors for us to now offer the Perx app in the US market.”