We’re sure nothing could go wrong when Aetna and a wellness vendor want your DNA

We often say on this site that “lying is part of wellness vendor DNA.”  However, we didn’t mean that literally–until Newtopia came along.  You see, Newtopia, like most vendors, lies — but they also actually collect employee DNA.

We think your DNA belongs to you

In all fairness to Newtopia, many of what could be termed “lies” could charitably be characterized as “very misleading but technically accurate statements,” So ironically it would be us who would be lying if we said these were all lies. Hence we will call them “gaffes,” a category which includes lies but also includes situations in which the truth shocks the conscience as much or more than a lie would.

 Gaffe #1: Engagement:

To Newtopia’s credit (not unlike HERO, which did the same thing in its report), they put the invalidating information about their engagement right on their website.  This again proves our mantra from Surviving Workplace Wellness that: “In wellness, you don’t have the challenge the data to invalidate it.  You merely have to read the data.  It will invalidate itself.”

Specifically, for some reason Newtopia provided a link to an Associated Press story, which they called a “profile,” but obviously we wouldn’t be linking to a puff piece “profiling” them.  They Said What? only links to real reporting, which is invariably unflattering to wellness vendors and which would never be considered “profiles.”  Puff piece or real reporting?  You make the call — We can’t both be right.

Among other things (and there are plenty of other things, which we will get to) the AP reported that of 130 employees of the profiled customer organization, Jackson Laboratory, invited into the program, only 15% remain one year later,

However, the website itself proclaims:

Maybe “unheard of engagement” technically isn’t a lie. Maybe they meant: “unheard of” in that an engagement rate as low as 15% would be unheard-of.  We doubt that because elsewhere they cite their use of “engagement science,” whatever that is. (Funny thing, Quizzify, the only company to literally financially guarantee increased engagement, doesn’t use “engagement science.” Instead Quizzify simply offers employees a tool they will want to use.)

Gaffe #2: Success

On its website, Newtopia’s case study for this customer, Jackson Labs, states:

However, the AP’s Tom Murphy borrowed a trick from Reuters’ Sharon Begley—and actually did reporting. They asked Jackson Labs itself for some statistics. They learned that of the 28 employees who submitted to Newtopia, only 19 remain. So even if every single one of those 19 lost weight, only 68% — not 92% — would report weight loss.  (Newtopia might respond that their website’s 92% statistic was after six months whereas the 68% was after a year, thus begging the question of why they decided not to update the statistic on their website.  It’s also a window on the truism that the longer the measurement period, the more people regain the weight.)

Whether 68% or 92%, Newtopia credits its results to “science.”   Indeed their website loudly proclaims:

Gaffe #3: Made-Up Facts 

One of the darnedest things about science is, it is a fact-based discipline.  You can’t “drive” your own facts. For instance, their website proclaims:

Productivity is defined as “output per man-hour.” Therefore in a company that is “3x more productive,” each employee gets 3x more work done.

If Newtopia’s statement is accurate, and if Walmart promoted health, their cashiers could ring up 3x more customers. Doctors could see 3x more patients. Pilots could fly planes three times faster. Teachers could teach three times more classes.  The recorded messages on hold would tell us that customer service thinks our calls are three times more important to them…

Another made-up fact:

Quite the opposite of “failing to control the incidence,” current approaches have in fact dramatically reduced the rate of heart attacks and strokes.  Don’t take our word for it.  Here are the federal government’s statistics for heart attacks:

During most recent available period, in which the population over 50 grew close to 20%, the number of heart attacks fell 19%. Not bad for “failing to control the incidence.” The wellness industry, of course, had nothing to do with that decline, which encompassed all age categories and payers.

Strokes also declined quite a bit. Curiously, strokes increased significantly in the age categories in which wellness programs were supposed to prevent them, paralleling the dramatic growth of the wellness industry from 2001 to 2012. They declined dramatically in the >65 population, which doesn’t have access to workplace wellness and which grew close to 20% over this period.  So it looks like the only industry that “failed to control the incidence” was: the wellness industry.

Gaffe #4: Unsupported Statements

Another thing about science? Credible scientists don’t make statements that aren’t “driven” by evidence. Note this statement:

Besides being uncited and disputed by its largest customer (Aetna, which “collaborated” on the HERO report admitting wellness loses money), note the wording. It makes it sound like the more you spend on wellness, the more your costs fall. The implication is that spending an extra $500 on Newtopia’s genetic testing (over and above the cost of a regular wellness program) will then save even more.

Gaffe #5: Newtopia’s Privacy Policy

If only this were a lie!

One should be able to assume that if your employer forces you (under threat of fine) to give up your DNA, that the company using it will destroy it after use. The fine print is breathtaking. Whereas Quizzify’s privacy policy requires 13 words and is prominently displayed on our home page (“We can’t misuse or lose personal health information because we don’t request any”), Newtopia’s is buried in a linked footer and stretches on for 900 words.  Apparently they will be using your DNA for their own purposes–eventually profiting on it, without giving you any royalties. It will allegedly be de-identified, but privacy guru Anna Slomovic notes that de-identified data can and has been re-identified.

Newtopia also admits they could make a mistake with it.  OK, they don’t exactly admit it.  They imply it.  They say your DNA could be used in “error management,” and by definition there is no need for error management unless you make errors. And with the full list of people who have access to it — eight categories of occupation including “naturopathic doctors” plus unspecified “other persons” — errors are inevitable.

People sometimes complain that all we do is criticize wellness vendors. Newtopia is Exhibit A in why that’s often not such a bad idea.  Even Newtopia doesn’t seem to mind–we gave them the opportunity to fact-check, rebut or comment on this, and they didn’t.