JMDC, one of Japan’s biggest medical database providers, has offered Fitbit devices (trackers and smartwatches) to its enterprise customers (payers, companies focusing on corporate wellness, and private insurers) since 2016, and will offer Fitbit Premium to its enterprise customers in Japan starting today.
Fitbit Premium provides personalized, actionable guidance to help people move more, sleep better and eat well. Premium membership includes customized programs, advanced analytics, personal insights, workouts, new challenges, new key health metrics, health reports and more – all in one place in the Fitbit app. Fitbit Premium will also be offering localised programs in Japanese for sleep, nutrition and mind-fullness from partners like Asken, Croix and Neurospace. Fitbit Premium has already reached more than 500,000 paid subscribers in less than a year since launch.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan continues to see healthcare expenditure reach record highs, with an estimated ¥42.6 trillion (USD 385.9 billion) spent in 20181 to support a rapidly aging population. Japanese employers pay a significant portion of these healthcare costs and, in response, many companies have stepped up their efforts to improve workplace health and wellness, with strong support and recognition from the government.2
“In recent years, Japanese organisations have become increasingly dedicated to improving the health and well-being of their employees and members, and Fitbit’s innovative wearables and supportive global community make us a natural partner to help enterprise customers achieve these goals,” said Steve Morley, Vice President of International Health Solutions & General Manager Asia Pacific at Fitbit. “Through our work with a strategic partner like JMDC and our network of distributors, we have made important strides towards making health and wellness more accessible and achievable for everyone in Japan. By expanding our enterprise partnership with JMDC to include Fitbit Premium, we will be able to offer extra motivation and support to help drive positive health outcomes for even more people.”
“I am truly grateful to have been able to enter this partnership with Fitbit, a world-leading company in the field of wearable devices. With corporate wellness ‘Kenko-Keiei’ growing in Japan, we are now able to provide more sophisticated wearable solutions than ever before. We will continue to contribute to the promotion of personal health, and at the same time, we will continue to develop further solutions using the insights accumulated through wearable devices and offerings such a Fitbit Premium,” said Matsushima Yosuke, President and CEO, JMDC.
Fitbit was first introduced in Japan in 2014, and today Fitbit works with nearly 300 Japanese enterprise customers across a wide range of industries to provide health and wellness solutions that help drive meaningful engagement, better health outcomes, and positive returns for employers, health insurers, and payers.
Historically, JMDC has focused on the health promotion business for health insurance association clients, however, JMDC plans to enhance its provision of services that focus on aspects such as exercise, sleep, meditation, preventive mental health, in the corporate wellness field with Fitbit Premium. Fitbit Premium will be a core service offering for JMDC’s enterprise customers. This partnership will greatly expand its business in the field of health management for its corporate clients.
Interested organizations are invited to pre-register their interest by contacting https://fitbit.jmdc.co.jp/
About Fitbit
Fitbit helps people lead healthier, more active lives by empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their goals. Fitbit designs products and experiences that track and provide motivation for everyday health and fitness. Fitbit’s diverse line of innovative and popular products include Fitbit Sense™, the Fitbit Versa™ family of smartwatches, Fitbit Charge 4™, Fitbit Inspire 2™, and Fitbit Ace 2™ activity trackers, and Fitbit Aria Air smart scale. Fitbit products are carried in approximately 39,000 retail stores and in 100+ countries around the globe. The Fitbit platform delivers personalized experiences, insights and guidance through leading software and interactive tools, including the Fitbit app and Fitbit OS for smartwatches. Fitbit’s paid subscription service, Fitbit Premium, provides advanced analytics and actionable guidance in the Fitbit app to help you reach your health and fitness goals. Fitbit Health Solutions develops health and wellness solutions designed to help increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive a positive return for employers, health plans and health systems.
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About JMDC
Established in 2002. JMDC’s mission is “Leveraging data and ICT solutions to create a sustainable national healthcare system”. JMDC is a pioneer in the field of healthcare big data with proprietary technology in data anonymization processing and data analysis and aggregation. Based on analysis of over 540 million Health Insurance (Payer’s) Claims Data and over 26 million Health Examination Data (as of March 2020), it engages in health promotion for payers, safety evaluation and health economic analysis pharmaceuticals and other information services. JMDC continue developing service of health promotion such includes Pep Up, a personal health record service aimed at promoting wellness that employs a single health indicator (health age), and in other ways strives to create a sustainable healthcare system harnessing the leveraging data and ICT ‘(information and communication technologies) solutions.
1 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/medias/year/18/dl/iryouhi_data.pdf
2 https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2019/0830_002.html
