Omada Health and Humana Partner to Reduce Diabetes Risk in People with Medicare
Select Medicare Advantage Participants Demonstrate Weight Loss and Engagement Results with Prevent Digital Program
San Francisco, CA and Louisville, KY (Nov. 13, 2015) – On the eve of World Diabetes Day, Omada Health and Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) announced the initial results of an innovative partnership between the digital behavioral medicine company and one of the nation’s leading health and well-being companies. Using Omada’s digitally-based Prevent program, and Humana’s decades of experience serving Medicare Advantage members, a cohort of 491 Humana Medicare Advantage beneficiaries achieved clinically-meaningful engagement and weight loss outcomes. Key results are as follows:
- Participants in the Prevent Medicare Advantage program had an average age of nearly 70.
- Six months after beginning the program, more than 85 percent of participants remained active – an engagement level among the best in class for intensive behavioral counseling.
- Most importantly, six months after beginning the program, Prevent graduates lost an average of 8.7 percent of their body weight.
Data from the Diabetes Prevention Program clinical trial indicates this level of weight loss in at-risk individuals over 60 years old is associated with a 71 percent reduction in type 2 diabetes risk at three years.
“We’re proud of the results we’ve achieved through our partnership with Humana,” said Omada Health co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy. “Diabetes and prediabetes prevalence in seniors is at serious levels, and type 2 diabetes is one of the biggest cost drivers in the health care system – especially for those 65 and older. These results demonstrate digital behavioral interventions like Prevent provide a scalable, effective option for reducing diabetes risk – and can help stem the tide of the chronic disease epidemic for America’s seniors.”
Prevent is a digitally-based behavioral intervention designed to help individuals reduce their risk for certain obesity-related chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The program combines smart technology like a wireless scale pre-synced to a participant’s account, a proprietary health-related curriculum, around-the-clock access to a personal health coach, and a like-minded online peer network for support for those at the tipping point for chronic disease.
Humana’s broad understanding of the health needs of people with Medicare helped make the study a success. With approximately 3.2 million MA members, Humana is one of the country’s largest administrators of Medicare Advantage plans.
According to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 11.2 million Americans over the age of 65 – more than one in four – are currently living with diabetes. Even more alarming, 51 percent of all seniors currently have elevated blood glucose or hemoglobin A1C levels, commonly known as prediabetes. Individuals with prediabetes have increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Less than 10 percent of prediabetic Americans are aware they have the condition, and without intervention, approximately one in three will progress to type 2 diabetes within four years.
“We are very pleased with our partnership with Omada and our Medicare members’ high level of engagement with a virtual diabetes prevention program,” said Sarah Ahmad, Vice President of Innovation at Humana. “The United States spends over $245 billion on diabetes every year, and it is a major driver of health challenges for seniors. Humana is committed to finding solutions to fight diabetes and other chronic diseases for all our beneficiaries. These results show that digital tools like Omada’s Prevent can be successful in helping Medicare Advantage members lose weight and prevent progression to diabetes.”
Omada works with employer and health plan customers to provide scalable, effective, and evidence- based behavioral interventions for those at risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other obesity- related chronic conditions. Combining behavioral science and the power of social networking with technology and thoughtful design, Omada is delivering clinically-meaningful results for a tipping point population – those most at-risk for developing obesity-related chronic diseases.
In the last year, Omada’s staff has grown from 75 to 185 employees and since its founding, the company has enrolled more than 25,000 Prevent participants. Earlier this year, Fast Company named Omada one of the 50 most innovative companies in the world.
In March, Omada’s Prevent became one of the first digital programs to receive pending CDC recognition for meeting the evidence-based standards for the National Diabetes Prevention Program. And in April, Omada became the first digital health company to publish peer-reviewed results demonstrating that participants in its program maintained significant reductions in body weight and average blood sugar levels two years after starting the program.
