Omada, a virtual healthcare provider, announced Tuesday that it is expanding its GLP-1 companion solution to include musculoskeletal exercise programming and member-level reporting for employers, payers and pharmacy benefit managers.
San Francisco-based Omada serves employers, health plans and health systems and provides virtual care for diabetes, weight management, hypertension, musculoskeletal issues and behavioral health. It launched its GLP-1 program last year to offer lifestyle and behavior support to patients struggling with chronic obesity and taking GLP-1s, but is not prescribing GLP-1s itself. The core GLP-1 program offers side effect support, nutrition guidance, online support communities and weight loss and maintenance resources.
The newly expanded GLP-1 Care Track provides tailored exercise plans, support for getting off of GLP-1s and calorie tracking. This kind of support is needed because muscle health is vital to maintaining weight loss, according to Wei-Li Shao, president at Omada Health.
“The important thing here is that if somebody decides to go off a GLP-1, they need muscle health support in order to sustain the outcomes that they’ve experienced,” Shao said in an interview. “If you gain all the weight back, the return on investment dissipates.”
In addition to the musculoskeletal exercise support, Omada is offering enhanced reporting and insights for employers, payers and PBMs on the members participating in the company’s GLP-1 program. This reporting will help them understand who is responding to GLP-1s and who is not, as well as who is engaging with the program.
“We can see whether or not they are adherent to their medications,” Shao said. “Are they complying? Are they getting their refills? Do they have challenges getting the medications and getting their refills? How are they experiencing side effects and do they need additional support there? The worst case scenario would be for somebody to actually stop their GLP-1 but need it just because they didn’t have the right support.”
Omada’s expanded program comes at a time when it’s estimated that the GLP-1 market could exceed $100 billion by 2030. When taking GLP-1s, people with obesity can lose up to 15% of their body weight, but risk gaining the weight back if they don’t follow the proper protocols.
Shao added that the popularity of GLP-1s is part of a larger trend in healthcare that combines medicine with behavior change.
“There is an intersection between biology and behavior,” he said. “What that means is that something biologically needs to be treated, for instance, by medication or some other care intervention. But how you run your life, the decisions you make, your behavior are equally important. That intersection between the two, we believe, is a trend in healthcare that is being accelerated by the conversation with GLP-1s in the necessity to have a lifestyle behavior change intervention program as a companion alongside.”
Omada isn’t the only company supporting patients taking GLP-1s. Other companies include WeightWatchers, Noom, LifeMD and Found. However, Omada differs because it isn’t actually prescribing GLP-1s like these other companies are.
In expanding its GLP-1 program, Omada’s ultimate goal can be summarized in one word: sustainability, Shao said.
“We’re focused on the long-term journey and sustainability of the benefit of GLP-1s and how they can be optimized, amplified and sustained over a period of time,” he said.
Photo: Peter Dazeley, Getty Images
