Humana Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Program Leverages RPM, Nutrition

Updated 11/9/2021: This article has been updated to say that patients who lost weight due to the program lost on average 12 percent of their weight. A previous version stated that 12 percent of patients lost weight due to the program, which was incorrect.

Humana is partnering with a type 2 diabetes reversal vendor that uses remote patient monitoring and nutrition to help members manage and improve their type 2 diabetes.

“Humana is committed to bringing evidence-based and cost effective solutions to our members,” said Caleb Gallifant, vice president of product and strategy at Humana. 

“We must find ways to transform the current treatment paradigm. As diabetes care evolves from management to disease reversal, Humana is excited to offer Virta’s innovative treatment to our members.”

The program will be available to Humana’s large, self-funded employers in January 2022. Humana’s partner, Virta Health, emphasizes nutrition as a method of reversing type 2 diabetes. The payer stated that by using this approach, members may be able to avoid using diabetes medications, namely insulin.

Members will receive an individualized nutritional diet as well as sustained remote patient monitoring. 

In particular, the treatment has been proven to reduce prescription reliance. According to Humana, the vendor’s approach reduced or eliminated insulin dosage in 94 percent of users after a year of utilization. After two years of utilization, diabetes medication usage declined by 67 percent.

Additionally, this nutrition-based strategy combined with remote patient monitoring can result in weight loss. Patients who experienced weight loss over the course of the program lost on average 12 percent of their weight.

The effort to not only treat and manage diabetes but to reverse it is becoming more viable in the payer space.

Diabetes is one of the top chronic conditions in the US that drive healthcare spending, alongside conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity. As such, payers have heavily targeted this condition with various chronic disease management strategies.

It was not until August 2021, however, that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) officially determined that the phrase “diabetes reversal” was often more clearly identified as “remission,” Humana pointed out in its press release.

“Remission strikes an appropriate balance, noting that diabetes may not always be active and progressive yet implying that a notable improvement may not be permanent. It is consistent with the view that a person may require ongoing support to forestall relapse, and regular monitoring to allow intervention should hyperglycemia recur,” ADA decided. 

“The term reversal is used to describe the process of returning to glucose levels below those diagnostic of diabetes, but it should not be equated with the state of remission.”

Emerging technologies, including remote patient monitoring tools, have been critical to the evolution of diabetes care management.

Payers such as Capital Blue Cross leveraged apps to help members monitor and adjust their own approach to diabetes management. Capital Blue Cross experts emphasized to HealthPayerIntelligence that allying with employers on diabetes management programs is a crucial step in employing diabetes management apps.

In addition to properly wielding digital tools such as weight loss apps and wellness programs, payers must keep mental and behavioral comorbidities at the forefront of their diabetes management and remission efforts, experts told HealthPayerIntelligence.

This partnership comes on the heels of the payer’s announcement that it has refreshed its inclusion and diversity council, which could be important for the payer’s approach to chronic conditions like diabetes that historically have reflected care disparities.

The inclusion and diversity council is in its seventh year and will include five new seats. This expands the council’s size from nine seats to fourteen for the council that will oversee Humana’s diversity and inclusion efforts from 2021 through 2022.