UPDATED: Tuesday, February 27 at 3:38pm ET.
Elevance Health's CarelonRx will begin offering a weight management program, providing its members access to digital-first coaching and wellness tools.
Behavioral health and social drivers of health screenings will be included in the offerings, according to a news release. The program will help members that take, as well as those that don't take, GLP-1 medications. It will be available to ASO-integrated clients.
“At CarelonRx, we want to ease the complexities of weight loss and weight management, and support healthier lifestyles for our members,” said Paul Marchetti, president of CarelonRx, in a statement. “Our weight management program is unique because it considers a member’s whole health needs, including pharmacy, medical and social drivers of health data, and creates opportunities for care coordination between nutrition and exercise experts, pharmacists, physicians and health plans.”
A PHQ2 survey, a used to dtermine if a member is showing signs of clinical depression, and a stress level survey will be included in behavioral health screenings. The PHQ2 test is taken after onboarding and every six months, while a stress level test will occur every eight weeks for eligible members, according to a CarelonRx spokesperson.
Members will be screened on transportation, food insecurity and housing insecurity to determine if extra assistance is necessary. Participants will also receive meal feedback.
Weight management solutions for members are offered by many companies, many with varied approaches. Nearly half of people are interested in taking weight loss drugs, a recent KFF Health poll found.
Members that use GLP-1s will have a companion module that will collaborate with a prescribing physician to provide medication management support.
Omada Health expands insights lab
Virtual provider Omada Health building upon its insights lab by implementing the ANSWERS Initiative.
The initiative, which stands for analyzing success of weight medication with real-world evidence and stats, will evaluate factors associated with medication usage as well as the "relationship between lifestyle program participation and both near-and long-term weight health" for members with and without GLP-1 drugs, a news release said.
Tracking more than 3 billion data points from care team interactions, connected devices, tracked meals and more, the company expects to share GLP-1 related insights.
“The industry is burdened with unanswered questions on access, cost, and optimized duration of these medications in the real world," said Omada Health Chief Medical Officer Carolyn Bradner Jasik, M.D., in a statement. "The ANSWERS Initiative hopes to fill those gaps to support our members and partners as they make decisions about the use of GLP-1s."
Omada will also evaluate impacts of its expanded GLP-1 track. One of the track's priorities is to help members build lean muscle mass.