Evernorth is expanding its digital health formulary yet again, adding five new solutions to the platform.
The formulary will now include Big Health's Sleepio for insomnia and the tech company's Daylight tool for anxiety. In addition, Evernorth said it will expand inclusion of Quit Genius' tools to its platforms for alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder.
Lastly, Evernorth will now include HealthBeacon's Injectable Care Management System for inflammatory conditions, which is meant to assist patients in managing injectable medications. Glen Stettin, M.D., chief innovation officer at Evernorth, told Fierce Healthcare that all of the new tools fit key concerns for employers and plan sponsors, such as mental health and high-cost inflammatory conditions.
"Our clients care about areas where either lots of people need help and treatment or where they're spending lots of money," Stettin said.
The goal of the digital health formulary is to make it easy for plan sponsors to cut through the noise in a crowded market and find digital health solutions that may work well for their member populations. Digital health tools that are added to the formulary are vetted by physicians, pharmacists and user experience experts across multiple factors including clinical efficacy, privacy and security, value and usability.
The solutions can be offered individually or integrated into existing connected care programs through Evernorth, which allows for a more coordinated patient experience. The programs combine biometric data from digital health apps to existing pharmacy, medical and lab data to ensure the information is managed securely while offering plan sponsors a comprehensive view of the members' health.
Stettin said that the additional data can be useful in predictive modeling, which can identify which members may benefit most from a certain solution and allow for more targeted outreach to get them connected.
"Just expecting people to find it and use it is probably a little bit broad," Stettin said. Through data analytics, "you have additional comments for the employer that they're spending their money wisely," he said.
In addition to the new solutions on the formulary, Evernorth has added several pilot programs to the platform in a bid to dig further into their potential clinical impact and user experience. These programs are:
- Jasper, a digital platform for oncology patients that provides psychosocial support and coaching through a personalized planner
- Zerigo, a connected platform for in-home light therapy for psoriasis and eczema
- Hinge Health's pelvic floor physical therapy solution, which would complement Hinge's chronic pain tool that joined the formulary in 2021
- Lid Sync, which is connected to a device that helps people track their daily medications and set reminders
Stettin said there are still plenty of areas where Evernorth can continue to build out the formulary, including the addition of new solutions targeting conditions already covered by the formulary's reach such as diabetes, oncology musculoskeletal conditions and inflammatory conditions. These needs are common and also account for significant portions of overall healthcare costs, he said.
He said new solutions are likely to become more specialized, focusing on specific types of cancer or more individual musculoskeletal needs. But having a diverse array of solutions for a diabetes patient enables the member, and the patient, to have a choice in determining what tools they want to use.
"Not everything works for everybody," he said.