Wellsmith Launches New Digital Care Platform with Cone Health; Type 2 diabetics show improvements in A1C, weight and medication compliance, with potential for medical cost savings

Designed for use by healthcare delivery systems and accountable care organizations, Wellsmith uses digital and mobile sensors to connect caregivers and consumers. Wellsmith consumers focus on diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices that are causing an explosion of chronic diseases and driving over 80 percent of health care costs. Unlike many solutions, Wellsmith enables consumers to stay connected directly with their prescribing physician with support from a care team.

During pilots directed by internal review boards in 2016 and 2017, Wellsmith worked with Cone Health, a leading not-for-profit network of health care providers in North Carolina. They deployed the digital care platform to Type 2 diabetics, capturing thousands of sensor data points per consumer. On average:

• Physical exercise increased 24 percent;
• Patients lost one pound of weight per week;
• Medication compliance was recorded at 74 percent -- in some cases, 99 percent – compared to some studies showing an average of under 40 percent long term use;
• Calculated A1C levels – used to diagnose Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and to gauge how well a patient is managing diabetes -- dropped by an average of 1 point.

Wellsmith and Cone Health began rolling out the platform to a larger population of consumers with Type 2 diabetes at the start of 2018. Within the first two months, more than 350 participants walked 57 million steps and lost 400 cumulative pounds as they followed personalized digital care plans and learned to make better decisions about diet and exercise. 

Based on industry research and reports, Wellsmith projects a savings in medical costs ranging from a few hundred dollars to as much as $8,000¹ per patient per year for each 1-point drop in A1C for Type 2 diabetics.

"Clinical teams and consumers can start to reverse the burden of lifestyle diseases when they make managing a chronic disease simple, memorable and actionable," said Jeanne Teshler, CEO of Wellsmith. "According to the Centers for Disease Control, 86 percent of the nation's $2.7 trillion annual health care expenditures are for people with chronic and mental health conditions. The Wellsmith platform connects clinical teams with consumers as they make daily diet, exercise and other health management choices. This builds strong bonds with practitioners, drives informed care and healthier consumers – while also driving down healthcare costs."

"We believe that the future will be carried by those who can invest in and create models of care like Wellsmith, where we partner with consumers to actually help them maintain their health and wellness and try to keep them out of the hospital and from needing the more acute forms of care," said Terry Akin, CEO, Cone Health.

"The combination of the digital care plan running on a participant's smartphone and the Care Team portal allows our physicians and care team to see what really works outside the walls of the health system. This is data we have never had before," said John Jenkins, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Connected Care at Cone Health.

How Wellsmith's Digital Care Plan Works
Wellsmith is prescribed to patients with chronic diseases and includes a digital care plan with personalized metrics for weight loss, glucose monitoring, medication adherence and exercise. Patients receive a Wellsmith kit that includes Bluetooth-enabled digital devices, and a smartphone application that breaks a digital care plan into simple, memorable, actionable steps -- reminders to take medications on time, kudos for reaching an exercise goal, or how eating certain foods raises glucose levels. As consumers engage with the platform, they track their progress and learn to take better control of their health.

The Care Team Portal tracks and delivers heart rate, glucose, blood pressure, diet, exercise and other medical and lifestyle data to doctors and clinical teams, giving them a comprehensive view of consumers "in the wild" – beyond the clinic. The care team monitors patients and groups to quickly triage if they require a doctor's appointment and to provide guidance, information, and suggestions to help change behavior and encourage healthier habits.

About Cone Health
Cone Health is an integrated not-for-profit network of health care providers in North Carolina that is committed to excellence, a mission shared its employees, physicians and volunteers.

About Wellsmith
Wellsmith's mission is to reduce the burden of lifestyle diseases through population risk management by innovating where healthcare, community, and technology converge.

Wellsmith media kit and screenshots available at: https://wellsmith.com/media-kit/

¹ https://hbr.org/2017/10/how-geisinger-treats-diabetes-by-giving-away-free-healthy-food

SOURCE Wellsmith