Vida Health revamps platform, offers targeted programs for diabetes, behavioral health

By Dave Muoio
04:06 pm
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Today at HLTH: The Future of Healthcare Conference, San Francisco-based Vida Health announced an update to its digital health coaching platform for enterprises that is specifically designed to target comorbidities, as well as the launch of two separate offerings with a specific focus on diabetes and behavioral health treatment.

The first of these announcements is an attempt by the company to offer holistic health coaching that responds to the impact co-present conditions can have on an individual’s health, according to a statement. Meanwhile, the more vertical releases are intended to give enterprise customers the flexibility to purchase employee health support more suited to specific needs.

“Comorbidities are one of the most pernicious and costly problems in our healthcare system. Vida is the only health and wellness platform to deliver results across chronic and behavioral conditions,” Stephanie Tilenius, CEO of Vida Health, said in a statement. “There’s a lot of movement in the digital therapeutics space, but very few options for individuals who have multiple chronic conditions. We’re able to drive health outcomes across a broad range of conditions because our entire platform is built on sophisticated behavioral science models and we combine evidence-based programs with real human coaching and therapy.”

Vida offers health and wellness coaching to both the direct-to-consumer and enterprise markets. Its digital offerings — which include programs for chronic conditions including anxiety, depression, diabetes, prediabetes, and obesity — are delivered through an app by human coaches.

Accompanying an updated version of Vida’s horizontal platform, the company’s first two vertical offerings are called Vida for Behavioral Health and Vida for Diabetes.

The first targeted program consists of a dual approach to behavioral health. A cognitive behavioral therapy is available for individuals experiencing anxiety and depression that include weekly sessions with state-licensed therapists. Users experiencing excess stress can access a mindfulness-based stress management program that includes one-on-one support from mindfulness coaches. Users of both these services can track their progress through the Vida app, which integrates with more than 100 other devices and apps.

Vida for Diabetes also consists of two components: a CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program focused on guiding users toward healthy lifestyle changes, and a diabetes management program designed with guidance from the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Along with one-on-one support and app-driven progress tracking, users of the diabetes vertical can also receive a bundled scale, glucose monitor, and activity monitor.

Each of Vida’s offerings also comes bundled with other connected devices, biometrics integration, insights and analytics, interactive lessons, and progress tracking.

“Meeting the varied health and wellness needs of any large, complex workforce requires a nimble, sophisticated solution. Our employees are loving Vida because it’s versatile — chronic physical and mental conditions are addressed with the same level of robustness,” Laura Davis, senior director of benefit programs at FICO, a long-time Vida customer, said in a statement from the digital coaching company. “We want our employees to be happier and healthier, and we believe Vida can help.”

In a separate statement, Vida stressed that the decision to release vertical offerings is not a hedge against its established horizontal care model. Rather, these new products were created to match the narrow focus of employers and payers shopping for employee health interventions.

“There are plenty of other companies who are caring for conditions, but we choose to care for people in their entirety,” the company said in the statement. “However, we believe that framing our solutions as verticals is helpful to those seeking answers. Ultimately, we built out condition-focused solutions because we found this is how large employers and payers think about finding effective solutions for their employees. With these new vertical solutions, we’re simply increasing the degree of customization and speaking our users’ language when we offer them the best platform for comprehensive care.

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