Fit4D and Healthfirst Expand Collaboration
New York, NY (PRWEB) July 06, 2015 -- Fit4D© (http://www.fit4d.com) announced today that it is expanding its collaboration with Healthfirst to deliver its innovative diabetes platform to Healthfirst’s Spanish and English speaking members with poorly controlled diabetes. Fit4D optimizes the mix between technology and diabetes-expert clinicians, also known as Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs), to improve health measures in an affordable manner. The platform works with intelligent-scripting algorithms that enable diabetes expert clinicians to more than triple their capacity to deliver personalized care.
This landmark initiative is a critical part of addressing the impact of diabetes within New York City where an estimated 2 million people, or 12.3% of the population now have diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, 31% of African Americans and almost 28% of Spanish-speaking New Yorkers have diabetes.¹
Healthfirst and Fit4D launched an evidence-based pilot earlier this year, made possible through an innovation award from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). The pilot focused on reducing the HbA1c values of members at highest risk while increasing member engagement with their personal CDE. Lower A1c levels have been shown to reduce diabetes complication rates (cardiovascular, blindness, neuropathy, etc.) and medical costs. According to Milliman, reducing a Medicare member’s HbA1c by 1 point will result in an annual savings of $1,192.²
Managing diabetes is complicated. Effective diabetes management involves motivating patients to take their prescribed medications, integrating a healthy lifestyle (nutrition, exercise, weight management etc.), coping with the ongoing emotional stresses of the disease, and using measurement tools such as blood glucose meters and lab tests. Achieving positive health outcomes is made more challenging as every patient starts in a different place, continues on their own different journey, responds differently to messaging and has different hurdles. The challenge of providing effective and on-going support is compounded for most healthcare professionals who have limited time during appointments.
Fit4D uses technology and intelligent scripting algorithms to enable Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) to deliver personalized care with increased member volumes. By empowering every CDE with a data-driven approach to improving health measures, Fit4D increases each CDE’s patient capacity by over 3x (from 120 to 400!)
The Fit4D platform provides electronic interactions in patient-preferred modalities (e.g. phone, email, text, web, etc.) that address patient-specific issues (e.g. one patient overwhelmed, other is scared of needles, etc.), in the patient’s preferred format (e.g. articles, videos, webinars, etc.).
Fit4D uses claim and pharmacy data, including HbA1c, to guide members along their individual pathway and escalate issues to their Fit4D clinicians. Health metrics are continually captured to populate visually rich dashboards and provide data for performance measures.
“Healthfirst is dedicated to providing its members with the effective tools and support that they need in order to cope with the daily challenges of living life with diabetes,” said Dr. Susan Beane, Healthfirst VP and Medical Director. “Our collaboration with Fit4D enables us to deliver an innovative and scalable program to help our members with diabetes and provide value-based services to our providers.”
“Poorly managed diabetes can also be a costly problem,” said David Weingard, Fit4D Chief Executive Officer. "We are excited to expand this program with Healthfirst, an organization that is committed to helping its members live healthy lives.”
1) Source: American Diabetes Association, http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/local-offices/new-york-new-york/
2) Source: Milliman, http://us.milliman.com/uploadedFiles/insight/health-published/cost-quality-gap-diabetes.pdf
About Fit4D
Fit4D delivers scalable and effective patient programs through an optimized mix of its technology platform and human-based touch points. The Fit4D clinical team, comprised of dietitians, exercise physiologists, nurses, and social workers, many of whom are also certified diabetes educators (CDEs), focuses on empowering people with diabetes to live rich, healthy and fulfilling lives. Improving the lives of people with diabetes worldwide is Fit4D’s mission and purpose for being.
Fit4D’s global 500 clients include pharmaceutical, payer and weight management companies. Fit4D has also engaged in numerous joint initiatives with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, American Diabetes Association, and Diabetes Research Institute.
For more information on Fit4D, please find us on-line at http://www.fit4d.com or join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/fit4dcoaching or email Sherri Isaak at sisaak(at)fit4d(dot)com
About Healthfirst
Healthfirst is a not-for-profit health plan serving more than one million members in downstate New York. Created in 1993 by a consortium of the region’s health systems, Healthfirst’s operating model strives to achieve quality outcomes and member satisfaction through collaboration with its extensive provider network and community organizations.
Healthfirst offers a comprehensive selection of free and low-cost health insurance options for individuals and families at every stage of life, including government-sponsored health plans such as Child Health Plus, Medicaid Managed Care, Medicare Advantage, and Managed Long Term Care, as well as commercial plans such as Healthfirst Leaf Plans. We treat our members with the same care and attention we give our own families.
For more information on Healthfirst, visit http://www.healthfirst.org
Contact
Bill McCann
212-801-1657
WMcCann(at)healthfirst(dot)org
About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is the City’s primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each of the five boroughs. Pilot Health Tech NYC is a program designed to dramatically increase innovation and collaboration within New York City’s health technology sector. To learn more about NYCEDC projects and initiatives, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or visit our blog.
Sherri Isaak, Fit4D, http://www.fit4d.com, +1 (866) 411-0254 Ext: 708, [email protected]
Share this article