Carrum Health, which provides value-based specialty care to employers, has partnered with Virta Health on weight management.
Virta offers virtual counseling, nutritional guidance, and medication management using GLP-1. Employers can customize Virta’s services based on their benefits. Meanwhile, Kalam has already undergone bariatric surgery to manage his weight.
You can now browse and adjust members between the two as needed.
“The goal was to ensure we took care of our members throughout their weight loss management protocol,” Matt Urey, Column’s chief commercial officer, told Fierce Healthcare in an exclusive upfront interview. “There is currently a lot of interest in the clinical efficacy of GLP-1 and the need to address this entire continuum of care, so we saw an opportunity to partner with Virta to do even more.”
Not everyone who needs to lose weight needs bariatric surgery. The same applies to GLP-1. Some patients may need to lose weight in preparation for musculoskeletal surgery, such as knee or hip replacement. Now, employees can participate in Virta’s nutritional counseling program to lower their BMI and qualify for surgery through Carrum’s surgical network. Conversely, Carrum members who are not eligible for bariatric surgery may be referred to Virta for weight loss support.
More than 4 in 10 American adults are obese. One study found that the economic burden of employees with obesity and other weight concerns will total $425.5 billion in 2023 due to excessive medical costs and reduced workplace productivity. The partnership will enable organizations to cover GLP-1 in a results-driven and cost-conscious manner, executives said.
Urey said Carrum’s network includes the top 10% of surgeons in the United States, who receive lump sum payments to control costs and maintain good outcomes. That, and Virta’s thoughtful approach to pharmaceuticals, “delivers best-in-class pricing and provides an opportunity to bend the cost curve.”
Partners coordinate care. Carrum uses various data flows to exchange data with healthcare providers and close the healthcare loop. For example, determining whether someone is a candidate for surgery and what their GLP-1 results were. Anyone who undergoes surgery with Carrum will also be provided with a Care Navigator to facilitate collection of medical records, appropriate handoffs, and other support. “We don’t leave anything to chance,” Urey said.
“Our model starts with individualized nutritional therapy and thoughtfully uses GLP-1 and other evidence-based treatments only when clinically appropriate,” Laura Walmsley, Virta’s chief commercial officer, said in the announcement. “By partnering with Calum, we will be able to offer a full range of metabolic care to our members.”
Virta’s goal is to reverse metabolic disease by addressing the root cause of metabolic disease: metabolic dysfunction. The company’s virtual clinics deliver care from healthcare providers powered by advanced AI to personalize the experience. This includes personalized nutrition that is informed by each member’s unique biomarkers, food records, and insights into how they are feeling physically and emotionally. Virta’s AI-powered assistant, Viv, supports members 24 hours a day by encouraging healthier choices, raising awareness, and prompting live coaches and clinician intervention when needed.
The company says employers can save an average of up to $12,000 per member in the first two years of engaging with Virta.
