Medicare Advantage insurer Essence Healthcare continues to strengthen its partnership with Oura, announcing a new clinical program aimed at identifying potential sleep apnea risks.
Essence is deploying a new clinical workflow that allows physicians to gain insight into patients’ nighttime breathing habits to identify patients at risk for obstructive sleep apnea. Insurers offer the ring as a covered benefit through some of their plans and are working with Oura’s team to identify more clinical applications for the data.
News of the expanded partnership was first shared with Fierce Healthcare.
Through this program, members’ sleep insights identified by Oura Ring are shared with Essence with patient consent. Insurers then use Lumeris’ Tom platform to contact at-risk individuals and guide them through STOP-BANG, an evidence-based screening for common sleep apnea syndromes.
The results of that test are shared with the member’s physician, who can determine the next best course of action, such as a sleep study or other treatment options.
Dr. Thalia Saccocio, chief medical officer at Essence Healthcare, told Fierce that sleep apnea affects 20% to 30% of adults over the age of 65, but 80% of cases are undiagnosed.
She said being able to provide specific data to providers is already resonating.
“We’re starting to get feedback that we’re connecting with patients in a way that allows them to communicate and start making changes,” Saccocio said.
Essence has seen significant adoption of Oura since making smart rings available on some plans. Jason Oberfest, Oura’s vice president of healthcare, told Fierce that about a third of Essence’s members choose to use the ring.
For members who are familiar with devices, sleep apnea monitoring is built to be simple and proactive within the tools they already use. This ring can monitor their breathing habits at night and flag Essence if it detects an unusual number of disturbances during the night.
Oberfest said overall sleep has a huge impact on health, and sleep apnea in particular puts stress on the cardiovascular system, which can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, arrhythmias and other adverse events. He said sleep apnea, which is also a common comorbidity with diabetes, can actually make it harder to manage blood sugar and insulin levels.
Additionally, he said, fragmented sleep can have a negative impact on memory and mental health.
“Many core patient issues are at stake here,” Oberfest said.
Saccocio said addressing conditions like sleep apnea is also a clear opportunity for patients, providers and payers to come together to tackle issues that truly improve the quality of life for our members.
“If we can demonstrate that to PCPs and members, it’s rare that this triangulation can come in such a positive way that drives behavior and improves health, and we’re seeing that happen,” she said. “We are literally witnessing it today.”
