PROVIDENCE, R.I., Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virgin Pulse, the leading global provider of enterprise SaaS solutions that simplify health and wellbeing, continues to disrupt the market with its latest acquisition of Blue Mesa Health, Inc., a global digital therapeutics company known for its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recognized Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).
“As employers, employees and health plans embrace technology to help reduce and reverse chronic conditions, digital diabetes prevention programs represent one of the largest opportunities to positively impact health and reduce healthcare costs,” said David Osborne, CEO of Virgin Pulse. “By combining Blue Mesa’s clinically-proven Diabetes Prevention Program with Virgin Pulse’s high daily engagement rates, we can reach a greater share of the prediabetic population and sustain their engagement over meaningful periods of time.”
Blue Mesa’s DPP solution, Transform, has a proven track record of helping prediabetic employees and health plan members more effectively manage their health and achieve sustained lifestyle change. Based upon the CDC’s landmark National Diabetes Prevention Program curriculum, Transform combines software, home health monitoring and remote health coaching to guide participants through a twelve-month behavior change program. Transform has received full recognition by the CDC, signifying that the program effectively delivers a proven Type 2 diabetes prevention and lifestyle change program.
Announced today, the launch of Virgin Pulse Transform marks Virgin Pulse’s first digital therapeutic solution and will build upon Blue Mesa’s offering to address rising chronic disease-related health costs across Virgin Pulse’s existing base of over six million lives, as well as users within Blue Mesa’s existing customer base. Transform will be deeply integrated within Virgin Pulse’s existing platform and is initially available in five languages to support Virgin Pulse’s global customer base: English, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic.
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than one in three American adults is prediabetic, a condition that often leads to Type 2 diabetes within five years if left untreated. Further, $1 of every $7 of U.S. healthcare spend is attributable to diabetes-related treatment and complications, driven by the fact that on average, the healthcare costs of individuals with diabetes are 2.3x greater than those without the condition.1
“We are excited to join the leader in the employee health and wellbeing space and look forward to the massive distribution opportunities now available for Transform,” said Curtis Duggan, CEO of Blue Mesa Health. “Our outcomes speak for themselves and have earned us the highest form of recognition by the CDC. This is a significant, hard-earned achievement that very few DPP solutions can claim. We see substantial opportunity to expand Transform’s footprint globally and are eager to make the program available to the millions of consumers who use Virgin Pulse to manage their health and wellbeing today.”
The acquisition of Blue Mesa’s technology expands Virgin Pulse’s Homebase for HealthTM strategy and paves the way for Virgin Pulse to introduce future digital therapeutic solutions aimed at other common, high-cost chronic conditions and populations underserved by the healthcare system today.
Virgin Pulse Extends Homebase for Health with Digital Therapeutics
Fueled by growing global demand for preventive solutions that utilize technology to decrease the risks and costs related to chronic diseases, Virgin Pulse’s expansion into digital therapeutics, and specifically DPP, is the latest in a carefully orchestrated series of strategic initiatives the company has undertaken over the past seven months to actualize its Homebase for HealthTM vision.
Homebase for HealthTM is Virgin Pulse’s response to the growing frustration employers and health plans are experiencing as they seek to engage consumers in improving their health and wellbeing. Too many point solutions, multiple fragmented systems, disparate data, lack of integrated tools and services, low benefits awareness, engagement and utilization, lack of healthcare literacy, difficulty analyzing and using data effectively, poor user experience and limited resources and support are consistently cited by employers and health plans as barriers to consumer engagement.
Following on the heels of its new benefits navigation offering announced yesterday, Virgin Pulse’s launch of digital therapeutics and DPP solutions underscores the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering innovative solutions that help consumers more effectively navigate the wellbeing, health and healthcare continuum.
1 https://www.diabetes.org/resources/statistics/cost-diabetes; https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0718-diabetes-report.html
About Virgin Pulse
Founded in 2004, Virgin Pulse is the world’s largest, most comprehensive digital health and wellbeing SaaS company focused on driving real outcomes for employees, employers, health plans and their members. As the industry’s only digital health and wellbeing company to fuse high tech with high touch, Virgin Pulse engages users every day in building and sustaining healthy habits and lifestyles and managing chronic disease. The company’s health and wellbeing offerings include benefits navigation, claims analysis, digital and live coaching, condition management and diabetes prevention to support more than six million Virgin Pulse members around the world across the entire wellbeing, health and health care lifecycle — from prevention to intervention to reversal. To learn more, visit Virgin Pulse and follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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