Omada Health gained full recognition status by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adam Brickman, the virtual diabetes prevention program provider’s senior director for communication and public policy, offered a glimpse of what it took for the company to gain that new status at a time when the company continues to work towards gaining virtual DPP adoption by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
It also comes as Omada and other health tech companies work to expand adoption and development of digital therapeutics. Propeller Health announced plans to expand its product portfolio beyond the COPD and asthma inhalers it converts to connected devices through a strategic partnership with Aptar Pharma that will see them develop devices that expand digital drug delivery to other devices.
Market Trends to Watch for Health Systems and Their Specialty Pharmacies
The future looks bright for the integrated specialty pharmacy model – for health systems, providers, and most importantly, for patients.
Brickman said Omada’s milestone of gaining full recognition status from the CDC comes after the company achieved preliminary recognition earlier this year and pending recognition in 2015.
In order to get the CDC team to better understand how virtual programs could deliver the diabetes prevention program, the company had to educate policymakers on how Omada’s program is delivered, how it addresses privacy and security, and explain where digital delivery could enhance the curriculum and help scale the program. In turn, the CDC team is working to build standards that could include virtual and in-person delivery of the DPP, Brickman noted in an email.
That led to the milestone of virtual providers of the DPP being eligible for the different levels of CDC recognition in 2015.
Brickman listed some of the challenges the company had to meet to secure the new status including meeting CDC standards, highlighted in the chart below.
Health Executives on Digital Transformation in Healthcare
Hear executives from Quantum Health, Surescripts, EY, Clinical Architecture and Personify Health share their views on digital transformation in healthcare.
A breakdown of CDC standards for in-person and virtual DPPs, highlighted by Omada Health
“Today’s announcement is so gratifying because it means we’ve both been successful in working with policymakers to incorporate innovation into their regulatory frameworks, and kept a high level of quality in our program,” Brickman said.
So what does that mean for Omada’s Medicare reimbursement aspirations? Brickman said it provides objective evidence from another HHS-related agency that virtual DPP offerings like Omada’s can deliver on improving outcomes and still conform to the standards set for DPP.
“We continue to work with lawmakers and policymakers to argue for the inclusion of virtual DPP in Medicare, especially as CMS has been slow to enroll the number of suppliers necessary to meet the demand of eligible Medicare beneficiaries.”
Photo: Getty Images