5 Key Themes and Takeaways from Spring Conference Season

As spring continues to unfold, so does the opportunity to network, learn from, and collaborate within the health and wellness industry. Over the past few months, I’ve traveled the country, immersing myself in insightful discussions with employer and healthcare leaders.

Although my schedule remains packed with upcoming events throughout May and June, there are a number of key themes and insights I've gathered thus far. From innovative approaches to member engagement to the quest of meaningful outcome measurements, and perspectives and opinions on GLP-1s (let’s be honest, everyone has one!), the discussions have been enlightening. With each encounter, I feel more confident that we need a path to support both better care and better health…and that the best path there is value-based.

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GLP-1s are hot, hot, hot.

It’s impossible to read the news - or attend an industry event - these days without discussing GLP-1s and their efficacy, growing indication areas, cost, appropriate use, and adherence. GLP-1s are more than just a passing trend; they've become the centerpiece of formal and informal conversations. From their effectiveness and expanding areas of application to considerations of cost, proper utilization, and patient adherence, the discourse surrounding GLP-1s are everywhere.

Ilant’s Take: GLP-1s have established their presence in the healthcare landscape, and the buzz surrounding them isn't going away anytime soon. Despite Victoza's patent expiration, significant decreases are unlikely in the near future. In fact, $38B+ was spent in the U.S. on semiglutides in 2023, with Tirzepatide expenditure reaching $13.2B. GLP-1s will remain a main focal point for the rest of 2024 and beyond.

While we know the importance of this medication, we prescribe GLP-1s for some. We do not prescribe GLP-1s for all. Instead, we leverage our proprietary analytics to identify and match members with tailored treatments:

• Integrative behavioral therapy
• Medication
• Bariatric surgery

These treatments range in terms of effectiveness from 2-5% weight loss for intensive behavioral therapy to 35% weight loss for bariatric surgery as well as having a range of impacts on obesity comorbidities like diabetes and musculoskeletal issues.

By matching the right member to the right care with the right support, we aim to de-average obesity and cardiometabolic care. This requires matching the level of treatment to the level of obesity-related clinical acuity, and must include more than BMI. Through this extremely personalized approach, we aim to deliver optimal results for the members, employers, and health plans we serve.

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There is a growing focus on obesity and its cause.

Right alongside the increased focus on GLP-1s is a movement to really understand the obesity epidemic, with many interested less in the growth and impact of obesity than in its “root cause.”

Ilant’s Take: Obesity has emerged as a leading public health challenge and a significant driver of medical impact. Affecting more than 40% of the US adult population, and expected to grow to 50%, looking for one root cause seems highly improbable. Obesity and its drivers for a given individual are complex. We need to think in multi-modal systems that adapt to individual needs.

This is why it’s important that we de-average care. For example, someone who has Class 1 obesity and no comorbidities needs different care than someone at Class 3 with multiple obesity-related conditions.

An individual with recent onset may be successful with different interventions than someone who has had obesity for 20 years.

Someone living in a food desert may need different support than someone in an urban setting.  

An individual who must travel for work may need to have a different model of care than someone in an office setting.

Only when we focus on individualizing care, matching the treatment and intervention to the member, not the member to the treatment or single “root cause,” will we start treating obesity like a disease.

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Is anyone successfully engaging members?

Engaging members, whether you are an employer, health plan, or vendor, is hard. Even the greatest ideas and solutions can’t reach their true potential if you can’t drive adoption and adherence, both initially and ongoing.

Ilant’s Take: Engagement and adherence is ultimately about trust - building it and sustaining it. That’s why, regardless of the treatment, each member is surrounded with the support they need to be successful. This includes technology and tools rooted in behavioral science plus a dedicated care team that includes:

• Obesity medicine physicians
• Mental health professionals
• Dietitians
• Peer navigators with lived obesity experience
• Registered nurses

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Point Solutions: Can’t live with them or can’t live without them?

No one enjoys juggling multiple point solutions, but the reality is that everyone wants best-in-class solutions that drive engagement, quality, and optimal outcomes. This requires a multifaceted approach, especially when it comes to specialty care.

Ilant’s Take: As we continue to navigate the landscape of healthcare solutions, it's evident that point solutions are here to stay for the foreseeable future. It’s hard, maybe impossible, for any vendor to do everything well. That’s why it’s crucial to recognize the importance of specialization and understanding in driving both appropriate, high-quality care, and member trust and engagement.

Looking at it from an obesity perspective, while an increasing number of vendors are prescribing GLP-1s, there's often a tendency towards a one-size-fits-all approach rather than tailoring treatments to individual members.

The effectiveness of these solutions hinges on the need to seamlessly integrate into the healthcare ecosystem and work with payers, existing providers, PBMs, and other vendors. We understand the importance of coordinating with the existing care team. Our team and technology are dedicated to integration, ensuring sharing and care coordination happens externally by:

• Identifying the existing care team
• Proactively flagging coordination needs
• Default sharing of medical records
• Regular review of Rx and medical record
• Coordinated documentation sharing
• Provider-to-provider consults (as needed)

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Measure, measure, measure.

If there is one topic that was as popular as GLP-1s, it was that of measurement. Whether that’s understanding cost drivers or being able to run analysis on specific interventions, vendors must be able to measure, and more importantly, measure what matters. Many vendors are still in the early stages of these capabilities.

Ilant’s Take: We love data! This may be the reason we are the only evidence-based, value-based obesity management and cardiometabolic health vendor. We understand that real progress stems from measured outcomes, both in financial terms and clinical results.

Our reporting approach centers on providing transparency and insights across areas of impact including engagement, experience, clinical outcomes, and total cost of care.

Metrics around engagement and experience include an understanding of who we are serving.

Equity of access is important, ensuring that our services are reflective of the diverse populations we serve. By tracking engagement trends and satisfaction levels, we ensure our approach remains inclusive and effective.

Access to claims data enables us to dive into the financial impact of our interventions. We dissect the total cost of care, identifying sources of expenditure and areas for savings like inpatient, outpatient, ED, and medication. This helps us target populations where there are significant predictable savings.

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