Chronic conditions on the rise, according to United Health Foundation. The non-profit philanthropic arm of UnitedHealth Group released its annual America’s Health Rankings 2023 report. The report considers 87 measures from 28 distinct data sources for 2022. Topline results in their summary are concerning.
- Eight chronic conditions reached their highest level in AHR’s tracking history: arthritis, depression, diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
- 29.3 million adults, or 11.2% of the population, reported having three or more chronic conditions.
- During 2021 and 2022, depression rates grew to 21.7% or 54.2 million people. Diabetes incidence rose to 11.5% or 31.9 million adults.
- Disparities are pronounced between demographic groups. From the overview:
- Hispanic adults were 2.1 times and black adults were 1.8 times more likely, respectively, to have uncontrolled A1C compared to multiracial adults.
- In 2013-2016, asthma-related emergency room visits were 2.5 times higher among black compared with white adults with asthma.
- White adults with hypertension were 1.5 times more likely to have their blood pressure “controlled” compared to black adults with hypertension.
- Premature death increased 9% between 2020 and 2021: drug deaths increased 15%, firearm deaths 7%, and homicide increased 33%.
The report also ranked the healthiest states as New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and Minnesota. Bottom-ranked: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Alabama. The annual report includes sub-reports focusing on the health of women and children, mental and behavioral health, seniors, and Covid-19. FierceHealthcare
Twin Health’s AI approach to Type 2 diabetes as a metabolic disease gains a $50 million Series D. This late-year raise in a difficult funding market was led by Temasek with participation from existing investors ICONIQ Growth, Sofina, Peak XV, and Helena, adding to their October 2021 $140 million Series C. Twin Health’s main platform is the Whole Body Digital Twin which models an individual’s metabolism from data points collected daily via wearable sensors, clinical lab parameters, and self-reported preferences. The concept of a ‘digital twin’ to guide both the patient and the care team is a relatively new one, created on an app available to both the patient and their Twin Health licensed clinical care team. Their method is to provide individualized guidance on nutrition, sleep, stress, and activities to heal the metabolism and root causes of diabetes, intending to reverse Type 2 diabetes metrics and medication use within six months. Financially, they also have an attractive model–full risk with employers and health plans, being paid when their employees and members get results. According to their founder and CEO Jahangir Mohammed to Axios, “Twin is currently conducting two randomized controlled trials — one in India and one in the U.S. — analyzing whether people using its approach can successfully enter diabetes remission or “reversal.” Mobihealthnews, Twin Health release
Addressing both mental and women’s health is an interesting partnership between Talkspace and Evernow. Evernow, which focuses on telemedicine treatment for women 40+ during perimenopause and menopause, is partnering with Talkspace to address mental health issues that are prevalent at that time. Evernorth’s survey using their records of over 100,000 patients found that 61.4% of women surveyed reported feeling symptoms of anxiety and/or depression.
- Evernow members in multi-month plans will gain free access to Talkspace’s mental health resources in their self-guided program that has 400 self-guided therapy sessions plus on-demand workshops and classes. Virtual therapy offered by Talkspace has a $100 discount.
- Talkspace members also have discounted access to Evernow programs, with a three-month plan for $129 or a 12-month plan for $348.
- They are also bundling their programs together for enterprises and employers.
Evernow is also moving into AI capabilities through the Early Access Partnership with Hippocratic AI, a generative AI company developing safety-focused large language models for healthcare. Talkspace recently won a $26 million three-year contract with New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for NYC Teenspace, a free therapy program for those aged 13 to 17. Release, Mobihealthnews, MedCityNews
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