Fitbit and Solera Health, an integrated benefit network, announced they have expanded their partnership to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by using the Fitbit platform through Solera Health’s model to encourage positive behavior changes, such as increased physical activity and weight loss.
Based on an analysis of more than 1,700 people who enrolled in the National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) through the Solera network, Solera found that participants who redeemed a Fitbit device were more active and lost more weight during the program than those who did not. Now, the companies are making the latest Fitbit devices, Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR, available to all Solera DPP participants, including Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Type 2 diabetes affects more than 30 million American adults and costs the U.S. approximately $327 billion annually in direct medical expenses and lost productivity. Yet, the onset of disease can be delayed – or even prevented – among the 84 million U.S. adults at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Research has shown that people with prediabetes who lost 5 percent of their body weight through healthier eating and 150 minutes of activity per week cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes in half. This intervention strategy is the foundation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National DPP, which is now a covered preventive service for all Medicare beneficiaries.
Solera brings a proven business model to the partnership with Fitbit that solves for scale and personalization. Solera contracts with health plans and employers to match individuals with the best-fit digital or community-based DPP that meets each person’s unique needs and preferences. To date, Solera has enrolled over 100,000 people in the National DPP through its network model.
“At Fitbit, we have spent the last 12 years empowering people to live healthier lives, and we believe that a proactive approach is essential to the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes,” said Adam Pellegrini, general manager, Fitbit Health Solutions. “We are focused on addressing some of the most common and costly conditions in healthcare – and diabetes is a top priority. Through our work with Solera over the past two years, we have shown that Solera’s model, based on proven health outcomes, coupled with our innovative devices, motivating platform and proven behavior change principles, is an effective combination for preventing type 2 diabetes.”
Beginning in 2017, Solera began offering Fitbit devices to individuals who used Solera to enroll in community-based or digital DPPs.
