Ayble Health, a virtual GI clinic, has teamed up with Priority Health, a nonprofit health plan in Michigan, to offer commercial members access to the digestive health solution.
Ayble relies on a multidisciplinary care team, AI-powered nutrition and psychology programs and wellness tools to manage symptoms. Starting June 1, Ayble will be available as a standard benefit for Priority members who have a MyPriority HMO or employer health plan. More than 500,000 adult members will have access.
“When it comes to sourcing solutions like Ayble Health, Priority Health looks for approaches that can improve care quality, engage patients effectively and provide cost-efficient services,” Alicia Coronas, vice president of employer solutions product and marketing at Priority, told Fierce Healthcare. “We evaluate solutions to find the best in class partner that is aligned to our vision and mission.”
Up to a quarter of the commercially insured population has a digestive disease. Additionally, 4 in 10 Americans stop routine activities due to uncomfortable bowel symptoms, a 2022 survey found. Meanwhile, nearly three quarters of counties have no digestive health specialist.
“There’s a real access problem in the U.S. for digestive health specialists,” Sam Jactel, founder and CEO of Ayble Health, told Fierce Healthcare. This lack of access leads to under- or untreated patients becoming high utilizers of the ED.
“Digestive health is crucial for Priority Health members because it significantly affects overall health and quality of life,” Coronas said. “We’re seeing the prevalence and cost for digestive health issues rise year over year and it is one of the most common reasons for ER visits for our members.”
Rising rates of ambulatory care and ED visits for digestive diseases are of increasing priority for payers and employers. Ayble can treat anyone, anywhere, regardless of whether they have a regular GI doctor. “Not only are we plugging in massive care gaps, but we are also meeting the needs of GI providers that are just frankly overwhelmed with patients,” Jactel said. Apart from the direct healthcare costs associated with undertreated digestive health patients, “the impact on productivity is massive.”
Many of these patients might miss more than a week of work a month due to their condition, according to Jactel: “It has a meaningful top line and bottom line impact for an employer.”
Digestive health conditions have extra implications for patients with comorbidities. Patients who are obese are at greater risk of digestive illness, as well as those with autoimmune conditions and women. “That’s another reason why GI is so expensive. It overlaps with a lot of things,” Jactel said. “Being able to look at the whole patient and focusing really on the root- cause medicine for them is really important.”
Priority Health calls itself the second-largest health plan in Michigan and the third-largest provider-sponsored health plan in the U.S. It serves more than 1.3 million members across Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
“At Priority Health, we focus on the whole person, and the Ayble solution addresses both the physical and mental health symptoms associated with GI conditions,” Coronas said.
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