Virtual care company Omada Health is expanding its cardiometabolic care management platform with supports for individuals with high cholesterol.
The company said Thursday that while as many as 70% of adults with obesity also have elevated cholesterol levels, many of these individuals never reach healthy levels for their cholesterol, highlighting a key gap for many patients who are managing cardiometabolic conditions.
Omada for Cholesterol will bring its artificial-intelligence-powered and human-led coaching approach to cholesterol management and embed it within the broader platform for managing weight, blood pressure and diabetes.
Members can connect with a multidisciplinary care team that includes coaches as well as cardiometabolic experts that manage a spectrum of needs including nutrition, behavior change and medication adherence.
Thomas Tsang, M.D., chief medical officer at Omada, told Fierce Healthcare that cholesterol management often falls by the wayside amid a focus on A1C and other measures, despite the potential risks in high levels.
He said there are also growing public conversations around statins, commonly prescribed to lower cholesterol levels, and their effects that may steer patients away from seeking care to manage their cholesterol.
The company said in the release that standard care for high cholesterol is largely based around periodic labs and visits, so Omada’s platform is designed to fill in the gaps to ensure the patient has more day-to-day support.
“We believe we have to really pursue a narrative and get America to pay attention to this problem, which is so, so preventable with starting with lifestyle modification and paying attention to what you eat,” Tsang said.
In addition to offering nutrition and fitness coaching as well as care for comorbid conditions, the Omada team will support patients who are on statins to ensure they’re adherent to their care plan and understand the effects of the medication.
Tsang said untreated high cholesterol is similar to a “tiny little spark in the woods” for a patient’s health on its own, but, in tandem with other risks, can pose a major challenge to cardiometabolic care.
The Omada team’s goal with the platform, he said, is to have patients on the path to lower their cholesterol levels before an adverse event occurs.
“The more of these little sparks that you have—the more exposure you have—the more chances you’re going to have this huge forest fire,” he said.
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