HealthTap is now an independent care provider on LillyDirect, Eli Lilly’s digital health platform, the company announced on Wednesday. The company will offer primary care-focused diabetes treatment, and is the first primary care telehealth company available on LillyDirect.
LillyDirect is a digital healthcare solution supporting patients living with obesity, migraine and diabetes. It helps people find providers and offers access to LillyDirect Pharmacy Solutions, a digital pharmacy for some Lilly medicines, such as GLP-1 Zepbound or insulin treatment Basaglar.
Now with HealthTap, patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can access a primary care clinician virtually through the LillyDirect platform. This physician provides ongoing care that addresses multiple comorbidities and preventive needs. Clinicians can also provide medication management support and lab review. In addition, patients can message their physician in between visits.
While patients can access HealthTap through the LillyDirect platform, HealthTap providers aren’t informed whether the patient came via LillyDirect or directly through HealthTap. The primary care provider then bills patients or their insurers for care. The company accepts commercial insurance, Medicare Advantage plans and some Medicaid programs.
The partnership “signals a shift in how pharmaceutical companies and primary care can work together responsibly to improve chronic-condition management,” said Sean Mehra, CEO and co-founder of HealthTap.
“In the recent past, many pharmaceutical-affiliated consumer platforms have routed patients to narrowly tailored, single-condition providers,” he said in an email. “By contrast, Lilly’s inclusion of HealthTap — a relationship-based, longitudinal primary care practice — recognizes that true diabetes care requires holistic, continuous physician engagement for the whole patient, including other comorbidities, risk factors, and social determinants.”
There is no financial exchange between LillyDirect and HealthTap in this partnership, he added. Instead, it is designed to make it easier for those visiting LillyDirect to access a primary care physician if they need. About 83 million Americans live in areas without adequate access to a primary care clinician. In addition, more than 38 million Americans battle diabetes.
“Our shared goal is to make comprehensive, continuous primary care accessible to more people living with diabetes (and other conditions and prevention goals) — especially those who might otherwise rely on fragmented or transactional care models,” Mehra said. “For Lilly, that means ensuring patients accessing their medicines can easily find physicians who support safe, ongoing care. For HealthTap, it advances our mission to place a primary care doctor at every American’s fingertips, empowering millions to build enduring doctor-patient relationships that improve outcomes and lower long-term costs.”
Other companies that provide virtual primary care include Teladoc, MD Live and Carbon Health.
Photo: metamorworks, Getty Images
