From Pipe Dream to Mainstream: how innovation happens in healthcare

Innovation in healthcare can feel like a slow process, especially for those of us agitating for change on the front lines. Many of the largest advancements have taken longer than they should have, even with years or decades of evidence pointing in one direction (see: smoking cessation, hand washing, and anesthesia as a few examples). In the case of smoking, it took years and years to convince the general public, and even many doctors, that no level of tobacco was safe—not even using pipes instead of cigarettes.

What is consistent about healthcare innovation is that while the arc is long, it bends towards science, data, and outcomes. Since joining Virta earlier this fall, I’m seeing that same trend happening toward type 2 diabetes reversal, and the signs are showing in our momentum and incredible growth. 

When our founders launched the company in 2015, with a goal of reversing type 2 diabetes in 100M people by 2025, the condition was still seen as a one-way street. It was a disease that followed a natural progression, always forward, where the last major innovation was the invention of insulin a century ago. The founding concept of Virta—that type 2 diabetes can be reversed—seemed like little more than a pipe dream. 

But since then, we’ve proven that diabetes can be reversed—at scale—through our clinical trial and results within our commercial population. Major players in the industry agree, including the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Late this summer, the ADA and an international panel of experts even  issued a consensus paper reinforcing that reversing a type 2 diabetes diagnosis (or “remission,” in their terminology) was possible.

Many of the first groups to join us were forward-looking employers, like Comcast, who were looking for a solution to the expensive and devastating issue of type 2 diabetes among their employee base. Diabetes is typically a top 3 condition for overall medical spend. Total health insurance premiums have grown 47% over the past decade and are projected to increase 6.5% again in 2022. Virta has demonstrated we can save $10K per patient over their first two years in our program. 

For these employers, the financial case—driving retention, improving employee morale, and reducing healthcare costs—is a strong reason to partner with Virta. But when you talk to the HR and benefit leaders at these companies, it’s the impact on their employees’ lives that’s most important. 

As Rita King, our partner at BBVA, said: “When you have employees who are feeling good in their bodies and lowering their blood sugar, feeling better, being active, and enjoying their kids, that’s really where it’s at.” Our friend Troy Remy, VP of HR at Canal Barge (one of the largest lube oil transportation companies in the world), said, "If you're looking to address employee productivity and secondarily cost, having employees engage with Virta has demonstrated to me that we're putting people first by addressing their health… this is truly putting employees first.”

More recently, we have expanded to work directly with health insurance companies to provide Virta for their members. In the past month alone, we announced partnerships with several of the country’s largest insurers—including Humana, Providence Health Plan, and others—who now offer our diabetes reversal treatment to their self-funded employer groups. Through only our more recent insurer partnerships, Virta is now available to thousands of additional employers, representing more than 5M employees across the country. Huge kudos to Steve Hastings, who has led these partnership efforts over the past several years.

And here’s why this news really matters. The number of people struggling with type 2 diabetes, and the corresponding health outcomes, have been getting worse over the past few decades. We have 34M people with diabetes in the US and 88M (and growing) with pre-diabetes. I’ve seen the devastation of this epidemic on a personal level, watching my own dad lose his life to complications from the disease. 

By bringing Virta to more employers & health plans, and giving access to diabetes reversal to more patients, we can finally make a dent in this health crisis. We can get more stories like Kathy’s*, a woman who teared up sharing her story at a recent company all-hands, talking about the joy she feels over finally stopping her daily insulin injections. More successes like those from Amanda, who has lost over 100 pounds, Art, who is saving $550 a month by getting off insulin, and countless others. 

One industry analyst recounted to me earlier this week, “There’s a lot of marketing in health tech these days. But when we talk internally at our company about what we’d want for our parents, Virta is the thing.” We’re not quite mainstream yet, but like all healthcare innovations with compelling outcomes, we will be. If you want to be a part of that journey for your employees, members, or patients, please reach out. We’d love to share how we can help you to reach your goals.  

*Name has been changed to protect privacy