Omada Health has added new software to its healthcare platform for employees who struggle with depression and anxiety.
The digital healthcare company said Tuesday it is incorporating software from Lantern, a mental healthcare startup that is focused on cognitive behavioral therapy, a therapeutic technique that helps people better understand how their thoughts and feelings guide behaviors. Lantern’s tool is integrated with Omada’s platform and will be available for employees with depression, anxiety and obesity-related chronic diseases.
Roughly 200,000 employees overall use the Omada Health platform. Hundreds of employers, including Costco and 3M, offer their employees Omada’s platform as a benefit.
Dr. Carolyn Bradner Jasik, vice president of medical affairs at Omada Health, says that one of the benefits of using a technology, like Lantern, in coordination with a chronic disease care plan is that patients are able to look at how their mental disorders may be related to their other health issues.
“Traditional mental healthcare and medical care exists in silos,” she says. “They’ll talk to you about your diabetes or hypertension, but if you have depression or anxiety, that’s a referral out to another provider. It’s not really integrated.”
Overweight and obese individuals may be more prone to chronic disease including hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, according to the
Workers with mental health issues also may struggle in the office. Bradner Jasik says that mental disorders can lead to absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace, which can be expensive for employers.
“The cost is both in terms of being present for work and performing at your job,” she says. Productivity loss at work costs employers $22.8 billion per year, according to the
To combat this, some employers are investing in technologies that aim to help employees better handle stress. For example, employees at aircraft developer Boeing, insurance company Lincoln Financial Group and the state of Colorado are all using the
Research on Lantern’s programs found it was effective in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety and disordered eating, Omada says in a statement. The startup’s behavioral therapy programs were developed with experts from Stanford University, Penn State University and Washington University in St. Louis.
Along with the program integration, Omada says it also will hire additional coaches trained in cognitive behavioral therapy. Employees will be assigned a single coach who they will remain with throughout the duration of their time on Omada’s platform. The company says that while the coaches are trained to assist employees with these issues, they should not be considered a replacement for a licensed therapist.
