HealthTap joins Lilly’s online platform to offer diabetes management services

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By Sneha S K

(Reuters) -Telehealth company HealthTap said on Wednesday it is joining Eli Lilly’s digital healthcare platform, LillyDirect, to offer virtual diabetes management services.

Diabetic patients across the U.S. would have access to HealthTap’s primary care physicians through the platform.

The company said its clinicians support medication management, lab review and preventive care tailored to each patient’s condition, as the company’s model focuses on maintaining a long-term relationship with one doctor to provide holistic care.

WHY IT MATTERS

Telehealth firms, along with weight-loss drug makers Lilly and Novo Nordisk, pharmacies, and related entities, have launched several direct-to-consumer offerings to tap into the extraordinary demand for GLP-1 drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity.

CONTEXT

In April, another primary care provider, knownwell, said it will provide health and weight-management services through LillyDirect.

Lilly has also expanded its LillyDirect platform to include telehealth providers that diagnose and care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

KEY QUOTE

“As Lilly markets its website as a destination for consumers and grows their traffic base, we get to tap into it in a very relevant way, because essentially, they’re doing the marketing to attract consumers seeking primary care and we’re being presented as an option for them,” HealthTap co-founder and CEO Sean Mehra told Reuters.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)