HealthTap Joins LillyDirect to Expand Access to Primary Care-Focused Diabetes Treatment

HealthTap is now an independent care provider on LillyDirect, Eli Lilly’s digital health platform, the company announced 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 health solution that supports patients suffering from obesity, migraine and diabetes. It helps people find providers and provides access to LillyDirect Pharmacy Solutions, a digital pharmacy for select Lilly medications, such as GLP-1 Zepbound or insulin treatment Basaglar.

Now, with HealthTap, patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes can virtually access a primary care clinician through the LillyDirect platform. This physician provides ongoing care that addresses multiple comorbidities and preventative needs. Clinicians can also provide support with medication and laboratory management. Additionally, patients can message their doctor between visits.

Although patients can access HealthTap through the LillyDirect platform, HealthTap providers are not informed whether the patient came through LillyDirect or directly through HealthTap. The primary care provider then bills patients or their insurers for the 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 responsibly work together to improve chronic disease management,” said Sean Mehra, CEO and co-founder of HealthTap.

“In the recent past, many pharmaceutical industry-affiliated consumer platforms have routed patients to narrowly tailored providers specializing in a single condition,” he said in an email. “In contrast, Lilly’s inclusion of HealthTap – a longitudinal, relationship-based primary care practice – recognizes that true diabetes care requires holistic, ongoing physician engagement with 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 people visiting LillyDirect to access a primary care doctor if they need one. Approximately 83 million Americans live in areas without adequate access to a primary care clinician. Additionally, more than 38 million Americans struggle with diabetes.

“Our shared goal is to make comprehensive, seamless 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 models of care,” Mehra said. “For Lilly, this means ensuring that patients with access to their medications can easily find doctors who support safe, continuous care. For HealthTap, this advances our mission of putting a primary care physician within reach of every American, enabling millions of people to establish lasting doctor-patient relationships that improve outcomes and reduce costs over the long term.”

Other companies that provide virtual primary care include Teladoc, MD Live and Carbon Health.

Photo: metamorworks, Getty Images