Viridian Health CEO Brenda Schmidt talks multi-modal disease management with DI

We caught up with Viridian Health CEO Brenda Schmidt after the American Diabetes Association meeting in Chicago where Viridian and Omada Health announced a partnership to launch “the first multimodal lifestyle offering to address the national diabetes epidemic.”

Viridian is scaling its national diabetes program through lifestyle coaches and technology, partnering with Omada Health to provide a social support structure in a virtual environment that mimics the National Diabetes Prevention Program. The power of the partnership lies in the ability to offer individuals choices about how they receive their services: through bricks and mortar sites, or virtually.

(Listen to our conversation after the jump.)

Schmidt sees a significant opportunity to have a positive impact on employees’ health. We discussed the recent beating that wellness programs have been taking (consider the RAND Health workplace wellness programs study final report issued recently, and some commentary on the report here and here), but she saw the bright side: 82% of employers have wellness programs, but they average only 20% participation rates. Based on CDC wellness program standards for assessment, planning and evaluation, only 7% of employers have comprehensive workplace health and wellness programs. Thus, there is room for improvement.

Brenda will be at Diabetes Innovation 2013, speaking on a panel focused on workplace wellness and disease management. She is looking to connect with potential collaborators, and influencers who can help spread the message throughout the health care system that the CDC has rolled out a National Diabetes Prevention Program which gives us the tools to improve the health status of the population.

Press the “play” button below to hear our entire conversation — it’s under ten minutes long, and we’re sure it will give you some food for thought.

Diabetes Innovation 2013