Latest / Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast / Driving Behavior Change at Scale: A Conversation with Noom at the 2025 Becker’s Annual Meeting

Transcript

Driving Behavior Change at Scale: A Conversation with Noom at the 2025 Becker’s Annual Meeting · Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. This is Erica Spicer Mason with
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  Becker's Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning
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  into the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
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  So today we're going to talk about managing
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  GLP-one costs and patient outcomes.
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  And joining me for this conversation is Jennifer
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  Jones, the director of clinical solutions at Noom
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  Health. Jennifer, welcome. Thank you so much for
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  being with us on-site at the annual meeting
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  today. Absolutely. Happy to be here. So before
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  we get into our conversation, and I'm really
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  excited about this one. GLP ones are so
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  top of mind for many. Mhmm. But before
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  we do that, would you like to share
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  just a little bit more about yourself, your
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  background, your work in healthcare? Yeah, absolutely. So
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  I actually started as a registered dietitian.
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  When I graduated
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  and completed my internship, I actually worked in
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  a couple different healthcare settings and quickly realized
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  that was not the place for
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  me. While I loved patient care, I did
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  not love kind of I hate to call
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  it like the stiffness of clinical work, but
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  wanted to do just just more with that,
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  have a bigger impact truly. So I kind
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  of bounced around doing some different,
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  employer health and,
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  data analytics
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  before coming into Noom, which really has found,
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  I'd say, like the sweet spot for me,
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  weight management and overweight treatment has always been
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  a passion of mine.
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  So at Noom, it's been really helpful to
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  see kind of the the biology and the
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  medication and the the weight management components all
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  come together
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  as we think about helping people lose sustainable
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  weight and then overlaying that with medications,
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  when applicable as well. Yeah. Oh, well, it's
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  great to learn more about you, Jennifer. Thank
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  you for sharing that. And it sounds like
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  at Noom, to your point, you're really at
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  the intersection of so many issues that are
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  happening in health care right now when it
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  comes to weight management,
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  the costs associated with it, and health outcomes.
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  So
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  excited to get into that. And I wanted
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  to also just start broadly by acknowledging something
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  many of our listeners probably are well aware
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  of, which is that GLP one consumer demand
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  and the costs are soaring. Mhmm. So as
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  this treatment gains traction, what are the unique
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  challenges and opportunities that payers are facing right
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  now? Could you just give us, like, a
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  high level view of where we're at? Yeah.
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  I think the biggest challenge is a lot
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  of payers just still don't know what to
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  do about it. Should they cover it or
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  should they not cover it? If they cover
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  it, should we have specific limitations on who
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  can have access to that? Should it just
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  be certain diagnoses?
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  And then it becomes how long should we
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  cover the medication as well? So
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  it's always from this frame of mind of
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  thinking about utilization
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  and then paying for this and the cost
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  associated with it.
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  And what I think we really need to
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  turn into and focus on is also kind
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  of that individual that is on the medication
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  and thinking about this overall experience for the
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  member
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  and how we can best
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  align them with the best protocols, the best
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  medication, but also behavior change to make it
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  a more impactful type of
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  prescription for them, essentially. So
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  from a payer perspective, again, I think there's
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  just so much unknown because we continue to
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  utilize the medications, which can be incredibly impactful.
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  But we've all we have done is see
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  the cost rise as far as overall healthcare
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  costs. So
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  we need to be able to find a
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  solution that can intersect the two so we
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  can see outcomes
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  that will effectively reduce healthcare costs. And that's
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  kind of that missing piece that,
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  payers and providers, I think, are really struggling
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  with right now. Yeah. Absolutely. And,
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  you know, you touched on this idea of
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  payers
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  kind of having to decide if it's something
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  they wanna cover, if they do, for how
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  long. So really touching on that tension of
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  sustainability
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  and also access.
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  Any other
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  thoughts that come to mind on strategies that
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  payers should really consider to to strike that
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  balance right now?
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  We have always focused on behavior change and,
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  like, the psychology meeting. That's what Noom was
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  founded upon, and that's where we have found
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  our success in particular in the consumer market
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  even before GLP ones really became a hot
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  topic.
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  So where we find success and, again, where
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  we really push the market to understand is
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  an individual on these medications
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  will have success.
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  Sure.
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  But will it be long term success? If
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  they come off the medication, are they gonna
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  be able to maintain that weight loss? So
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  we need to be able to find, again,
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  that missing factor, which in our eyes is
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  that behavior change. So
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  if you can get someone to be able
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  to think about the way they eat differently
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  and be able to know the importance of
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  these lifestyle factors that they're choosing
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  and how that can not only help you
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  lose more weight with medication,
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  but ensure that maybe you can come off
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  of the medication and then ensure that you
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  can maintain that weight loss after the medication.
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  That's really that sweet spot that I think
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  we're missing right now in the market is
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  how can we also apply lifestyle to the
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  effects
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  medications? Yeah. That that's such a helpful perspective.
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  And
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  just to share something personal quickly, I'm a
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  former health educator. So what you're saying is
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  completely speaking to what I know to be
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  true, which is behavior change is probably one
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  of probably one of the most difficult things
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  Absolutely. To pull off, but it's so important
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  for something like this to see sustainability.
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  So keeping that in mind, what are some
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  specific examples of,
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  you know,
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  support or other approaches that payers can take
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  in order to really achieve that? I know
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  you mentioned education as a piece of it.
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  Any other examples come to mind? I think
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  the support is a a key piece too.
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  I think oftentimes,
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  we treat obesity just as
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  obesity, and there's certainly much more recognition that
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  it is a chronic condition now. And with
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  a chronic condition, there needs to be that
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  holistic support.
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  So you have the medication,
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  we have the behavior change. Now a missing
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  piece there is that community
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  type of support, the mental health type of
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  support that goes along with treating any other
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  chronic condition.
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  So understanding that people need connections and they
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  need to be able to have someone that
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  they can go to for support
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  when they're hitting their highs, when they're hitting
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  their lows, when they they have questions,
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  as well as other individuals that are going
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  through the same types of struggles and the
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  same type of path with them as well.
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  So being able to, from a payer perspective,
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  have those types of communities,
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  and connections that you can connect individuals with
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  that are going through the journey. I think
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  that oftentimes, again, is another piece that
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  and as we think about the treatment of
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  obesity and overweight as a whole is a
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  piece that's sometimes forgotten about as well. So
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  that's another, strategy that can be employed too.
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  Yeah. It's fascinating. And it brings to mind
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  how I'm noticing a trend there, you know,
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  beyond weight loss, but even fitness apps, I
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  know they used to be strictly
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  workout based. And here's your workout for the
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  day or the week. But now there are
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  these community elements. I've noticed so many providers
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  adding on, and I it sounds like there's
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  certainly something behind that Yeah. Having a support
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  system. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's not
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  the right thing for every individual, but it's,
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  you know, some people really wanna keep their
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  anonymity.
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  Mhmm. But others really do wanna be able
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  to share those successes or, you know, you
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  find someone that, like I was just talking
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  with a coworker at our booth. We were
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  comparing,
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  on our Oura ring stats, like our, cardiovascular
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  age. And she's like, I'm at 6.5. I
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  really wanna be at nine. And I'm like,
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  oh, well, I'm at nine. She's like, well,
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  now I'm chasing you. So it's like this,
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  you know, fun competitiveness of like, oh, I
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  I see it's attainable. So I wanna I
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  want to be like that, And I wanna
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  learn from them as far as how they
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  got there, and just develop those connections with
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  people. Yeah. Fascinating. Oh, I feel like I
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  could talk about this with you all day.
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  I know we have limited time, so I
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  do wanna make sure we kind of touch
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  on where GLP ones are headed and the
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  future landscape for those. We know that the
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  usage of this treatment is expanding past diabetes
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  and weight loss into other therapeutic areas too.
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  So
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  from your view, what do you think payers
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  should really be anticipating right now with cost
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  coverage and also innovation?
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  Is there one action they could take now
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  to better prepare? Yeah. There's definitely
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  many more,
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  conditions that are now, you know, covered to
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  use GLP-one medications, like obstructive sleep apnea, fatty
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  liver disease.
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  I think I think the challenge is now
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  you continue to open the door for these
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  other diagnoses to use these medications, which will
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  absolutely help.
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  But, again, we're still not addressing the main
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  problem of we're just giving someone a medication,
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  and we're not supporting the components that need
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  to come with that medication.
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  You wouldn't just hand insulin off to a
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  diabetic without teaching them how to use insulin,
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  the proper nutrition that goes with that, what
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  to do if you have side effects. It's
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  the same way with GLP-one medications. Mhmm. Maybe
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  not necessarily as severe in some cases, but
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  you have to be able to frame it
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  with, there needs to be some very thorough
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  education and prescription that goes along with that
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  medication to be able to make that successful.
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  Yeah. And I think when we look at
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  the pipeline coming down the line, we know
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  that there's some oral medications that are in,
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  like, phase three testing that will probably come
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  to market late this year, early next year.
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  I think our biggest hope, honestly, with those
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  is that will help reduce the price, which
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  can reduce access to the medications as well,
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  which then allows us to
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  utilize these medications for individuals that maybe aren't
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  on a health plan that covers them. Maybe,
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  you know, from a health equity standpoint, can
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  we start to utilize these medications in underserved
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  populations
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  that don't have the opportunity today because of
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  the cost and it's so prohibitive?
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  So there's there's a lot. And, you know,
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  they're going to continue to have
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  more,
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  pharmaceuticals that will come to market, and they'll
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  probably continue to be more conditions that will
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  be covered by the medications.
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  That one, though, one other point I think
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  to make on that that's interesting, because this
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  came up in our session as far as
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  when when you think about some of the
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  other conditions that will be covered for GLP
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  ones,
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  they can be affected if someone loses weight.
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  So if you lose weight,
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  does your sleep apnea improve? If you lose
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  weight, does your fatty liver improve? You know,
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  like, so all of these additional conditions that
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  are so intertwined with obesity.
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  So if we can solve for one, can
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  we solve for all?
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  And is it worth putting a lot of
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  resource into solving the obesity issue
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  before trying to solve everything else that can
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  cascade from that?
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  Fascinating. It's it's complex when you think about,
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  to your point, this cascade effect that we
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  can envision with, you know, as these GLP
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  ones are in the market as time goes
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  on and coverage expands. Mhmm. But what I'm
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  hearing in your response, Jennifer, is that the
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  best thing for organizations to do right now
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  is to be thinking about the future, not
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  just to be living in this here and
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  now. Can we give GLP ones? What's it
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  going to cost? It's more than that. It's
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  Yeah. Building a plan and intention behind the
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  intervention. Yeah. And and, you know, right now,
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  it's GLP ones. And who's to say that
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  there's not some other new peptide that comes
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  to market in the next three years that's
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  even more expensive or, you know, has different
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  pathways as far as within the body? So
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  to your point, yes. Developing a strategy that
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  will take you three to five years ahead
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  of time to be able to know what's
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  coming to market and address
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  future medications and in future treatments as well.
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  Yeah. We've definitely been kind of playing,
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  reactive,
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  with a lot of this as far as,
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  oh, it's on the market now. How are
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  we gonna cover it? What are we gonna
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  do? And it's like, well, we should have
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  thought about this, you know, three to five
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  years ago before the before the Wegovis and
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  the Zebbounds came to market. Yeah. Innovation, the
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  piece of it's moving quickly and we have
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  to keep up. Yeah. But, Jennifer, I so
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  appreciate all the insights you've given us today
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  in the short amount of time together.
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  Anything that we didn't hit on that you
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  think would be helpful for our audience to
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  know before we close?
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  I think just some statistics, I think, just
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  to keep in mind. I shared these earlier
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  because I think it is just fascinating. When
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  we think about GLP-one medications, the first one
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  actually came to market in 02/2005.
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  So it's a lot different as far as
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  with the effectiveness and and side effects and
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  outcomes that we see with the ones that
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  are in market now. But we've had the
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  opportunity to really capitalize on these medications and
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  hopefully bend the curve from an obesity standpoint,
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  and we haven't.
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  So, you know, our obesity rate is still
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  above forty two percent. We combine that with
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  overweight, it's above seventy percent. That's projected, you
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  know, obesity rates are projected to be above
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  fifty percent in the next five years or
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  so.
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  We had,
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  ten years ago, 41 states that had an
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  obesity rate below thirty percent.
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  Today, it's eight. So in ten years,
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  we have
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  achieved this
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  huge amount of people that have now become
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  obese.
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  And when we think about, like, we've had
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  these great medications,
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  but they're not changing. It's not bending the
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  curve at all. We have to do something
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  different in order to truly
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  get the impact from the medication, but also
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  get people healthier. Like, we're spending more and
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  more from a payer perspective, from an employer
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  perspective, and a member perspective.
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  We have to be able to think about
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  this differently to truly have an impact. Yeah.
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  Oh, you're leaving a lot for our listeners
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  to think about, Jennifer. I I so appreciated
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  our conversation today. Thank you so much for
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  making time for Becker's. Yeah. Thanks so much.
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  It's a pleasure. Yeah. And we'd also like
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  to thank Noom for sponsoring today's podcast.
• 13:04
  And listeners, be sure to tune into more
• 13:06
  podcasts at Becker's Healthcare by visiting the podcast
• 13:08
  page at beckershospitalreview.com.