Ayble Health, a digital health platform for patients with chronic gastrointestinal (GI) conditions, today announced a new collaboration with the Mayo Clinic Complex Care Program to create a hybrid care model for digestive health that matches patients with the appropriate virtual and in-person care based on acuity and need. This unique collaboration is available for large employers and health plans.
More than 70 million Americans, or 25% of the commercially insured population, live with chronic GI conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which present with a range of painful and persistent symptoms like pain, fatigue, constipation and diarrhea. Digestive conditions generate $140 billion in healthcare costs each year – more than heart disease, trauma and mental health-related issues – making it the fourth largest driver of employee-related healthcare costs. Beyond these direct costs, digestive symptoms can be severe, leading to meaningful impacts on work productivity and absenteeism: employees with gut health issues miss or are less productive for at least 11 work days each month, or a total of over 130 days each year.
As with many chronic conditions, digestive diseases present heterogeneously, meaning that healthcare costs vary based on the type and severity of the condition, and severity often fluctuates based on where a patient is in his or her journey. A one-size-fits-all solution (often, a virtual clinic model) cannot meet the needs of every patient across all levels of acuity and usually only cost-effectively addresses 30-40% of the population: the high-cost basis of care means these models are too expensive for low-medium acuity patients, and these models cannot provide the hands-on, multidisciplinary care required for complex patients.
Ayble and the Mayo Clinic Complex Care Program match patient acuity with the appropriate virtual, in-person or combined virtual and in-person care. Ayble’s platform provides evidence-based nutrition and psychology programs for digestive patients, supported by a team of expert coaches. The Mayo Clinic Complex Care Program breaks down barriers to high-quality multidisciplinary GI care by offering expedited scheduling with Mayo Clinic experts and an employer or health plan-sponsored travel and lodging benefit for patients who need to receive care in-person at Mayo Clinic. In matching the right care for the right patient at the right time, Mayo Clinic and Ayble aim to significantly improve outcomes and improve costs for digestive diseases.
“Digestive health patients often move from low to high acuity over the course of their disease, making caring for this population a complex problem to solve. Through this collaboration, Ayble and Mayo Clinic are creating a hybrid care model and seamless patient experience that maximizes cost savings for employers and plans who are committed to delivering digestive health benefits to their employees and members,” said Sam Jactel, founder and CEO, Ayble. “Mayo Clinic has been ranked number one in GI care for almost 35 years and is at the forefront GI research in pursuit of better treatments for patients. This makes them a perfect collaborator for Ayble, which has published the largest, most sustainable clinical outcomes in gastroenterology.”
Benefiting from the Ayble and Mayo Clinic collaboration is simple for employers and health plans. Employers see reduced absenteeism from their employees, benefit from enhanced employee productivity, and can be assured that their workforce is receiving care tailored to their unique needs.
After a review of the relevant employee or member population, there is a streamlined contracting process enabling customers to go live in weeks, not months. Ayble and Mayo Clinic handle all education to employees and members and a dedicated account manager provides regular reporting and insights on outcomes.
“We’re excited to work with Ayble Health to better help individuals get exactly the GI care they need,” said Elizabeth Rice, M.B.A., Senior Director of the Mayo Clinic Complex Care Program. “Not every GI patient needs to travel to Mayo Clinic for care, many can be well-managed via the Ayble platform. However, if a patient becomes more complex, the ability to seamlessly expedite access to Mayo Clinic experts can result in better outcomes and improved patient experience.”
About Ayble Health
Ayble Health is a digital health platform empowering patients with chronic GI conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to manage their care beyond the pill. Ayble combines the largest GI behavioral health database in the world with its proprietary machine learning algorithms to build personalized, predictive care for every patient – all with the human touch of a licensed care team. Ayble’s platform is built on 20 years of research, including publications in Gastroenterology, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Clinical & Translational Gastroenterology, and it is accredited by the American Nutrition Association. Patients can find Ayble through their physician partners, employers, insurers or directly online. Visit ayblehealth.com.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and to providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing.
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