Don Berwick, MD, the former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator joined the board of directors of online diabetes clinic Virta Health.
The online medical clinic launched in March 2017 after a peer-reviewed study showed it was successful in reversing type 2 diabetes in half of its clinical trial patients and eliminating or reducing insulin in 87 percent of patients in 10 weeks.
Virta reverses type 2 diabetes by lowering hemoglobin A1c – a measure of blood sugar – while also reducing or eliminating medications.
The online clinic provides physician supervision, a dedicated health coach, app and biomarker tracking tools. It also offers a community of peers, and a personalized nutrition and care plan targeted to each patient’s biochemistry, medications, and lifestyle.
Virta is continuing to follow participants as part of its two-year clinical trial. At six months, retention remains at 89 percent and patients have lost 12 percent of their body weight on average.
“I’ve spent decades working with groups who aren’t afraid to tackle big problems with innovative approaches,” Berwick said in a statement. “The scientific and technological achievements to reverse type 2 diabetes at scale are groundbreaking.”
Berwick, president emeritus and a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare, is recognized as a leading authority on healthcare quality and improvement, “We founded Virta with a mission to reverse type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025, and are grateful for the support of our Board and advisors to achieve this ambitious goal,” Virta Health cofounder and CEO Sami Inkinen, said in a statement.
Next up, he added, is scaling Virta’s delivery model, and Berwick’s experience in improving healthcare quality and outcomes globally will be invaluable in this process
Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com
