Lark at HLTH 2019

Last month, our co-founder and CEO Julia Hu traveled to Las Vegas to speak at the second annual HLTH conference. One of the health care industry’s most popular events, speakers and attendees included the likes of Mark Cuban and Andy Slavitt, as well as nearly 6,000 leaders from the nation’s top health plans, provider groups, investors, health care trade associations, and innovative startups. 

Julia spoke on a panel on the chronic condition crisis. Joined by Hank Schlissberg of Vively Health, David Van Sickle of Propeller Health, and Natalie Schneider of Samsung Electronics, the panelists had a lively discussion about current cost and care barriers that prohibit individuals from preventing and managing their chronic condition. 

Julia spoke about how the entire industry is shifting how we think about and deliver health care. We cannot afford to sit back and wait to deal with a condition; that’s why companies are creating solutions to proactively help individuals manage their hypertension, kidney disease, and diabetes, while some companies are creating solutions to help individuals manage all three. 

While health care is local, scalability remains a challenge. Julia spoke about Lark’s platform, which is powered by AI and accessible 24/7, and how it effectively reaches people where they are, day or night. And because chronic disease prevention and management can be incredibly personal, it’s important to create a solution that can be individualized so that we treat patients as individuals and avoid a monolithic approach to their conditions.  

Lark has seen just how impactful this approach can be: in a study with Omron Healthcare, Inc., Lark’s Hypertension Management Program coupled with Omron’s blood pressure cuffs resulted in an average blood pressure reduction of 8.4/6.4 mm Hg over six months. Considering that nearly 1 in 2 American adults have high blood pressure, the study results proved that innovative solutions that can scale and are more affordable can work better than current care management solutions in the market. 

And in a separate study that examined Lark’s CDC-Recognized Diabetes Prevention Program, 360 adults aged 50 to 85 on average lost 4.3 percent of their total body weight after one year of using the program. This result was huge, considering that diabetes affects more than 25 percent of those aged 65 and older. 

Progress has been made but the health care industry still has a ways to go to address this challenge. In order to create and deliver solutions that work, we need to think about four things: scalability; meeting people where they are; improved health outcomes; and an improved patient experience.