Innergy: An Innovative Weight-Loss Program That Insurance Will Cover
Preventative medicine isn’t the health-care industry’s forte: They’d much rather clean up your heart attack than prevent it. But a new program from Johns Hopkins might be covered, and is clinically proven to keep off the pounds.
Health insurance pays for problems after they occur; the system, as noted by many critics, doesn’t exactly focus on prevention. And gym reimbursements--one of the few concessions many insurance companies make towards health and wellness--aren’t exactly quelling the growing obesity epidemic, which is increasingly putting pressure on the health-care system. Weight-loss seekers are left to fend for themselves, often choosing to follow questionable diets and exercise plans that don’t work in the long term. But Innergy, a weight-loss program from Johns Hopkins Medicine and health company Healthways, takes a different approach: a research-backed system of web, phone, and in-person weight-loss coaching, all of which might actually be covered by your insurance.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has done plenty of research on effective weight-loss techniques, but it never has taken steps to put its research into practice. "The NIH is all about efficacy; proving a principle. But they take heat for not applying [these] principles," explains Dr. Frederick Brancati, Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins.
Johns Hopkins decided to take data from an NIH clinical trial on weight loss and run with it. The trial, led by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, revealed that a telephone and web-based model of weight-loss coaching--as opposed to frequent in-person counseling--can help people lose weight and keep it off. "Not every neighborhood has a group of local experts and an academic medical center to extend themselves to help with weight loss," says Brancati.
Think of Innergy, which launched this week, as Weight Watchers (sans branded food items) combined with a personal phone-based diet coach--and occasional check-ins from your doctor. Innergy’s soon-to-be-launched website will feature detailed information on healthy eating and exercise techniques, and frequent phone calls from Innergy coaches to ensure that users actually follow the advice they’re given.
The technique has proven to be successful. In clinical trials, Johns Hopkins researchers found that participants were able to lose 5% of their body weight and keep it off for 24 months.
The best part: Healthways and Johns Hopkins expect that insurers will cover the program. It’s a tiny step towards the insurance industry admitting that keeping people healthy before they get diabetes or heart disease makes (dollars and) sense.
