As pharma giant Eli Lilly builds out its direct-to-consumer care site, LillyDirect, the company has tapped virtual primary care company HealthTap to join its small lineup of independent care providers.
Consumers who come to LillyDirect in search of specific treatments or Lilly-manufactured medications, such as GLP-1s, can find educational materials on common health conditions and access recommendations for in-person or virtual care.
LillyDirect has been building out its network of independent care providers for a slew of healthcare conditions and specialities, including diabetes, obesity, cancer, dermatology, autoimmune, sleep apnea and migraine.
HealthTap will be listed as a provider for treating type 1 and type 2 diabetes on the LillyDirect site.
HealthTap CEO Sean Mehra believes Eli Lilly offered them the opportunity to be listed as an independent care provider because of the company’s focus on primary care. HealthTap touts its relationship-based primary care focus, saying that 96% of its patients return to the same provider for subsequent visits.
In an era of virtual care that divides care into specific conditions—like hair loss or obesity—patients need a primary care provider to oversee their care holistically, Mehra told Fierce Healthcare in an interview.
“We're out there extolling the virtues of having one doctor who knows you and stays with you and treats a wide spectrum of conditions and preventative and screening goals with a high bar of evidence-based, protocol-driven medicine,” Mehra said.
Eli Lilly invited HealthTap to join the diabetes segment, though HealthTap provides care for a broad range of conditions.
“Lilly and many in the market are realizing the importance of people with multiple chronic conditions, and the importance of like layering in not only the condition you may have and need to treat, but your genetic risk factors, your lifestyle your other social determinants that all need to come together to effectively manage a condition, and that is the role of a primary care practice,” Mehra said. “So I think this marks the shift of big brands with a lot of consumer reach from vertical specific solutions to more whole person solutions.”
Mehra stressed that HealthTap does not have financial ties with LillyDirect. HealthTap providers also cannot discern when a patient is coming to the practice via LillyDirect.
Telehealth GLP-1 prescribing has come under increased scrutiny by federal regulators. The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to telehealth companies and drug makers about false advertising of compounded versions of GLP-1s, following the president's direction in a memorandum.
Eli Lilly received multiple letters in September from the FDA that found misleading claims about Zepbound and Mounjaro in its TV commercials.
Members of Congress have also raised red flags about online advertising of GLP-1s. Most recently, Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission to urge an investigation.
A longitudinal primary care provider like HealthTap could build trust with consumers and regulators that the company is not pushing its drugs through condition-specific telehealth companies that are more likely to pump out certain prescriptions.
Mehra also pointed to the fact that HealthTap does not have an in-house pharmacy, like other telehealth platforms.
“Through this initiative, we have found opportunities across Lilly, being a very large organization with many business units, to help out in other situations as well,” Mehra said. “Like they're involved in the B2B context, they're involved in other D2C contexts. And for sure, it has started a broader conversation about different ways we can plug in to their plans.”