BOSTON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Onduo by Verily, an Alphabet precision health company, announced today a strategic collaboration with Sword Health, the fastest-growing digital musculoskeletal (MSK) care provider, to offer complementary solutions to each company’s employer customers and their employees. This broadens employee access to a spectrum of virtual care benefits for chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and mental health via Onduo’s solution, as well as care benefits for musculoskeletal pain via Sword’s.
Studies show between 46.5%1 to 82%2 of people with type 2 diabetes have a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, leading to more physician visits and higher cumulative costs.3 As increased pain can impede the healthy activity that can reduce condition progression, Sword and Onduo seek to offer this population virtual support solutions to help them adopt healthier lifestyles more easily.
“Helping individuals eliminate their MSK pain creates a positive ripple effect, reducing medication dependence, avoiding unnecessary surgeries and improving quality of life,'' shared Vijay Yanamadala, Chief Medical Officer of Sword Health. “By helping employers offer multiple and complementary solutions in the market, we reduce the burden on their benefits teams while also ensuring a synergistic approach to care.”
In its musculoskeletal pain management program, Sword Health pairs each member with a licensed physical therapist, who creates a custom program based on their specific needs and ability. The program uses FDA-listed motion sensors, a Sword tablet, and a Digital Therapist to guide movement, correct form, and collect real-time feedback as members perform their exercises. The physical therapists use the feedback to tailor and optimize the program as members progress. In a study published earlier this year, individuals using the Sword program demonstrated a 55% reduction in pain, a 52% reduction in shoulder-related disability and a 55% reduction in intent to pursue surgery, along with improvements in anxiety and depression.4
“As we looked at potential collaborators, Sword Health emerged as a premium partner with a complementary digital-first approach that aligns with our high standards for member support and care,” said Dr. Vindell Washington, Onduo CEO and Chief Clinical Officer of Verily Health Platforms. “When we treat a member’s health condition, we treat the whole person – their stressors, nutrition challenges and pain points – and personalize next steps to improve their diabetes or blood pressure. Guided by evidence-based medical care and informed by data, Onduo helps employers and health plans deliver precision health at scale.”
The Onduo solution helps people manage chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and mental health, by combining an app, personalized health journeys and coaching. Members are provided condition-specific monitoring devices, which they can use to help understand their progress and which feed the Onduo engine, along with other clinical and experiential data, to help create precise health pathways for their needs. When clinically needed, members can access an Onduo clinician who can help optimize medication use or refine their care program.
About Sword Health
Sword Health is the world’s fastest growing digital musculoskeletal (MSK) care provider, on a mission to free two billion people from acute, chronic, and post-surgical pain. It is the first digital solution to pair its members with a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy and the Sword Health Digital Therapist, to deliver a clinically-proven, personalized treatment plan that is more effective, easier, and less expensive than the traditional standard of care. Sword Health believes in the power of people to recover at home, without resorting to imaging, surgeries or opioids. With preventative care delivered through Sword+, it is the industry's only end-to-end digital MSK solution. Since launching in 2015, Sword Health has worked with insurers, health systems, and employers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia to make high quality musculoskeletal care accessible to everyone.
About Onduo
At Onduo, we are dedicated to making healthy easier, more accessible, and more personalized with our science-backed, data-driven virtual care model—one that can serve people living with chronic conditions and the organizations supporting them. Onduo provides a whole-person care solution featuring digital, connected care with a human touch for diabetes, hypertension, weight loss and diabetes prevention. Enabled by technology built by Verily Life Sciences, LLC, we deliver lifestyle and clinical interventions that leverage deep analytics, connected smart devices, innovative software, and access to specialty care through our Virtual Clinic. Onduo was awarded URAC Accreditation in Telemedicine; Onduo LLC headquarters are based in Newton, Mass.
Onduo LLC and a network of affiliated professional entities (collectively, “Onduo”) collaborate to offer certain care management and coordinated clinical care programs.
About Verily
Verily is a subsidiary of Alphabet that is using a data-driven, people-first approach to change the way people manage their health and the way healthcare is delivered. Launched from Google X in 2015, Verily’s purpose is to bring the promise of precision health to everyone, every day. Verily is focused on generating and activating data from a wide variety of sources, including clinical, social, behavioral and the real world, to arrive at the best solutions for a person based on a comprehensive view of the evidence. Verily uses its recognized expertise and capabilities in technology, data science and healthcare to enable the entire healthcare ecosystem to drive better health outcomes. For more information, please visit verily.com.
1Liberman O, et. al. The European Journal of General Practice. 2014;20:260–267.
2Douloumpakas I, et. al. Hippokratia. 2007;11:216–218.
3Pai, LW., et. at. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 16, 364 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-015-0819-4
4Janela D, et. al. J Pain Res. 2022;15:53-66 https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S343308
