BOSTON, April 2, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Digital health is a hotbed for innovation, with venture capitalists spending nearly $5 billion in the space last year (think FitBits, Smart Scales, and wellness apps). With the constant surge in new products and services entering the market, it's often difficult for companies to know which solutions can best address their employees' unique health challenges. That's why Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) is introducing the Emerging Solutions platform to curate market-leading health solutions and provide advice to employer customers on which solutions could best help improve their employees' health. 

Emerging Solutions is available to self-insured accounts with 1,000+ employees starting July 1, 2018. Currently, our offering includes nationally recognized solutions for diabetes prevention and management as well as fertility, pregnancy, and parenting—key health issues that are of interest to our accounts. These solutions are:

• Livongo, the leading consumer digital health platform that empowers people with chronic conditions like diabetes to live better and healthier lives.
• Omada, a digital provider of the Diabetes Prevention Program, delivering the tools and support for participants to improve lifestyle, behavior, and overall health.
• Ovia Health, which uses technology and predictive coaching to support women from preconception and pregnancy through return-to-work and parenthood.

Blue Cross chief marketing officer Kathy Klingler said, "Through the Emerging Solutions platform, we serve as a trusted advisor to our employer customers, working closely with them to identify the health solutions that can best address the specific needs of their employees. We are focused on advancements that matter to our employer customers. Our decades of experience, commitment to innovation, and strong partnerships with digital health companies allow us to curate solutions that can best improve employees' health and lower overall health care costs."

"We've heard from many of our employer customers that they are looking for new ways to help their employees with specific challenges including diabetes, pre-diabetes, and maternity," said Debbie Williams, senior vice president of sales & account service. "Emerging Solutions can address these needs. One of the feeders into our Emerging Solutions is the work done by Zaffre Investments, our health-focused investment arm. We have a unique opportunity to continuously see the newest technological advancements in health and select those that will best benefit our members." She added that our portfolio of solutions will change and grow over time to match the latest digital health offerings to our customers' needs.

"Livongo is using the latest data science to empower thousands of people with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives," said Livongo CEO Glen Tullman. "We're partnering with innovators like Blue Cross to deliver a highly personalized experience that members love, that also improves their health, and that saves their employers money."

"Omada continues to deliver personalized prevention for at-risk populations," added Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy. "We thrive working with forward-thinking health plans like Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, when we can integrate into benefit design and demonstrate the value of our outcomes-based reimbursement."

"We share Blue Cross' commitment to innovating maternity and family health care – more than 8 million women and families have used our Ovia Fertility, Ovia Pregnancy, and Ovia Parenting offerings," said Paris Wallace, CEO of Ovia Health. "We're thrilled to introduce Blue Cross members to our mobile technology that can help guide them confidently throughout their fertility, pregnancy, and parenthood journeys."

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts 
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We're the trusted health plan for more than 25,000 Massachusetts employers and are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our 2.8 million members first, we're rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

About Zaffre Investments
Zaffre Investments (zaffreinvestments.com), the investment arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, is committed to adding value through investments in new products, services, and technologies that aim to improve the way health care is delivered and received.

About Livongo Health
Livongo has a vision of empowering all people with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives. We are redesigning chronic condition management, starting with diabetes and hypertension, by driving behavior change through the combination of consumer health technology, personalized recommendations, and real-time support at the point of impact. Powered by advanced analytics, we create personalized experiences for our members so they receive the right information, tools, and support, at the right time. Our approach is leading to better financial and clinical outcomes while creating a better experience for people with chronic conditions and their care team of family, friends, and medical professionals. For more information visit: www.livongo.com.

About Omada Health
Omada Health is a digital behavioral medicine company that inspires and enables people to change the habits that put them most at risk for chronic conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The company is the largest CDC-recognized provider of the National Diabetes Prevention Program, and since its founding, has enrolled more than 140,000 participants. Omada's program combines proven behavioral science, the power of professional health coaches and peer groups, connected technology, and world-class design to deliver clinically-meaningful results. Omada Health was named a 2016 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and one of Fast Company's Most Innovative 2017. To learn more, visit www.omadahealth.com.

About Ovia Health
Ovia Health is transforming the way employers support working women along their parenthood journey. Ovia Health's innovative maternity and family benefits solution improves outcomes by providing daily personalized engagement, proactively identifying potential health risks, and supporting a successful return to work. In the process, Ovia Health helps employers measurably reduce healthcare costs, recruit and retain top talent, and provide a meaningful benefit that appeals to millennials. Since 2012, Ovia Health has helped over 8 million women and families.

SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts