RamaOnHealthcare April 19, 2024
Patient Advocacy is a Must Have Innovation
Today, RamaOnHealthcare talks with Arti Masturzo, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer at CCS, a 30-year-old company that is redefining chronic care management by combining products and supplies with clinical education, monitoring, and coaching.
Dr. Arti Masturzo, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, CCS
RamaOnHealthcare (ROH): How did you make the transition from a practicing clinician to a chronic care innovator at CCS?
Dr. Arti Masturzo (AM): My love for healthcare began very early in a small village in India, where I watched my grandfather, parents, and uncle care for their community. Growing up in a family of physicians, healthcare runs in my blood.
Integrating my clinical passion with my commercial prowess led to my first experience with private equity and an understanding that to drive measurable change in healthcare, I needed to focus on innovation that would help bring personalized, proactive care to the masses. I joined CCS from Humana because not only do I believe in its mission to build a platform that focuses on personalizing chronic care management, but also because the unique business model overcame many of the common pitfalls of digital health–led companies that exist today. I was impressed by the high engagement rates CCS has with our customers; something you don’t usually see in typical care management programs. To me, the hardest things to achieve in medicine are trust and engagement, yet they are the key to realizing any long-term measurable outcome.
…I needed to focus on innovation that would help bring personalized, proactive care to the masses.
To me, the hardest things to achieve in medicine are trust and engagement….
My role at CCS allows me to combine my clinical and commercial expertise to create a whole new care delivery model as we focus on our organization’s future. Under my leadership, our healthcare team at CCS develops chronic care management programs that improve outcomes, lower the total cost of care, and improve the healthcare experience for those living with chronic diseases and the providers caring for them.
…our healthcare team at CCS develops chronic care management programs that improve outcomes, lower the total cost of care, and improve the healthcare experience….
ROH: As a Leader in the chronic care management space, where do you think innovation is most needed?
AM: Innovation is needed most to address the pervasive fragmentation experienced today by people living with chronic conditions. Complex diabetes is a good example of fragmentation and how it leads to our system failing the individuals who need us most. In an independent survey we conducted earlier this year, 40% of responders said they didn’t get the education or support they needed to manage their condition.
Unfortunately, it is too common for a person who is newly diagnosed with diabetes to receive an order for advanced diabetes technologies, such as a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), and then not be offered education and support. The absence of support is further exacerbated by the fragmented way in which these individuals receive care from multiple providers in addition to well-meaning direct outreach from their insurance plan or a digital health company. These individuals need not only device education, but also longitudinal long-term support to manage their cardiometabolic health in a coordinated fashion with partners they trust.
Innovation can play a huge role in integrating disparate parts of a patient’s care journey into one connected, user-friendly platform that unifies the products and supplies a patient needs to manage their disease — along with the education and coaching needed to make self-management more straightforward and intuitive.
Innovation can play a huge role in integrating disparate parts of a patient’s care journey….
ROH: Solutions to address social determinants of health (SDOH) challenges continue to build momentum in healthcare. What is the most exciting innovation you are seeing today as it relates to driving personalized, preventive care for people living with diabetes and SDOH challenges?
AM: When it comes to driving personalized, preventive care for people with chronic diseases and addressing social determinants of health challenges, I am most excited about innovations that confront food insecurity and loneliness. Unfortunately, the Western healthcare system has only recently begun to embrace the importance of human connection (loneliness) in health outcomes. Many of us saw the recent post from Elmo and the related responses that people gave when he asked how everyone was “doing.” The resounding answer was that most people were lonely and looking for a shoulder to lean on as they faced shared day-to-day challenges. We need more innovative companies that are focused on driving connection and companionship — particularly for at-risk populations — as well as a stronger understanding and acceptance of the fact that mental health is healthcare.
We need more innovative companies that are focused on driving connection and companionship….
ROH: What makes the CCS chronic care management platform and services unique and of value to health plans, providers, and the patients you serve?
AM: CCS is a leading chronic care management company, providing clinical solutions and home-delivered medical supplies for those living with chronic conditions, particularly diabetes. We work specifically with health plans, providers, and employers to defragment the patient journey by combining the following into one seamless platform experience: medical device distribution, pharmacy, and clinical programs designed to educate and coach on cardiometabolic health.
To support individuals living with diabetes holistically, CCS has also advanced its AI-based machine learning and large language models to support high-risk members’ identification and timely engagement before serious adherence issues arise.
Finally, our trusted 30-year relationship with referring physicians and patients gives us the advantage when it comes to improving patient outcomes and reducing the costs of diabetes care. These relationships and our commitment to surrounding each patient with the products, supplies, education, and coaching they need to thrive — not just live — make our holistic care management platform unique and valuable to people living with diabetes, health plans, at-risk providers, and employer groups.
ROH: You’ve talked in the past about the importance of patient education and coaching when it comes to empowerment for those living with chronic diseases. What makes CCS’ approach to patient education and coaching truly unique?
AM: Our goal at CCS is to meet patients where they are and to help defragment the chronic care experience so that self-management of diabetes is simple and intuitive.
Personalization is an incredibly important part of diabetes management and an area where CCS uniquely excels. Patients have to be intrinsically motivated to participate in their care. Some people are more motivated by seeing the numbers and hearing the facts. Others need an empathetic, encouraging coach. CGMs, coupled with education and coaching provided by CCS, help people set individual goals and make small changes that produce big impacts. The devices remove the complexity from everyday self-care so people can focus on forming new habits and gaining confidence. This is essential to creating practical, lasting changes that can result in better outcomes.
As an example, we had a person with type 2 diabetes who was on maximum doses of oral treatment but still had an A1C of 10. He refused to go on insulin, even weekly injections, and only agreed to wear a CGM if it wouldn’t hurt as much as his finger sticks. When he got the device, he was immediately intrigued by the data and the ability to see the instant effects of food and activity on his blood glucose values. With data to guide him and ongoing education and coaching from CCS clinical experts, he started to make lifestyle changes that resulted in much improved A1C levels. For him, data was the connection point that inspired lasting behavior change.
ROH: GLP-1 weight loss drugs are garnering a lot of interest but we’re seeing more stories coming out that this uptick in demand is impacting access to these drugs for people living with diabetes who use that as part of their care regimen. How do you see GLP-1 use panning out in the year to come, and what challenges does this present for providers, health plans, and people living with diabetes?
AM: Most people don’t know that GLP-1s first came to the market in 2005, so they are not new. The newer generation of these drugs is highly effective, but recent attention to this drug class is largely driven by its weight loss benefits and high costs. For individuals living with diabetes, GLP-1s are quickly becoming the standard of care because of cardiometabolic benefits beyond glycemic control. When it comes to the use of GLP-1s for obesity, we can expect them to become the standard of care for certain populations. Soon, we will also have a better understanding of which individuals are likely to gain the most benefit and those who are not ideal candidates. Given the cost, there are still some hurdles that need to be overcome to make GLP-1 weight loss drugs more accessible for those who need them most.
…GLP-1s are quickly becoming the standard of care because of cardiometabolic benefits beyond glycemic control….
We need to move on from the hype of these drugs and let scientific evidence guide our thinking. In a recent survey of more than 1,500 Americans living with diabetes and who have been prescribed a CGM, 57% of individuals in the United States think GLP-1 weight loss drugs alone may be a silver bullet for helping achieve their health goals. Like any pharmaceutical intervention, these drugs are not a panacea for those who have diabetes because they are only one piece of an effective, integrated care plan. To drive long-lasting behavior change, prescriptions, medical products, and supplies must be coupled with ongoing education and coaching.
ROH: You’ve discussed your battle with breast cancer openly. What’s one innovation, as a patient, that you think would provide the greatest value?
AM: As someone who is actively battling breast cancer, I know just how important it is to have a strong, experienced advocate by your side when you are sick. Despite the millions of people who have and are battling breast cancer, I felt like I was entering uncharted territory. Experiencing the fragmentation in our healthcare system was sobering. Navigating this system while understanding insurance coverage and policies was sometimes overwhelming, even for someone who knows healthcare intimately.
When it came to support, my providers shared a thick binder of printed-out information in addition to a list of online resources. Unfortunately, when you’re diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, you don’t have the energy, mental space, or time to cull through pages upon pages of information that may or may not apply to your situation. What you want is the CliffsNotes version of what can and must be done to manage your disease and someone to hold your hand through the journey.
Patient advocacy should be a must-have innovation for anyone living with a chronic disease or serious illness. From understanding disability rights in the workplace to setting up a trust for your family, having a reliable and educated advocate to guide you through the dos and don’ts of managing your disease is something that would have made my experience with cancer less daunting and less exhausting.
Patient advocacy should be a must-have innovation for anyone living with a chronic disease or serious illness.
Anyone living with a debilitating disease deserves grace, and establishing patient advocates to support chronically ill patients — like me — is just the type of grace that can help save lives and bring peace in times of turmoil.
About Dr. Masturzo
Dr. Arti Masturzo is the Chief Medical Officer at CCS — a company focused on simplifying holistic chronic care management for patients. Prior to joining CCS as its first-ever chief medical officer, she was at Humana where she led value-based care transformation in the home.
For more than 20 years, Dr. Masturzo has held strategic and operational roles in companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 50. She is a proven business transformer with deep knowledge of all areas of healthcare, including payors, hospital administration, life sciences, medical devices, digital health, pharmacy, and durable medical equipment. Dr. Masturzo also brings a fresh entrepreneurial spirit to all of her work — serving as a strategic advisor to emerging healthcare companies.
A cancer survivor, Dr. Masturzo understands the challenges of navigating our healthcare system and the critical need for patients and caregivers to have a strong voice in decisions that impact health and well-being. Her own experiences with America’s healthcare system have further reinforced her commitment to defragmenting healthcare, while also working to bring compassion back to the trusted relationship between patient and physician.