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Abstract
LOS ANGELES, CA and SALEM, OR --(Marketwired - July 20, 2016) - Canary Health, the leading provider of digital health self-management programs that prevent the progression of chronic diseases, and the Oregon Educators Benefit Board (OEBB), which provides a comprehensive selection of benefit plan options for most of Oregon's K-12 school districts, education service districts and community colleges, as well as a number of charter schools and local governments across the state, today announced the roll-out of additional digital health programs to help OEBB members prevent and manage chronic illnesses. In addition to offering Canary Health's Better Choices, Better Health (BCBH) self-management program for chronic diseases such as heart disease, arthritis and depression, OEBB will add Virtual Lifestyle Management (VLM), a self-management program specifically for pre-diabetes which affects more than 1.1 million Oregonians.
First deployed to OEBB members in 2014, Canary Health's digital self-management program, Better Choices, Better Health (BCBH) has been offered to all adult members, covered spouses and dependents with a chronic condition, through OEBB's medical carriers Moda Health and Kaiser Permanente. The program, which is based on more than three decades of research by Stanford University Patient Education Research Center, is a 6-week, peer-led, small-group, online workshop that helps individuals effectively self-manage a variety of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and depression.
With more than 117 million people in the U.S. suffering from one or more chronic illnesses, Canary Health's mission is to provide evidence-based, digital self-management programs that reduce the cost of care and make a significant impact in preventing and arresting the progression of chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and depression. According to the CDC, health self-management helps people learn techniques to reduce pain and improve function and to develop skills and confidence to daily manage their conditions. Participants in Canary Health's self-management programs have also demonstrated fewer visits to physicians and emergency departments, fewer days in the hospital and fewer hospitalizations. In addition, Canary Health's health plan partners report a 90% user satisfaction rate and a savings as high as $1,000 per participant per year for an overall ROI of 3:1.
