FibroScan®
With more U.S. companies struggling to adjust to today’s new normal, Echosens points to an optimized strategy for managing population health and our innovative tool that helps to halt the progression of liver disease: FibroScan® is an FDA-cleared technology for the diagnosis and monitoring of adult patients as part of an overall evaluation of liver health.
Consider the effective collaboration we’ve established with MetaPhy Health, providers of chronic care management (CCM) services for gastroenterology practices, and how their CCM program has effectively leveraged FibroScan® to manage patients with comorbidities, such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity—both of which have been linked to liver disease.
For self-insured employers and plan sponsors, managing chronic disease at this level not only improves health and reduces medical costs, but also creates a more productive workforce and healthier patient population.
Targeting Chronic Disease at the Point of Care
Benefits payers now confront the alarming statistics about the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the leading causes of liver disease. NAFLD is prevalent in 40-80% of people who have Type 2 diabetes and in 30-90% of people who are obese. Being overweight or obese is responsible for about 85% of fatty liver disease. To identify and managed these patients, new cost-effective technological approaches are needed in point of care.
FibroScan® is one such technological innovation. A non-invasive portable technology that quickly provides a dual quantitative assessment of liver fat and stiffness and liver fat at the point of care to make the detection of liver disease and long-term care for individuals with NALFD and NASH more effective. This innovative technology provides consistent results and evidence and is covered by CMS and most commercial insurance plans for diagnosing and monitoring chronic liver disease.
Improving Outcomes, Lowering Costs
Employers and payers that follow the model established by MetaPhy Health’s “high touch” chronic care disease management (CCDM) program, including the integration of FibroScan, can help to effectively address the growing liver disease epidemic. With the introduction of new treatment options, including costly drugs that will soon be available, a targeted CCDM program can integrate non-invasive, point of care liver examinations to leverage the launch of these drugs in a way that improves outcomes and lowers costs.
In fact, one study showed that per-beneficiary-per-month (PBPM) cost for patients who received CCM services was less than the costs for comparable non-CCM beneficiaries after just 12 months. PBPM expenditures for CCM beneficiaries decreased by $74 in the 18-month follow-up period.
