Increasing Readiness: Digital Health Coach for Diabetes

The following data outline the problem we are attacking: According to a recent DOD Force report, 18% of the Air Force is obese. This number is rising. Obesity is a key factor in developing diabetes. According to the CDC, 1 in 3 adult Americans are prediabetic. More than 30 million Americans now have type-2 diabetes. These numbers are rising. Diabetes and obesity have direct impacts on productivity, absenteeism, and mental health. Diabetes is costing the Air Force significant resources in lost recruits, lost productivity, higher health care costs, mental health impacts and the list goes on. Despite all of this known data – the situation is getting worse. The high-value opportunity to change this situation is at the point of prediabetes diagnosis where the condition can be stopped in its tracks primarily through diet, physical fitness, coaching and support.   However, most individuals fail in these efforts on their own. Research shows that most Americans typically quit a new health goal within 30 days – even with a chronic disease diagnosis. Coaching is one of the most powerful ways to help solve this problem. But human coaches are expensive, inconsistent, not able to adjust to individual user psychology and not always available.   At SkillPower, we are building the first digital health coach to measurably increase our user’s willpower as part of a plan to address prediabetes. Our digital health coach uses the latest health protocols coming out of the Stanford University Behavior Change Labs to holistically address the behavior and habit changes needed to reverse prediabetes. Our scalable solution assesses and customizes the user experience to the individual psychology of our users. And we guide users through a process of health changes that may be needed to reverse prediabetes including weight loss and exercise. Digital Therapeutics are forecast to be a $9 billion market by 2025.   Key credentials we bring: •    A partnership with the University of California San Diego (UCSD) •    We completed the NexCubed Digital Health Accelerator Fall 2019 class. •    We have a live product to expand and customize for the Air Force. •    We have signed commercial clients and an exciting strategy for commercial development. We are in Stage 9 of the Technology Readiness Level. Our Principal Investigator and Co-Founder Kendra Markle worked for six years at the Stanford Prevention Research Labs under an NIH grant. She is a former Director of Patient Wellness Innovation at Kaiser Permanente and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from MIT. Co-Founder John Hartman is an award-winning digital marketer who was named the iMedia Agency Marketer of the Year and is an expert on product commercialization. He was on the founding or executive team of two prior companies that were acquired and one that held an IPO. He holds a master’s degree in education and a master’s degree in business from The Ohio State University.