MAP Health Management,, a company delivers technology-enabled solutions, has announced a strategic partnership with Lief Therapeutics designed to recognize elevated anxiety levels in people with addiction who are served by MAP's patient engagement ecosystem. Lief Therapeutics is the creator of the Lief Smart Patch, a biosensing wearable device that monitors heart and breath rates to identify anxiety levels and can provide biofeedback exercises to aid in reducing anxiety.
The strategic partnership will launch with a pilot programme in May of this year wherein 50 individuals currently engaged with MAP and who have a history of anxiety issues will begin using the Lief Smart Patch. MAP will migrate data collected by the patch into its data store, where it will be leveraged to support early relapse identification and care coordination.
The goal of the pilot is to understand how identifying early-onset and elevated anxiety in individuals with Substance Use Disorder can help improve clinical outcomes through enabling better access to care precisely when it is needed. MAP and Lief will present population level findings to various national insurance carriers and health systems to demonstrate how identifying and treating active anxiety within the Substance Use Disorder population has a significant impact on improving clinical outcomes and reducing costs over time.
The patch is worn during the waking hours on the ribcage and syncs with a mobile app for a bi-directional data transfer. Anxiety levels, or even panic attacks, are identified through monitoring various biofeedback indicators such as heart rate variability and breathing patterns. MAP's alerting technology will allow pre-assigned case managers to reach out to the individual as they are experiencing symptoms of anxiety.
"About 40% of individuals served by MAP have a history of anxiety issues. What's very clear in our data is that people in recovery from addiction but with untreated anxiety issues tend to have poor outcomes. We believe that elevated anxiety is a leading indicator of a potential return to substance use. The Lief Smart Patch is going to enable us to get actionable data in real-time to change the trajectory and affect a better outcome," said Jacob Levenson, chief executive officer of MAP Health Management, LLC.
"Anxiety and stress affect every aspect of a patient's life and care cycle. We're excited to provide patients and doctors with a tool that tracks and improves symptoms of stress in-the-moment, helping intervene with patients when they need it most. This initiative with MAP is a big step in the right direction – empowering patients with data-driven, cost-effective preventative measures," said Rohan Dixit, chief executive officer of Lief Therapeutics.
The Lief Therapeutics strategic partnership is the fourth announced by MAP in recent months as MAP continues to expand its robust ecosystem of patients, providers, insurance companies, and technology products, all of which are integrated into MAP's population health platform. MAP is generally recognized as having the most robust risk identification and data reporting environment related to addiction in the country.
MAP delivers technology-enabled solutions, including telehealth and other remote engagement devices and applications, that improve clinical and financial outcomes for chronic behavioral health disorders such as substance use disorder.
Lief Therapeutics offers a break-through wearable sensor for stress and anxiety management to consumers, patients, healthcare providers and health systems.