A digital Diabetes Prevention Program that is delivered through a smartphone app is being piloted in Alberta. This app provides participants with one-on-one support from health coaches virtually in order to promote healthy lifestyles and better manage risk factors.
The offering of this year-long lifestyle change program is a collaboration between Alberta Blue Cross®, Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) Diabetes, Obesity & Nutrition Strategic Clinical Network™ (SCN), primary care providers and Yes Health—a leading digital health provider focused on weight loss, diabetes prevention and concierge health coaching.
This virtual Diabetes Prevention Program (vDPP) is available to eligible Albertans through participating primary care providers and is aimed at preventing type 2 diabetes among adults who have prediabetes.
In Alberta, approximately 667,000 people live with prediabetes – which places individuals at a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes because of having higher than normal blood glucose levels. The province had the largest increase in diabetes prevalence in Canada over the last 10 years, and the rate of type 1 and type 2 diabetes is expected to rise another 44 percent over the next decade.
