Eli Lilly Debuts Digital Healthcare Platform for Chronic Illness Patients

Drugmaker Eli Lilly has launched a digital healthcare platform for obesity, migraine and diabetes patients.

LillyDirect, announced on the company website Thursday (Jan. 4), offers things like access to independent healthcare providers and direct home delivery of certain Lilly medicines via third-party pharmacy dispensing services.

David A. Ricks, Lilly’s chair and CEO, said the platform is designed to ease the burden of patients living with chronic illnesses as they navigate the U.S. health system.

“With LillyDirect, our goal is to relieve some of those burdens by simplifying the patient experience to help improve outcomes,” Ricks said. “LillyDirect offers more choices in how and where people access healthcare, including a convenient home delivery option to fill Lilly medicines they have been prescribed.”

Among the offerings included in the platform is LillyDirect Pharmacy Solutions, a digital pharmacy for some Lilly medications that lets patients get consistent access to their prescribed drugs, delivered to them at home.

They’ll also get access to healthcare education information and to independent telehealth providers, as well as a search tool that lets patients find nearby healthcare professionals if they would rather receive care in person.

The launch of LillyDirect is happening at a moment in which telehealth services are becoming more and more popular across age groups. That includes baby boomers, a group often stereotyped as resistant to technology.

In fact, contrary to stereotypes, a joint PYMNTS-Lynx study found that 64% of baby boomers and seniors were actively engaging with digital healthcare activities.

“Nearly two-thirds of this demographic have also participated in digital healthcare activities in the past year, indicating their openness to using technology for managing their medical services and benefits,” PYMNTS wrote last month.

In addition, that study also showed that older Americans were more satisfied with their digital healthcare experiences than the average consumer when it comes to key activities such as scheduling appointments, accessing digital pharmacies and refilling prescriptions online.

“This suggests that older individuals not only embrace digital channels but also find value in them, challenging the notion that they are resistant to technology,” PYMNTS wrote.

In fact, the biggest divide in terms of embracing and not embracing digital healthcare might lie with geography, not age. Additional research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found decreasing digital healthcare participation among consumers in rural areas, while urban consumers’ digital connectivity increased.

“Out of the nine digital healthcare activities tracked, rural consumers reported decreased engagement in seven categories year over year, while their urban counterparts increased engagement across all nine,” that report said.