What Is Digital Health Coaching? A Plain-English Guide

In this article:

• Digital coaching can support weight loss and health goals, including making healthy lifestyle changes to manage blood sugar. Lark’s digital coach offers education, support, tracking, and always-available chatting and feedback on your phone.
• Research shows that digital lifestyle programs can be an effective way to improve health outcomes when participants actively engage with them.
• Medicare covers digital and in-person Medicare-covered Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) in 2026.
• Eligibility requirements to participate in the MDPP include being overweight or obese, having a high fasting blood sugar or A1C test in the past 12 months, and not having a previous diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
• Compared to in-person group sessions, for many adults over 65, digital health coaching offers distinct practical advantages like convenience, flexibiity, and privacy. You don’t need to be a tech-savvy person to enroll in or participate in a digital MDPP like Lark.
• Eligible Medicare enrollees can participate in Lark’s MDPP using a smartphone. Lark is available 24/7 for coaching, support, encouragement, and information. 

When thinking of quality health care, many people might think of in-person visits with a family doctor in a familiar clinic with nurses and other staff who greet you. Personal connections like these can definitely be an important part of care, but technology is also integral to a quality care system. 

“Digital health” may sound hard to use, but it’s not. Technology is everywhere in healthcare - consider new ways of treating cancer, different methods of developing vaccinations, and robotic surgeries, for example. There are easier examples to see, too. If you’ve ever used a patient portal to message a provider or check test results, scheduled an appointment online, had a video chat or telephone call with a provider, or refilled a prescription online, you’ve already used digital health tools. 

Another category of virtual - or remote - care is digital health coaching. An example is a digital Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) like Lark. It’s a lifestyle change designed for seniors with prediabetes, or high blood sugar that’s lower than in diabetes. For eligible Medicare enrollees, the MDPP is a fully covered benefit with $0 in costs, co-pays, or deductibles. If you’re looking for simple programs to help manage high blood sugar, or your doctor has told you that you have prediabetes, here is a plain-English guide to what digital health coaching is, how it works, and how it can help you prevent or delay the onset of conditions like type 2 diabetes.

What Is Digital Health Coaching?

A health coach is a guide, supporter, and mentor, according to Cleveland Clinic. A health coach helps you figure out how to do what your healthcare provider asks you to do - like eat a certain way, achieve physical activity goals, or get more sleep, for example. A health coach doesn’t diagnose health conditions, provide treatment plans, or prescribe medications. 

A digital health coaching program uses technology and lifestyle guidance to help you achieve your goals. You might access the program on a tablet, computer, or smartphone, for example, instead of traveling to in-person appointments or prescheduled sessions.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) explains that digital health can have benefits like improving personalization, reducing costs, increasing quality of care, and improving access to care. A digital health coaching program can have these benefits. 

• Personalization, as your coach learns your background and patterns, and goals
• Motivation, as you make progress towards milestones and notice “wins” that may not be on the scale
• Habit-promoting, as you keep getting reminders and new strategies to hit your goals
• Consistency, since your coach may always be available to chat and give you the nudge, information, or empathy you need right when you need it

Lark is a digital health coaching app that uses evidence-based behavior change strategies to help you make lasting changes to lose weight and lower risk for diabetes. With consistent use and small steps, you can work with Lark to turn small changes into lasting habits that have a major impact. 

How Does Digital Health Coaching Work for Diabetes Prevention? 

There are many digital health coaching programs available, but an app for preventing diabetes can be a great example to consider for these reasons. 

1. Over half of older adults have prediabetes and are at risk for developing diabetes - but lifestyle changes can reverse prediabetes or slow its progression in this population.
2. The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) is a lifestyle change program that can lower risk for diabetes by over half. 
3. The MDPP is completely covered and available at $0 for eligible Medicare Part B and Medicare Advantage enrollees - and fully digital MDPP providers count, too.

An online MDPP like Lark is a year-long digital coaching program that provides support in key areas. Primary program goals are to lose 5% of body weight and to achieve at least 150 minutes per week of at least moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity. 

Here are examples of what digital health coaching might include in an MDPP.

• Logging meals, tracking activity, and weighing regularly
• Learning about key topics in nutrition, activity, sleep, and stress management - plus day-to-day tips to help you stay on track without being overwhelmed
• Setting goals that are realistic, easy to track, and broken down into smaller goals
• Being able to chat with your digital coach anytime - and having opportunities to interact with a live, CDC-certified lifestyle coach. 

A digital coach can help with health goals like losing weight, being more active, managing stress, and getting adequate sleep, for example. 

How Does Digital Health Coaching Compare to Traditional In-Person Coaching? 

Are you considering digital health coaching? Here are some things to think about as you consider in-person programs versus digital programs. 

Remember, you don't need to be "good with technology" to use digital health coaching. Programs like Lark MDPP are simple to use - they’re as easy as sending text messages in many cases. You can check eligibility and enroll in just minutes. 

See If You Qualify at No Cost to You

Lark's Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program offers personal health coaching delivered right to your phone - built around the same CDC-recognized program that showed a 71% risk reduction in adults over 60. There is no cost to eligible Medicare members. 

Lark can help you stay on track with your weight and health goals as you log, track, and chat. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement, nutrition and physical activity coaching, and habit tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications. 

Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark MDPP or another Lark program today!