Low Carb Journey

Accelerate Blue Foundry - 2025 (Life Sciences)

OVERVIEW  

Obesity remains a leading threat to both individual and public health, contributing to a host of chronic conditions such as prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. In busy primary care clinics, patients are often advised to “just eat less, and exercise more”, or are prescribed high-cost weight-loss medications (e.g., semaglutide, tirzepatide). These strategies often fail to meet patients’ diverse preferences and needs. While evidence demonstrates that low-carbohydrate diets can support weight loss and reverse metabolic disease, most patients lack access to effective low-carbohydrate nutrition counseling.

Low Carb Journey (LCJ) is an evidence-based, highly scalable digital solution that expands access to effective low-carbohydrate nutrition counseling. LCJ is a fully automated nutrition and lifestyle counseling program, seamlessly embedded within Michigan Medicine’s Epic electronic health record (EHR). Clinicians can recommend LCJ to eligible patients, who then access concise, engaging video modules and supportive resources via their patient portal. LCJ facilitates weekly patient self-reporting of weight and carbohydrate intake, with data automatically documented in the EHR—empowering both patients and clinicians to track progress and personalize care.

DESCRIPTION  

LCJ is delivered over four months as an interactive series of brief (4-5 minute), easy-to-understand video lessons. The program teaches practical skills for initiating and sustaining a low-carbohydrate lifestyle, including meal planning, navigating social situations, and overcoming common barriers such as cravings or side effects. LCJ’s video content can be viewed here: LCJ-Week 16.

Key Features that Differentiate LCJ from Other Nutrition Counseling Programs:

• EHR Integration: LCJ is delivered using Epic’s Care Companion. Care Companion is a patient-facing extension of the Epic EHR system designed to enhance care management and patient engagement between clinical visits. Care Companion enables delivery of personalized care plans and educational content and facilitates remote monitoring of clinical data (e.g., weight).
• Accessible Education: LCJ delivers high quality low-carbohydrate nutrition counseling information in bite-sized portions and allows patients to access and review this information on their own time.
• Remote Monitoring: LCJ users are prompted to self-report their weight and carbohydrate intake at regular intervals (e.g., weekly). This allows clinicians and care teams to monitor progress proactively identity and support patients that may need additional support (e.g., weight-loss non-responders).
• Scalability: Automation and digital delivery allow for cost-effective, wide-reaching implementation.
• Evidence Alignment: All content aligns with the latest clinical guidelines and obesity management recommendations.

VALUE PROPOSITION  

• Integrated Access: Direct EHR integration ensures seamless involvement of both providers and patients, with real-time progress monitoring and intervention adjustment.
• Engagement-Focused: Short, engaging video modules and interactive features increase adherence and user satisfaction.
• Low Cost, High Impact: LCJ is designed to be a low-cost intervention; even modest success rates (e.g., 10% of users) can translate to significant reductions in reliance on expensive weight-loss medications or other resources.
• Personalization: Regular self-reporting creates a robust feedback loop, allowing for tailored support and more precise outcomes tracking.
• Scalable and Adaptable: LCJ is easily packaged for deployment across Epic-based health systems and can be adapted for use in other EHR systems or settings.

TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL    

MARKET OPPORTUNITY  

Obesity and related chronic conditions threaten the health of millions of US adults and cost the healthcare system billions of dollars.

LCJ meets a growing demand for scalable, accessible, low-cost and technology-driven patient education:

• Widely Relevant: Ideal for healthcare organizations, primary care clinics, and telemedicine providers seeking to optimize chronic disease management while reducing provider workload.
• Epic-Ready: LCJ was developed using the Care Companion feature of the widely adopted Epic EHR. LCJ is currently available at Michigan Medicine and can be readily integrated into the EHR of other healthcare systems and primary are practices using Epic’s Turbocharger approach. This approach is designed to accelerate the adoption and integration of specialized programs (e.g., LCJ) by packaging all necessary configurations, content, and build components together. This enables organizations using Epic to rapidly “import” and activate new features or clinical programs with minimal disruption and reduced IT resource requirements.
• Adaptable: The content and platform can be readily customized for non-Epic systems, enhancing itsaddressable market.
• Future Expansion: If successful, LCJ’s proven framework can be applied to additional evidence-based dietary interventions (e.g., Mediterranean diet), broadening its clinical and commercial impact.
• Competitive Position: With the rise of costly telehealth solutions for weight management, LCJ offers a powerful, free alternative for patients and a low-cost, population-level intervention for providers and payors.

Key Market Drivers:

• Increasing rates of obesity and metabolic disease
• Expanding adoption of virtual care and digital therapeutics
• Demand for accessible, evidence-based, and technology-driven patient self-management resources

Supporting Trends:

• The continued surge in digital therapeutic adoption, virtual care in chronic disease, and the popularity of Epic EHR position LCJ at the center of a high-growth market for integrated, outcomes-oriented digital health solutions.