How Cove is using telehealth to help employees manage migraines

Nearly 39 million people suffer from migraines, according to the American Migraine Foundation, making it the third most common illness in the world. Yet stigma and misunderstandings around the impact of this chronic condition mean that most employees aren't getting the treatment or support they need. 

"We have to help educate people that this isn't a headache, it actually is a chronic disease," says Neil Parikh, chief medical officer of Thirty Madison, a telemedicine platform. "It shows up in people's lives on an almost daily basis — it's a huge loss of productivity and the leading cause of days lost to disability in the workplace." 

Cove, the platform's migraine treatment provider, found that 50% of employees with migraines point to it as the leading cause holding them back in their career, and 30% have turned down career opportunities because of their concern around how migraines would impact their performance at work. 

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While most people perceive a migraine as simply a powerful headache, the symptoms before and after the episode can be debilitating. The average migraine can last between 4-72 hours, and could involve four phases: pre-headache, where a patient experiences symptoms like fatigue and light sensitivity. That progresses to the aura phase, where vision may be impacted. The actual headache is characterized by intense pain on either side of the head, along with nausea, anxiety and light and sound sensitivity. Finally, a "migraine hangover" leaves individuals with fatigue, body aches and dizziness, among other symptoms. 

"People do not appreciate how complex and how debilitating migraines are," Parikh says. "The best way to manage a migraine is to prevent one, and the vast majority of patients are not on the appropriate preventative therapies for their chronic condition." 

While proper diagnosis is a challenge, nearly half of people who suffer from migraines don't have access to a headache specialist or specialty migraine care, Cove data found. The platform is hoping to fill those gaps with their telemedicine platform, which beyond providing medication management services, works with patients one-on-one to build a holistic treatment plan. 

"We immediately increase the access to the right type of care, and it isn't just the medication," Parikh says. "What are the right combinations of medications? What are the right lifestyle interventions for you? What is the right kind of cognitive behavioral therapy that will help you manage those triggers and symptoms? We're trying to find the balance for that patient." 

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In addition to migraine support, Cove sits under the Thirty Madison umbrella, an integrated telemedicine platform that offers care options for reproductive health, allergy treatment, and dermatology, among others. Support for specific chronic conditions can ensure that all employees' needs are appropriately handled, Parikh says. 

"At the end of the day, we certainly want to be able to help employers in managing migraines, but we are able to manage a whole lot more," he says. "You don't want to go into contract with ten different point solutions. You want to work with a platform that powers multiple solutions that are applicable to your employees, and then get the right data and information into how their employees are being taken care of."