News|Articles|June 3, 2026

What Managed Care Should Watch at ADA 2026 Scientific Sessions

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Key Takeaways

Late-breaking data for retatrutide, CagriSema, survodutide, and oral elecoglipron are poised to reshape near-term formulary strategy and utilization management for obesity and metabolic disease.
Real-world GLP-1 persistence remains a limiting factor, with adherence declining from 65% at 120 days to 34% at one year, and out-of-pocket cost driving discontinuation.
Semaglutide’s ~60% share among nondiabetic overweight/obesity use intensifies employer and payer budget impact concerns as additional high-cost incretin entrants approach approval.
ADA Standards of Care updates and inaugural 2026 overweight/obesity standards will influence coverage criteria, quality metrics, and value-based contracting, including potential shifts beyond BMI-defined obesity.
AI adoption in diabetes care is advancing faster than outcomes and cost-effectiveness evidence, creating near-term evaluation needs for plans and systems considering AI-assisted clinical tools.

GLP-1s, care standards updates, nutritional guidance, and AI adoption in diabetes management are just a few of the hot topics to be presented and debated.

The world’s largest diabetes meeting convenes this week in New Orleans, with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies, updated clinical standards, and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in diabetes care taking center stage and raising high-stakes questions for payers, health systems, and clinicians navigating a rapidly shifting treatment landscape. Late-breaking clinical trials, updated treatment guidelines, and emerging technologies will all be on the docket.

The 86th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) run June 5-8, 2026, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

The meeting is expected to once again draw more than 12,000 physicians, scientists, researchers, and health care professionals from more than 115 countries around the globe, with programming spanning 200 sessions across 25 topic areas that include clinical nutrition, diabetes education, gene regulation, immunology, new technology, obesity, and behavioral medicine.^1-3 As of 2023, 40.1 million individuals in the US were living with diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, which translates to 12% of the entire population having the chronic metabolic disease.⁴ An estimated 115.2 million people are living with prediabetes, and 2.1 million with type 1 diabetes.

GLP-1 Therapy Pipeline Takes Center Stage

Perhaps no storyline at this year's meeting carries more weight for managed care stakeholders than the expanding GLP-1 landscape. The conference will feature a wave of next-generation agent data, including late-stage results on retatrutide—a triple agonist targeting gastric inhibitory polypeptide, GLP-1, and glucagon receptors—alongside data on cagrilintide plus semaglutide (CagriSema), survodutide, and the oral small molecule elecoglipron.⁵

These presentations land against a backdrop of persistent payer and access challenges. As The American Journal of Managed Care^® has previously reported, GLP-1 receptor agonist coverage remains highly variable, and real-world persistence falls well short of clinical trial benchmarks, with a recent analysis finding that adherence drops from 65% at 120 days to just 34% at 1 year among patients initiating therapy for obesity.⁶ Out-of-pocket cost was among the key drivers of discontinuation, underscoring the cost-access tension that will likely frame discussions around next-generation agents as they move toward approval.⁷

For managed care audiences, the pipeline data at ADA 2026 arrives as formulary and utilization management decisions are already under pressure, with semaglutide rising to a 60% share in the nondiabetic obese or overweight group—a trend payers and employers will need to plan for as novel agents enter the market.⁸

Standards-of-Care Updates Signal Shifts in Clinical Benchmarks

A perennial highlight of the Scientific Sessions, the ADA’s Standards of Care updates—taking place on Saturday, June 6—carry direct implications for coverage policy, quality measures, and value-based care contracts. This year’s agenda includes sessions dedicated to both the ADA’s annual standards of care in diabetes presentations and the inaugural Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity: 2026 Updates.³

The obesity standards release is a significant development, as health systems and payers will look to ADA guidance to anchor clinical appropriateness criteria and inform tiered coverage strategies. A debate session, “BMI on Trial: Should It Still Define Obesity,” signals that the underlying measurement frameworks are also under review, with implications for how populations are identified and stratified for treatment.

AI, Nutrition, and Epidemiology

Beyond the drug pipeline and standards updates, the 2026 program addresses several topics with meaningful managed care dimensions: practical and economic questions surrounding AI adoption in diabetes management, an area where deployment is accelerating faster than evidence on outcomes or cost-effectiveness; the population-level and social determinants context that increasingly shapes how managed care organizations think about prevention and chronic disease management; and emerging diabetes-focused technologies.