January 13, 2026

Addressing GLP-1 Costs: Personalized Care Protects ROI

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As the GLP-1 conversation evolves, Omada Health is updating its industry FAQs to deliver timely data and insights for virtual care buyers.

Our previous guides addressed new indications and their impact on employers and payers, as well as early outcomes of Omada’s Enhanced GLP-1 Care Track.

This guide addresses a reigning industry dilemma: though GLP-1 costs are declining, demand continues to rise. How can organizations manage the costs?

A popular industry solution has been to off-ramp patients as soon as possible to relieve payers of short-term prescription costs. However, recent data from Omada Insights Lab’s ANSWERS Initiative suggests that medication persistence, rather than early discontinuation, is key to GLP-1 cost containment and ROI. 
Read on for the latest research on how Omada’s Enhanced GLP-1 Care Track can drive favorable health outcomes and decrease financial waste.

GLP-1 Persistence is Crucial for Outcomes and ROI

Q: What does “medication persistence” refer to, and why is it important?
A: Medication persistence refers to the patient's ability to stay on the treatment over the prescribed length of time, and is a crucial factor in achieving intended health outcomes. For GLP-1s, the benefit of weight loss is often contingent upon continued use of the medication. However, early discontinuation is common due to cost, lack of access, and side effects. Early discontinuation can hinder the achievement of clinically meaningful results.
Q: How long do patients need to persist on GLP-1s?
A: Medication persistence is measured based on the prescribed length of time. So there is no time-bound answer to this question, as it depends on the individual’s care plan with their prescribing provider. Current clinical trial data shows that GLP-1s lead to significant weight loss (15-20%) after one year of consistent usage. However, real-world data shows conflicting persistence trends, with one study revealing that 63% of patients persist for at least one year, while another shows that one-third of people stopped taking their GLP-1 in the first month, and less than half stayed on for more than 12 weeks.
Q: Why is persisting on a GLP-1 more difficult in the real world than in clinical trials?
A: Participants in clinical trials often have extensive support for concerns like side effect management and don’t face real-world barriers such as cost and changing insurance coverage. In everyday life, these challenges become significant obstacles and lead to high discontinuation rates.

 

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Q: How does Omada help members persist on their GLP-1s to achieve meaningful weight loss?
A: A new data analysis by Omada Insights Lab analyzed engagement, medication persistence, and weight loss results for members in Omada’s Enhanced GLP-1 Care Track through 12 months in the program. The findings indicate that:
  • 67% of Omada members were persistent on their medication at one year and experienced weight loss comparable to clinical trials
  • Average weight loss at one year in the program was 18.4% for members persistent on medication and 13.1% for members who discontinued before one year
  • In terms of engagement. members completed more than 10 actions a week on average

This data suggests that providing the right kind of support to promote GLP-1 persistence can help patients achieve clinical trial-level weight loss, setting the stage for cardiometabolic disease risk reduction.

 

Enhanced GLP-1 Care Track: Five Pillars of Support

Care team

Care Team

Dedicated care team right-sized for GLP-1 companion care.

  • Health Coach
  • Cardiometabolic Specialist
  • Exercise Specialist
  • Behavioral Health Specialist1
Activity

Activity 

Enhanced exercise support integrating 10 years of digital MSK expertise.

  • Targeted exercise plans
  • Muscle building focus
  • Interactive animated exercise demonstrations
  • Dedicated Exercise Specialist2
Education

Education

Specialized GLP-1 curriculum to support self-education.

  • Selection of GLP-1 learning paths
  • Lessons picked for each member
  • Custom goal setting
  • CDCES-led peer communities
Persistence

Persistence

Targeted support to overcome common barriers to medication persistence. 

  • Side effect management
  • Injection guidance
  • Medication access support
  • Lifestyle tips while titrating or  tapering medication
Nutrition

Nutrition

New food innovations to support GLP-1 members with nutritional adjustments.  

  • Prioritizing protein and nutrient dense foods
  • Food coaching and real-time nutrition AI answers
  • Responsive meal tracking
  • Appetite and mindset tools

1 Care team assignments: Health coach - all cardiometabolic programs; Cardiometabolic specialist- Diabetes and Hypertension programs; Physical Therapist- Musculoskeletal program; Behavioral health specialist- all programs.
2 Exercise Specialists are assigned to members once they indicate via a standard PAR-Q assessment that it is safe to exercise.

Q: How does GLP-1 persistence protect ROI?
A: Medication persistence can reduce financial waste. 

When patients show low GLP-1 persistence or discontinue their medications early, they don’t achieve the weight loss needed to reduce their risk for cardiometabolic diseases, and payers face wasted spend and insufficient ROI. 

Our data suggests that with Omada’s support, patients are able to persist on their medications to achieve meaningful weight loss, which improves outcomes and protects ROI.

Persisting on GLP-1s with the support of Omada’s Enhanced GLP-1 Care Track also facilitates healthy behavior change, paving the way for patients to maintain their health outcomes for the next step of their journey, whether it’s  persisting on the therapy or PCP-advised discontinuation.

Persistence and Discontinuation: Two Sides of the GLP-1 Cost Equation

Q: Is GLP-1 discontinuation the ultimate goal for patients?
A: It depends. Obesity is a chronic condition, and patients may benefit from taking GLP-1s long term, especially if they also have conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea, or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).  Other patients may work with their providers to lower their dose or discontinue the medication altogether once their weight loss goals are achieved and a healthy lifestyle foundation is established. Transitioning off GLP-1s requires ongoing support, with specialized care between doctor’s visits to support healthy behaviors and weight maintenance.

 

Data Shows 12–Month Weight Maintenance Post-GLP-1s

Q: How long can members maintain weight loss after discontinuing their GLP-1 medications?
A: Our previous GLP-1 Guide shared outcomes from Omada Insights Labs’ first discontinuation analysis, which looked at weight maintenance outcomes at 16-weeks. Our latest discontinuation research examines weight maintenance up to one year after GLP-1 discontinuation. Here’s what we found:

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  • At 12 months, Omada members largely demonstrated weight maintenance (0.8% average weight change), compared to patients regaining nearly half the weight back in clinical trials.
  • At 12 months, 63.2% of members maintained or continued to lose weight.
  • At six and nine months post-discontinuation, Omada members demonstrated 0.03% and 0.6% average weight change, respectively.
Q: Does Omada support GLP-1 discontinuation or persistence? Aren’t these contradicting scenarios?
A: Our data shows that GLP-1 persistence and discontinuation aren’t contradicting scenarios, but rather, two connecting paths on a patient’s weight loss journey.

In order to achieve desired weight loss outcomes and avoid financial waste, patients must persist on their GLP-1s for the prescribed duration.

Those who do discontinue must maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors to sustain their weight loss and decreased risk for chronic disease.

Omada provides specialized lifestyle and medication support for every part of a member’s health journey, so they can all achieve meaningful health outcomes.

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ROI is One Piece of the Value Puzzle

As the healthcare landscape shifts toward greater integration of virtual care solutions, it is increasingly important to articulate the Value on Investment (VOI) of virtual care. The American Medical Association (AMA) created the holistic Return on Health framework¹ to capture the broad value that virtual care programs may deliver to all relevant stakeholders, including patients, providers, payers, and society at large.  

It was designed to provide standardized guidance for defining targets and objectives for health systems by improving patient care, enhancing population health, reducing costs, promoting provider well-being, and advancing health equity. As a multi-condition care provider for cardiometabolic and musculoskeletal (MSK) health, Omada Health is embracing the Return on Health framework to thoroughly articulate the value of care we provide and encouraging the virtual health industry to follow suit in service of establishing standardized industry expectations. Read our full VOI report here.

 

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