As employers assess the ROI of diabetes prevention programs, new analysis shows that focusing on weight loss may be obscuring the real sources of value.
Success in virtual programs aimed at prediabetes—which combine the always-on utility of mobile apps with human coaching—is often graded on a sliding scale, pound by pound. They have become a go-to wellness intervention for employers who are spending billions of dollars each year in medical expenses and seeing productivity losses due to diabetes.
Just as doctors monitor patients’ weight fluctuations as a key factor in assessing diabetes risk, companies that administer diabetes prevention programs for employees look to weight-loss metrics as a key indicator of their return on investment (ROI). Simply put, weight loss is the clinical outcome most businesses evaluate in order to gauge the value of the program.
-Ryan Quan, director of data science and co-founder of the Omada Insights Lab.
New analysis shows that weight loss may be too narrow a lens for evaluating ROI. An analysis conducted by Omada Insights Lab—with data supplied by Cigna, correlated employers’ savings based on claims data as well as data on behavioral outcomes from Omada’s program. The analysis found that the Omada program—which leverages behavior-change science to design personalized programs with human coaching, peer support and daily goalsetting — led to net savings in employer spending, not only for members who lost weight, but for many who maintained or gained weight.
In fact, more surprisingly, the analysis revealed that behavior-based interventions (such as daily goal-setting, coaching and community support) are more directly correlated to improved health outcomes (such as better diet, positive self-image and reduced spending) than weight loss.
-Ryan Quan, director of data science and co-founder of the Omada Insights Lab.