ROI in Diabetes Prevention: Moving Beyond Weight Loss

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.