Weight management programs suffer from lack of innovation

With more than one-third of U.S. adults being obese, employer-sponsored weight management programs can play an important role in the effort to get Americans to adopt healthier lifestyles.

“Employers are the last available influence on an employee to become healthier,” says Joe Ellis, senior vice president at CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services, Inc. Yet a one-size-fits-all approach to weight management interventions is not the solution to the obesity epidemic, says the Northeast Business Group on Health in a new report.

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Despite listing obesity and weight management as their top three concerns, half of the employers surveyed by NEBGH have a targeted program in the works and three-quarters are “less than satisfied” with their current program.

“There needs to be the next generation of employer weight management programs,” says Laurel Pickering, president and CEO of NEBGH, an employer-led coalition of health care leaders and stakeholders. “There needs to be innovation.”

Employers may want to consider taking a step back from traditional, core programs that include healthy eating and onsite policies, and employer-sponsored coaching. “We need to really go to the next level to move the needle,” Pickering says.

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Last year, the American Medical Association designated obesity as a disease. As a result, it was noted that medical intervention could help to progress treatment and prevention towards better, more profound results. The NEBGH’s says new innovative technology approaches, value-based benefit designs and incorporating new prescription and bariatric surgeries into plan design should all be considered.

While medications and surgical approaches may not be as widespread, the NEBGH states in its October report that digital health applications, such as well-known activity trackers, diet and nutritional tools and virtual health coaching, and value-based benefit plans may be a good place for most employers to start when it comes to engagement, Pickering says. “The employer can’t just take one approach to be successful,” she adds.

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“In weight management, you really need to help people understand what contributes, other than exercise, which many people hate to do,” Ellis explains.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. is about $147 billion. Also, the medical costs associated with people that are obese were $1,429 higher than those that were not obese, according to the CDC.

“We know that losing weight is a tool to improve the health of people with chronic diseases and we know that by managing chronic disease we can save costs,” Pickering says. The NEBGH report recommends employers adopt a multi-layered approach, incorporating core programs along with emerging interventions to best reach employees.

But, according to Ellis, a 20-year veteran in employee benefits consulting, employers need to ask themselves if they are really creating new, healthy, sustainable habits among their workforce. If not, they may be wasting their time.

“The employer has to have a value statement that says that they value health, or they value optimal weight, and it has to be lived and breathed,” Ellis explains. “They’ve got to have a place that values it.”