Weight management: a guide for employers

Learn how to make better decisions for your teams without sacrificing their access to care.

Weight management and metabolic health are important for individual health and have a significant financial impact on employers, who bear many of the costs related to obesity. There are also many old conceptions about obesity that are outdated or flat-out wrong.

As GLP-1s remain in the spotlight, This new generation of weight loss medication belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists. It’s no surprise that alongside media attention, employers and health plans are evaluating whether to include GLP-1s in their formularies. There are two competing priorities: the undeniable need for effective obesity treatment and the need to contain costs.

While point solutions speculate on the cost-benefits of covering GLP-1s, employers deserve real data and the latest clinical understanding of obesity treatment. Myths around obesity and weight management persist, further complicating the appropriate role of GLP-1s in a cost-effective strategy.

Employers can reduce healthcare spend through the downstream health benefits of weight loss, yet traditional health plans and providers treat obesity as a willpower issue and not as a complex, chronic condition. The science behind new obesity medications signal a shift away from characterizing obesity as a personal failing to a chronic medical condition. These new therapies represent a promising sign of progress in the understanding of obesity. However, fixating on GLP-1s as a magic bullet misses the complex nature of obesity, especially for sustained weight loss and overall health.

Effective, lasting treatment for obesity should leverage a comprehensive, whole-person approach. Hello Alpha has created a guide for employers about weight management. It clears up the misconceptions and provides employers with the right level of detail to understand the impact of obesity and weight care on their organizations.

To help employers make informed, balanced decisions for their teams, this guide includes:

• The direct and indirect costs of excess weight and obesity for organizations
• Treatments and therapies that aren’t limited to GLP-1s
• Pervasive myths about weight that ineffective programs rely on
• Strategies to ensure obesity treatment programs are measurably cost effective

Hello Alpha is a virtual primary care platform that specializes in inclusive, expert care for all. Through technology and a specially-trained team of primary care providers (PCPs), Hello Alpha delivers whole-person care and expands healthcare accessibility. Hello Alpha’s approach to weight management balances lifestyle changes with new medication to deliver strong, sustained clinical outcomes in a cost-effective manner. Every patient partners with a dedicated PCP who provides personalized, preventive care and evidence-based treatment at every visit. Our platform eliminates the most common barriers to healthcare with asynchronous telehealth visits that empower patients to get care at any time without appointments, travel, or waiting rooms.

To read the complete guide, and learn more about how Hello Alpha can help your company, visit our website here.