Never before has there been a combination of popularity and cost like GLP-1s have generated.
Speaking of cost, here is our Weight Loss Drug Economics Calculator (WLDEC), where you can enter your own assumptions for utilization – and actually track those assumptions, starting with direct cost and the savings offset, all the way through to the impact on total comp costs and even profit margins.
Before their journey
Using WLDEC might lead you to conclude that, financially, you shouldn't cover weight loss drugs at all, but that may be impractical from an employee relations viewpoint. The optimal strategy, to thread the cost-vs-coverage needle, would authorize the drugs only for folks who are committed to using them as intended. That's because they have the greatest chances of keeping the weight off afterwards. Then, you'd educate and support them to help them realize those chances.
That’s exactly what Quizzify does. Our initial Before Your Journey quizzes address 22 side effects and downsides, allowing would-be users to “self-preauthorize.” Those seeking a magic bullet learn enough about the pitfalls to drop out before you spend 4- or 5-figure sums on their ultimately futile quest.
Weight Loss Drug Companion Quiz Set
We then support the serious continuing users. First, our Digestive Side Effects quiz (sample question above) guides them through the toughest month. Then, 10 more months of teaching nutrition, exercise and more, to help convert serious intentions into informed decisions and actions. Most people don’t know, for example, that Nutrition Facts labels, originally designed to inform consumers, are now used to snooker them.
Obviously it's impossible to promise that only serious users will play and that only serious players will succeed, but this article explains how we come much closer than anyone. PBMs can't do it at all. Along with possible conflicts because they make more money selling more drugs, BMI thresholds for authorization can easily be gamed via binge-eating before the weigh-in, like they were in the old days of outcomes-based wellness.
We can also work with coaches. While we are happy to work with any coaching solution, US Preventive Medicine has integrated Quizzify into its own coaching to maximize value. By contrast, other coaching vendors may perceive Quizzify as low-cost, high-value competition. Nonetheless, a mutual introduction might allow us to convince them that we are a high-impact complement to coaching, dramatically enhancing their success at little additional cost.
*You could even require playing each month as part of continuing authorization requirements. If you are going to pay for these drugs, it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask employees to understand how to benefit from them.
