WeightWatchers for Business and its full-spectrum platform individualizes the experience to support employees wherever their weight health journey takes them.
Employee health problems cost U.S. companies more than $225 billion annually, and obesity is a key driver of absenteeism and related costs. The key to success is a full-spectrum health solution that can evolve and change along with your employees’ weight health needs.
“The healthcare ecosystem as a whole is challenging to navigate,” said Amy Meister, D.O., M.R.O., chief medical officer at WeightWatchers. “What we’ve tried to do is simplify that experience — we want to be that strategic partner offering an obesity-first approach to prevent, manage, and treat metabolic disease.”
Full-spectrum
For employers and health plans, that strategic partner is WeightWatchers for Business and its full-spectrum of care that can grow in intensity from behavior change to coaching and supportive communities to a virtual obesity clinic.
The key benefit is flexibility. “As your body and health changes over time, your needs change,” Dr. Meister noted. “Our best-in-class weight health program is tailored to the individual, and also to the organization’s benefit coverage decisions.”
The full-spectrum approach includes the ability to meet with a full care team comprising obesity-trained clinicians, registered dieticians, and fitness specialists, and access to weight-loss medications like GLP-1 agonists, including Wegovy or Zepbound, if appropriate. Combining the WeightWatchers behavioral program with these medications has been shown to help participants lose 11% more weight than with medication alone.
Optimal success with medications requires a nutrient-dense diet, and strength and resistance training to counter loss of muscle mass, demonstrating the need for a “full-spectrum” approach like WeightWatchers for Business and specifically its GLP-1 behavior change companion program.
“We’re a great partner to offer those services,” Meister said. “Establishing healthy sustained habits are integral to achieving health outcomes across an entire population and our program is proven to deliver just that.”
Long-standing client Labcorp recently announced that it is deepening its existing partnership with WeightWatchers for Business to offer the full-spectrum weight health platform available at no cost to Labcorp’s U.S. employees covered under its benefits plan. “Implementing this comprehensive program reflects Labcorp’s commitment to its employees to ensure they have the holistic support they need to achieve sustained health outcomes,” Meister said. A full-spectrum and fully covered weight health benefit can also boost employee acquisition, satisfaction, and retention.
Beyond the scale
In the past, it was common to think of weight as an isolated aspect of our existence — a number on the scale that had to be reduced. But the connection between an unhealthy weight and a range of chronic conditions, like diabetes, is clear.
“As a clinician, I don’t only treat someone’s diabetes,” Dr. Meister explained. “I don’t only treat their blood pressure. These are just a few examples — of the over 200 chronic conditions that are impacted by obesity — which respond positively to the behavior and lifestyle changes in our program.”
As diabetes reaches epidemic proportions — it’s the fastest growing chronic disease in the world — WeightWatchers continues to innovate, offering a CDC-accredited Diabetes Program and partnering with medical device maker Abbott to help its members track data from their continuous glucose monitors, allowing them to see how their lifestyle and behavioral choices affect their glycemic control.
“It puts people living with diabetes in the driver’s seat,” Meister added. “It’s a great example of how not to fragment care — it doesn’t matter what weight-related chronic condition you have, we can service it.”
That’s crucial for employers because they won’t need to buy separate solutions for their employees’ weight health needs, including other aspects of life impacted by overweight and obesity. Studies have demonstrated that weight loss can boost overall well-being, quality of life, and self-esteem while also boosting work performance.
Those benefits drive WeightWatchers to partner with institutions like the Cleveland Clinic, Stanford, Cambridge, and Johns Hopkins on clinical research to help them validate and evolve their programs.
“We’re doing studies internally and with our academic partners to answer a number of questions that nobody has really answered yet,” Dr. Meister explained. “For example, ‘If I stop taking this medication, will I always gain the weight back?’ Or, ‘What happens if I change to a different type of medication?’” While these studies are ongoing, Dr. Meister is confident in the positive impact of a full-spectrum weight health solution on long-term health outcomes and says to stay tuned for the results of the latest clinical trials.
The personal why
Meister advises that employers must remember that each of their employees is an individual with individual needs. “Anybody who embarks upon their personal journey in weight health has to understand their ‘personal why,’” she said. “And our ‘why’ at WeightWatchers for Business is supporting organizations in providing access to quality weight health care.
To learn more, visit weightwatchers.com/forbusiness
