ArticleObesity (Silver Spring, Md.)2021
Return on Investment: Medical Savings of an Employer-Sponsored Digital Intensive Lifestyle Intervention, Weight Loss.
Article in Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Economic Evaluation Associated With Clinical-Grade Mobile App-Based Digital Therapeutic Interventions: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Healthcare Cost Impacts of Telehealth-Delivered Nutrition Therapy among US Adults with Type 2 Diabetes or Obesity: A Matched Difference-in-Differences Analysis.Diabetes therapy : research, treatment and education of diabetes and related disorders · 2026Article
- Risk equalization and prevention.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Article
- Economic Impact of a Precision Nutrition Digital Therapeutic on Employer Health Costs: A Multi-Employer and Multi-Year Claims Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Health care resource utilization and health care costs among digital weight-loss intervention participants and nonparticipants.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Article
- Differential effect by chronic disease risk: A secondary analysis of the ChooseWell 365 randomized controlled trial.Preventive medicine reports · 2024Article
- The Impact of a Digital Weight Loss Intervention on Health Care Resource Utilization and Costs Compared Between Users and Nonusers With Overweight and Obesity: Retrospective Analysis Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Article
- Assessing the Clinical Robustness of Digital Health Startups: Cross-sectional Observational Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- An Innovative Approach to Employer-Provided Benefits for Obesity Care: A Case Report on H-E-B's Healthier Lifestyle Choices Program.NAM perspectives · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to determine the medical cost impact and return on investment (ROI) of a large, commercial, digital, weight-management intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) program (Real Appeal).
methodsParticipants in this program were compared with a control group matched by age, sex, geographic region, health risk, baseline medical costs, and chronic conditions. Medical costs were defined as the total amount paid for all medical expenses, inclusive of both the insurers' and the study participants' responsibility.
resultsIn the 3 years following program registration, the intent-to-treat (ITT) cohort had significantly lower medical expenditures than the matched controls, with an average of -$771 or 12% lower costs (P = 0.002). Among 4,790 ITT participants, a total savings of $3,693,090 compared with total program costs of $1,639,961 translated into a 2.3:1 ROI. Program completers (n = 3,990), who attended more sessions than the overall ITT group, had greater mean weight loss (-4.4%), greater cost savings (-$956 or 14%), and an ROI of 2.0:1 over the 3-year time frame compared with matched controls.
conclusionsThe findings demonstrated that the digital weight-management ILI was associated with a significantly positive ROI. Employers and payers willing to cover the cost of an ILI that produces both weight loss and demonstrated cost benefits can improve health and save money for their population with overweight or obesity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.