Evidence-Based Wellness Benefits: Structuring Programs for Long-Term Impact and Value

Choosing whether to launch or sustain an employee wellness program can be a tough call for benefits teams, especially amid tight budgets and limited resources. Despite the mounting clinical evidence that lifestyle changes can delay or prevent chronic diseases and reduce mortality risk, wellness programs often suffer from low engagement and unclear ROI. Yet, meaningful outcomes are possible when the benefit and program are designed more strategically: pay only for effective engagement, remove employee cost-shares, foster trusted information and communication sources, ensure access and readiness-aligned services, and allow provider choice to build healing relationships. Progress should be measured through ongoing analysis of medical and pharmacy claims and total cost of care against a risk-adjusted matched cohort. When these core elements are in place, employers can support long-term wellness initiatives with greater confidence in their clinical and financial value. Recent research supports this approach—one study found sustained midlife weight loss significantly reduces chronic disease risk and all-cause mortality (Strandberg et al., 2025), while another showed early intensive lifestyle intervention is more effective than metformin in delaying type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals (Knowler, 2025).

Strandberg, T. E., Strandberg, A. Y., Jyväkorpi, S., et al. (2025). Weight Loss in Midlife, Chronic Disease Incidence, and All-Cause Mortality During Extended Follow-Up. JAMA Network Open, 8(5), e2511825. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.11825

Knowler, W. C., Doherty, L., Edelstein, S. L., et al. (2025). Long-term effects and effect heterogeneity of lifestyle and metformin interventions on type 2 diabetes incidence over 21 years in the US Diabetes Prevention Program randomized clinical trial. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 13(6), 469–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(25)00022-1