As healthcare costs continue to soar—with some estimates projecting a nearly 6% increase in employer spend this year—organizations are getting proactive to help blunt the impact. Like in many other aspects of HR and benefits administration, technology plays a role—including through the application of “digital twin” technology.
Rising costs, particularly related to the use of GLP-1 medications for weight management, were among the factors that drove HR software and services provider Dayforce to provide employees access to Twin Health’s digital twin technology offering. The solution leverages AI to create a replica of each plan member’s unique metabolism, which, combined with clinical support, is intended to guide their journey toward achievable health goals.
According to Twin Health, the tool has enabled users to drop an average of 14 pounds over six months and see a 2.2-point decrease in A1C levels, while 73% of commercial users have eliminated their use of medications and 77% have improved insulin resistance.
Weight gain after the discontinuation of GLP-1s is a significant concern for many employers considering the cost impact of covering the drugs. Twin Health found that users who stopped the medications continued to lose an average of 6% of their body weight over the next year, while non-users gained an average of 13% back in the same period.
“While the rising cost of GLP-1s certainly played a role in our desire to add Twin Health to our benefit offerings, we also wanted to meaningfully improve the health of our employees by equipping them with a resource that teaches them how to make and sustain healthy lifestyle changes,” says Tom Armani, director of global benefits at Dayforce.
Digital twin technology: How it works
Dayforce was introduced to Twin Health in 2022 and piloted its tech for employees and their adult dependents living with Type 2 diabetes. Armani says the organization was “impressed” with the clinical results: reductions in weight and A1C levels, plus the elimination of high-cost medications for some employees.
The following year, Dayforce rolled out another pilot for pre-diabetic employees and dependents—the success of which prompted the organization to officially incorporate Twin Health as a benefit for plan members who are pre-diabetic and those with Type 2 diabetes.
Last year, Dayforce was one of the three initial clients—alongside Bayview and Applegreen—to roll out Twin Health’s Healthy Weight program. Similar to its offerings for pre-diabetes and diabetes, the solution emphasizes personalized weight management, including goal-setting for getting users off of GLP-1s, nutrition recommendations and data-driven insights into muscle mass, waist circumference and more.
For each enrollee, Twin Health creates a “digital twin” of their metabolism, using more than 3,000 data points culled from devices like wearable glucose monitors, smart watches, lab work and other sources. Using that information, the tool pushes out “micro recommendations” on an app, Armani explains—around everything from sleep to exercise to nutrition, giving users real-time access to data that keeps them “motivated and accountable.”
While the tech does this heavy lifting, users are supported by a “compassionate care team”—adding a human touch to the experience, which Armani says Dayforce found “incredibly effective.”
Short- and long-term impacts of digital twin technology
Armani says leveraging digital twin technology has had “meaningful” impacts on employee health, though he notes that employee privacy has been a priority in how the organization analyzes the associated data.
“Enrollment and outcomes are shared with us in aggregate, and we do not monitor who enrolls in our digital health programs to maintain confidentiality,” he says. Data analysis is ongoing, he notes, and focuses on user retention, impacts on health plan claims spending and projections of future health plan costs.
HR leaders considering tapping digital twin technology to address rising healthcare costs, Armani says, should exhaustively research the new and emerging digital programs on the market and work with an advisor to find a solution that meets the company’s specific business objectives.
“I also recommend speaking with your peers and attending healthcare conferences where you can see your peers present on their successes,” says Armani, who personally enrolled in the Healthy Weight program to enhance his understanding of the member journey.
While positive clinical outcomes for users can improve the organization’s bottom line in the long run, Armani notes, the tool also can become important to the employee value proposition.
“We have received employee feedback expressing gratitude for this program and affirmation that the company’s investment in Twin demonstrates that we care about employees’ long-term health and happiness,” he says.
The post How digital twin tech can make a big difference in employers’ GLP-1 costs appeared first on HR Executive.