Ask an Adviser: How do I know whether my wellness vendor actually delivered?

Welcome to Ask an Adviser, EBN’s weekly column in which benefit brokers and advisers answer (anonymous) queries sent in by our readers. Looking for some expert advice? Please submit questions to askanadviser@arizent.com. This week, Linda K. Riddell, chief data scientist with the Validation Institute, weighs in on the following: How do I know whether my wellness vendor actually delivered? 

A year after Wellness Inc. won you over with amazing ROI promises, how can you be sure that medical costs went down, or that health status went up? Solid numbers and clear data are scarce in most cases, leading to a widespread phenomenon — not exactly buyer’s remorse, but buyer’s bewilderment.

And yet, the wellness space is only getting more crowded, and with promising products and solutions that are increasingly appealing to employers and end users alike. So how can we avoid post-hoc regrets moving forward? Here are three strategies to implement.

1. Set clear expectations up front.
Before the program even begins, always choose a measure to reflect its impact. One example is helping health plan members receive their maintenance medications on time. Studies show that people taking diabetes drugs who get 20% less medication than they should (i.e., a gap between refills) have more hospital admissions for their condition. Therefore, tracking hospital admissions for diabetes would be a good marker for program success.

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Setting expectations requires a clear path from the intervention to the result. By working on this at the beginning, you reduce the chance for any woeful development.

2. Choose a clear measure.
ROI and outcomes should be simple. Think about all of the ways that the program might have an impact. People who are not in the hospital are more likely to be at work; illness absences may be a valid indicator of a program’s success. Better work-life balance could result in more people taking (rather than skipping) vacation time. Unused vacation days could be your marker.

The simpler the measure, the more likely you will be to use it.

3. Get outside evidence.
If it is too late for preventive steps, you can verify that similar programs have had a positive impact. Look for peer-reviewed journal articles by authors who are not employed by Wellness Inc. Seeing what they tracked to understand results will help you choose measures and set goals for the future. (For example, people with diabetes who don’t miss any of their medications have fewer but not zero hospital stays. This shows you that eliminating all hospital care for diabetes is not a realistic goal.)

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Be wary of reports commissioned by Wellness Inc. Few, if any, of these reports will objectively analyze the data. Indeed, all analysis is a series of choices that can tilt in a favorable direction.

In the end, you want healthier people and value for the money invested. Both are measurable with the right planning and resources.