Health care resource utilization and health care costs among digital weight-loss intervention participants and nonparticipants

Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to compare health care resource utilization (HRU), health care costs, and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist use among working US adults who engaged in Noom Weight, a smartphone-based lifestyle intervention for weight management, to individuals offered Noom who did not enroll.

Methods

Insurance claims data were used to conduct retrospective analyses of 723 Noom participants matched via propensity scores and compared to 723 non-Noom participants at 6 months post index.

Results

Compared to nonparticipants, Noom participants had significantly lower HRU, medical and pharmacy costs, and GLP-1 agonist use in the 6-month post-index period. On average, Noom participants had 3.2 fewer outpatient visits, 0.34 fewer emergency department visits, 0.25 fewer inpatient visits, and 0.012 fewer surgeries than non-Noom participants (all p values <0.001). Noom participants’ health care costs were $831 lower than non-Noom participants. Relative to non-Noom users, Noom participants also had 42% fewer claims for GLP-1 agonists (p = 0.02).

Conclusions

Compared to matched nonparticipants, Noom participation was associated with lower HRU, health care costs, and GLP-1 agonist use at 6 months post index. Results of this study support Noom as a cost-effective and HRU-lowering digital weight-management program for working adults in the United States.