Health Care Cost | Obesity Evaluation Measures

Health care cost measures for obesity prevention and control^1-4

In contrast with the worker productivity costs described above, health care costs are measures of the direct medical expenses of providing employee health care and preventive health programs.

Baseline

• Determine current health care use and costs of health care, including pharmaceuticals, counseling, inpatient and outpatient care, for obesity and diseases and health conditions where obesity increases risk such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol  
  • Determine costs for work related disability claims and worker’s compensation for disorders related to obesity (see first bullet)
• Determine the current health care use and costs of services for obesity counseling, medication, or bariatric surgery (if covered)
• Determine the health care use and costs of program participants before education and other programs are initiated and after operation of these programs

Process

• Periodic repeats of baseline measures

Outcome

• Assess changes in health care use and costs from baseline
• Assess changes in the type, use, and costs of employee health benefits related to clinical obesity services (if covered)
• Compare health care use and costs of program participants before education and other programs are initiated and after operation of these programs