Real-World Outcomes from Calibrate’s Employer-Sponsored Obesity Treatment Program

Background

It is known that more than two-thirds of adult Americans have overweight or obesity, and 93% are not metabolically healthy.¹,²To expand access to effective care, Calibrate established a virtual metabolic health program providing medically-supervised obesity treatment using GLP-1s combined with a comprehensive ILI to improve metabolic health and sustain weight loss at scale. Since June 2020, more than 40,000 members have enrolled in the program in fifty states and the District of Columbia across our direct to consumer and employer-sponsored programs. The program includes synchronous physician visits and 1:1 coaching, proprietary lifestyle change content, remote monitoring using connected devices, and behavior tracking all delivered through the Calibrate app. 

Study Overview

This research focused only on members enrolled in our employer-sponsored program that combined GLP-1 medications with our proprietary ILI program. Our aim with this research was to study the real-world outcomes in this population which included n=12,395 members who’d been enrolled for at least 6 months and had at least one verified GLP-1 fill. The cohort was 29% male and had an average age of 47 and a half, with an average starting BMI of 37.5. Of note, some members in the cohort were known to have utilized GLP-1 medications prior to beginning our program.

Weight Outcomes

In the full cohort, n=4,927 members had made it to twelve months and had a valid weight available at that time point. On average we observed a 17.8% decrease in body weight at 12 months, with smaller subsets achieving the same weight change at 18 months (n=1,386) and an even smaller subset achieving 17.9% weight loss at 24 months, n=316.

These smaller subsets largely represent the cohorts of members who have made it that far in our program. In future research we hope to have more robust sample sizes at those further time points.

1. Weight Change by BMI Category

We also examined weight change over time by starting BMI category, using the established obesity classes³ plus a category for those starting with a BMI <30. We found that through 12 months in program the Class II (-18.5%, n=1,367) and Class I (-18.2%, n=1,595) obesity members seemed to lose the most weight, followed by the Class III (-17.6%, n=1,582) obesity members, with the <30 members consistently losing less (-14.2, n=383 at 12 months), which is reasonable given they had the least to lose in the first place.

Between 12 and 24 months the Class II obesity members seem to lose the most weight, followed by the Class III obesity members. At 24 months we saw that the Class I members had lost 17.1% (n=139), class II had lost 19.6% (n=87), and the class III members had lost 18.1% (n=71), though these are preliminary results given the lower sample sizes at this time point.

2. Metabolic and Clinical Improvements

We observed positive change in other metabolic markers including lab tests and waist circumferences in this cohort. The average reduction in waist circumference between intake and 12 months was -6.6 inches, where paired measurements were available for n=2,751 members.

We observed that, based on the sex classifications of “at risk” waist circumference measurements that 93% of these members were at risk at intake, while by 12 months only 60% of the members were at risk.

In lab tests we saw remarkable improvements on markers such as HbA1c, where 80% of members who began with an abnormal measurement at intake (diabetes or prediabetes) had resolved to normal (normoglycemic status) by 1 year. We also saw positive improvement in lab tests both numerically and categorically, with at least half of members improving numerically across HbA1c, the lipids, AST/ALT, hs-crp, and insulin, while we again saw impressive categorical changes such as 49% of members who began with abnormal HS-CRP values resolving to normal by 1 year.

3. Patient-Reported Outcomes

Members who started in higher BMI categories also tended to report higher improvements in patient-reported outcomes ratings for sleep, food habits, exercise, and emotional health, which we consider to be the four pillars of obesity and overweight care treatment.

Exercise habits in particular showed a marked and impressive improvement, with those who began with a BMI 40+ (Class III obesity) reporting a whopping average 124.4% change in their exercise rating between intake and 12 months. Exercise habits is a self-reported rating, where members answer “How would you rate your exercise habits?” on a 1-10 scale at both intake and 12 months.

Future Directions

These findings demonstrate real-world patterns of clinically significant and sustained weight loss, along with meaningful improvements in metabolic and behavioral health outcomes among members enrolled in Calibrate’s employer-sponsored program.

Building on these results, Calibrate will expand future research to:

• Evaluate long-term outcomes (beyond 24 and 36 months) to better understand weight maintenance and metabolic health durability.
• Assess cost and utilization impacts for employers, including reductions in overall healthcare spending, GLP-1 utilization patterns, and productivity-related outcomes.
• Examine engagement and adherence drivers to identify which coaching, curriculum, and support elements most strongly predict sustained success.
• Compare outcomes between Calibrate’s direct-to-consumer and employer-sponsored populations to optimize program design across settings.

Through this ongoing research, Calibrate aims to strengthen the evidence base for integrated GLP-1 and lifestyle intervention models, helping employers implement cost-effective, scalable solutions that improve both employee health and organizational outcomes.