Your CFO has seen the pharmacy numbers. The conversation is coming — if it hasn't already. GLP-1 spend is up. In some plans, it's among the fastest-growing pharmacy line items. And the questions you're getting aren't about the clinical evidence anymore. They're about the budget. Why are we paying this much? Is it going to…
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This Week in Employer Health — April 06
Novo Nordisk launched Wegovy HD (semaglutide 7.2 mg) nationwide last week — the highest-dose Wegovy injection to date. In the STEP UP trial (Wharton et al., Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 2025), patients on the 7.2 mg dose lost an average of 20.7% of their body weight over 72 weeks, compared to 17.5% on the existing 2.4…
What Employers Can Learn From CMS’s New GLP-1 Coverage Model
In December 2025, CMS announced the BALANCE Model — Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive hEalth. The name is bureaucratic. The design choice behind it is not. The model enables Medicare Part D plans and state Medicaid agencies to cover GLP-1 medications for weight management. What makes it notable isn't just the expanded…
Foundayo Lowers the Friction on GLP-1 Access. Here’s What Employers Should Watch.
The FDA yesterday approved Foundayo (orforglipron), Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1 for weight loss. It's the second daily GLP-1 pill to reach the market, following Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill in December 2025. For anyone tracking the GLP-1 landscape from an employer benefits perspective, this approval matters — not because of the drug itself, but because of…
Introduction to the Key to Health Mediterranean-Style Low Carb Program
Ketogenic or low-carbohydrate and high fat (LCHF) diets have increased in popularity recently. Published data have shown that LCHF nutrition is extremely effective for weight loss, prevention or treatment of type 2 diabetes, and many other conditions[1-5]. LCHF nutrition also has favorable effects on biomarkers including fasting glucose and insulin, inflammatory markers, and most lipid…
Key to Health’s Take on Randomized Controlled Trials
In the previous article, we outlined our process to design Keyto, which is a Mediterranean-style ketogenic program. In summary, we used the best scientific evidence to arrive at a program that achieves the metabolic benefits proven with ketogenic diets, while also optimizing for LDL cholesterol levels. After program design, the next step was to find…
Key to Health Program
In previous posts, we outlined our method for designing the nutrition principles of the Keyto program. We then described why a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the only unbiased test to determine its effectiveness. While the Keyto program includes nutrition advice, the more important job was to give users tools to succeed. To benefit millions…
Key to Health’s RCT results
In the previous posts, we’ve outlined how we designed the nutrition principles of the Keyto program, why RCTs are a gold standard test, and what is actually included in our program. In this post, we’ll discuss our RCT results. As a recap, the objective of our RCT was to determine whether our Mediterranean-style ketogenic program…
Implications of Key to Health’s RCT results
In the previous posts, we’ve outlined how our Mediterranean-style ketogenic program was designed, and subsequently shown superior to the Weight Watchers’ (WW) program in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). In this article, we’ll discuss the implications of this result. Mediterranean Keto The first implication is that we showed you can get the metabolic benefits of…
Top Key to Health Replacement Foods for 2023 and Beyond
The keto diet is one of the most popular diets in the world today. It involves reducing your intake of carbs and replacing them with healthy fats, proteins, and vegetables. This can be difficult for some people because they are used to eating carb-heavy meals. Fortunately, there are several great keto replacement foods that you…