Get a better ROI from your GLP-1 investment

GLP-1s are one of the fastest-growing cost drivers in employer healthcare. They now account for roughly 7% of all US prescriptions and close to 20% of total prescription drug spend, and eight in ten employers say GLP-1s are driving up their pharmacy costs.¹

The medication is not the risk, what happens around it is. Members stop therapy early, muscle disappears alongside fat, and weight often returns once treatment ends. More than one in four large employers who cover GLP-1s today are already weighing whether to continue.¹ Raising the coverage limit does not fix that problem. Something else does.

This report shares the first real-world results from Sword's GLP-1 wraparound program: what happens when Pulse, Sword Health's AI care solution for cardiometabolic health, pairs medication access with continuous, personalized lifestyle support. Download the full report to see the mechanism behind the numbers, and what it means for your GLP-1 benefit strategy.

What this report covers

• Whether your current GLP-1 benefit is set up to protect the investment or just fund the prescription
• What is actually driving the 1-in-4 employers who are reconsidering GLP-1 coverage, and whether the same risk applies to your plan
• The leading indicator of adherence that shows up months before a member drops off therapy
• What happens to lean mass when structured support is missing, and what changes when resistance training and protein-forward nutrition are built in
• The specific questions to bring to your next PBM, health plan, or point-solution conversation

Key learnings inside

• Why raising coverage limits won't fix the ROI problem, and what the employers reconsidering GLP-1 coverage are actually missing
• The reorder-rate uplift measured against a matched control group, and why reorder rate is the leading indicator of whether a GLP-1 investment pays off
• How resistance training was built into the program from day one - averaging 30% of all member activity - to counter the lean-mass loss GLP-1s carry
• The engagement behaviors most linked to staying on therapy past the point where most members quit: daily use, consistent activity ramp, and a one-to-one specialist relationship
• How Pulse's model - one primary health specialist, coordinated by AI, available any time - turns GLP-1 spend into outcomes.