Wondr Health is a proven leader in preventive and chronic care for metabolic, emotional, and physical health transformation for everyone. Utilizing over 15 years of behavior-change experience and partnership with 80+ health plans and 1,000+ employers, Wondr Health delivers interrelated, personalized, skill-building programs for weight management, obesity, nutrition, stress relief, anxiety, and movement that improve the health of participants. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Wondr Health CEO Scott Paddock to learn more about the company.
Scott Paddock’s Background
Paddock started out working for the federal government as a physicist cleaning up nuclear sites, but he has always been interested in preventive health care and in developing holistic care programs that bring together multiple aspects of treatment. Paddock said:
“After reevaluating my career and where my true interests lie, I pivoted and went to General Electric, where I was the head of medical systems and developed my affinity for holistic solutions that provide value to payers, providers, pharmacies, and patients.”
“Prior to Wondr Health, I served as CEO of Healthcare Bluebook, where I provided strategic direction as the company delivered solutions for world-class digital navigation of healthcare quality and cost information, creating value for consumers, employers, and health plans. We delivered 30% year-over-year growth under my leadership. I have a lot of experience in software as a service (SaaS), health care, business intelligence, strategic planning, and business development.”
As the CEO, what are the main areas where you focus your energy to drive growth and innovation within the company? Paddock added:
“Technologically, we’re focused on carefully and responsibly leveraging AI to deliver more powerful and personalized services to our 300,000+ members. Culturally and internally, we’ve had a great set of people who brought us to our first inflection point as a company, so I think a lot about making sure I develop the culture and the people we’ll need to get to our next inflection point.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far or are there any instances where you’ve witnessed the company’s impact that have left a lasting impression on you? Paddock reflected:
“My favorite memories tend to all be about meeting participants and hearing their success stories. A striking example was a person I met who lost 35 lbs. over the course of their time with Wondr. They started by losing 10 lbs. following our core program and learning about more thoughtful eating and movement. Then they received some personalized prescription help and focused coaching that helped them lose another 15 lbs. on top of that. Finally, returning to the parts of the Wondr program centered on developing stronger stress management, increased sleep, and better behavioral health awareness, they lost another 10 lbs. and reached their ideal weight. After many attempts at losing weight unsuccessfully on their own, they were glowing with happiness from meeting their goal—and intensely grateful to their employer for introducing them to the program. Stories like that are the things that get you up in the morning and excited to do what we do.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have you faced in building the company? Paddock acknowledged:
“Our primary challenge is strategically thinking about how we can best widen our footprint and provide more complementary, comprehensive solutions. We’ve heard from both our clients, who are self-insured employers, as well as from payers, that as a point solution in weight management, we are best in class—but they’d like us to continue to do more. That’s why we added the eM Life mindfulness program for emotional well-being and, earlier this year, Wondr Advanced, for the rigorous clinical management of obesity with tailored medication management.”
“What’s next? We want to constantly be looking at new possibilities while staying true to our current offerings because preventive care in treating chronic metabolic diseases is all about pre-empting potential problems at the earliest possible moment. That’s what I spend a lot of time thinking about.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Paddock explained:
“Wondr Health is distinguished by its holistic approach to digital behavior change. We have a suite of complementary products to help people improve their metabolic, emotional, and physical health by providing behavior change skills and tools that prevent and reduce the cost and impact of chronic health conditions. Our products include Wondr, clinically proven to help people lose weight and improve their overall quality of life; eM Life, an evidence-based applied mindfulness solution; and Wondr Advanced, a comprehensive solution to address the obesity epidemic and drive down healthcare costs that combines tailored medication management from board certified obesity experts with our proven behavior change program.”
Technological Innovations
What technological innovations have Wondr Health implemented to enhance the overall user experience? Paddock noted:
“As I mentioned, we have close to 300,000 participants through hundreds of clients at companies around the world. The real wizardry is in how we leverage technology to personalize our solutions for each and every one of our participants. That means an upfront quiz that carefully assesses a patient’s medical history, body composition, metabolism, lifestyle, dietary habits, exercise routines, stress level, sleep habits, and work schedules.”
“That quiz tailors which of the thousands of videos we have available that launch and structure their weight-loss journey. The technical virtuosity jumps up a level when anti-obesity medications are involved, and by personalizing medication type and dosage on a very personalized level, we increase efficacy, target intervention, improve safety profile, enhance compliance, and offer a customized approach to long-term success.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Paddock explained:
“Our core Wondr program was founded more than 15 years ago and since continues to grow, succeed, and be adopted by some of the biggest companies all over the world. That’s given us the brand standing and strong balance sheet for new innovation, and I can think of three important milestones we’ve hit since I joined the company close to a year ago.”
“First is the launch of our Wondr Advanced program, which combines tailored medication management and 1:1 treatment from clinical obesity experts with our proven behavior change program to address weight loss. Since 42% of the nation is living with obesity—and since new medical innovation is happening at an astounding pace and prices for prescriptions are quickly dropping—our market is huge, as is our room for growth.”
“Second, we’ve restructured our entire go-to-market approach, and the result of that is a surge in both employer clients and payer clients. That’s significant because it really broadens our access to include new participants.”
“Third, we’re really growing the number of ways we provide preventive layers of metabolic, physical, and emotional health.”
Advice For Employers/Health Plans
What advice or recommendations do you have for employers and health plans looking to deploy an Obesity Management program? Paddock shared:
“More than 50% of U.S. companies offer employee wellness plans today, and that number is growing.”
“Wellness plans benefit both employers and employees. For employers, the average return on investment of employee wellness programs is six-to-one—an overwhelming majority saw a reduction in health-care costs, as well as reduced sick days and increased productivity. For employees, wellness programs help reduce stress, improve symptoms of depression, enjoy a healthier diet, and feel more energized and happier throughout the day; in fact, 87% of U.S. employees consider health and wellness programs when choosing an employer.”
“All that said, not all wellness solutions are created equal. Three key pillars of today’s most successful wellness programs: Customization that tailors the program for each employee; behavioral change support that helps employees create and stick with their new habits; and data collection and measurement to monitor the activities employees have engaged in and the results they’ve achieved. For a closer look into leveraging a successful obesity management program, download Wondr Health’s free Obesity Management Program Best Practices Guide for employers.”
Client Success Stories
Can you share any specific client success stories? Paddock highlighted:
“We work with hundreds of clients, including three massive GSEs and a very large employer we just signed up. Off the top of my head, I can tell you about some remarkable recent success we’ve had with a large health insurer. We signed with them at the beginning of 2023 and now we’re on track to have 6,500 participants there.”
“A state health department is another great one. We started with it in 2021 and had about 17,000 participants initially. Last year, that jumped to 37,000 participants, and this year, we’re on track to have 50,000 participants. We also work with one of the largest healthcare technology solutions companies in the world. In over three years, we’ve had nearly 11,000 employees in the program who’ve lost an average weight of 4-10%.”
Revenue
After asking Paddock about the company’s revenue information, he revealed:
“We’re privately held, so I’m not at liberty to discuss too much. I can tell you our growth is remarkable. Our clients are excited about new programs in the pipeline that we’ll unveil in the coming months, and as a leading brand with more than 15 years history, we have high margins, strong profitability, and a great balance sheet.”
“The financial metric we have that might excite potential employers most is our 2.1 ROI: That means that within a year, organizations receive results valued more than double the cost of the program to them. We are built with the incentives to provide that ROI: Everything we do is 100% at risk because with every client we engage with, if no employees sign up and make no improvements, then we simply don’t get paid.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Paddock assessed:
“Corporate wellness programs are successful and growing. Globally, the corporate wellness market, currently valued at $56.6 billion, is expected to reach approximately $100.8 billion in 2032. A bit more than 50% of U.S. companies offer wellness programs today—including almost 90% of large companies—and 72% of employers have seen a reduction in health-care costs after implementing their wellness program.”
“The metrics you choose to look at may depend on the specific workforce base you want to provide services for since you can measure the effectiveness of wellness programs with clinical, cultural, and financial ROI.”
“Almost any way you look at it, this market is on fire. The biggest manufacturer of these drugs, Novo Nordisk, is based in Denmark and recently had a market value of $419 billion, which is bigger than the country’s entire gross domestic product of about $406 billion. But even better, from a consumer’s point of view, is that the price of these medications is set to decrease and do so possibly quite dramatically.”
“There’s also a huge demand for these medications and rising interest in medication-assisted weight-loss programs: A full 44% of employees say they’d switch jobs to get access to these types of medications, and more than half say they’d stay in a job they don’t like in order to maintain access.”
“Additionally, forecasts for the weight-loss medication market alone have recently doubled from $100b to $200B—providing an opportunity for our unique background and our newest program, Wondr Advanced, to perfectly align with the market’s needs.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Paddock affirmed:
“The first obvious point is we’re a proven solution—we were born in the employer space over a decade ago and have 99.6% client retention. Year after year, we’ve been able to demonstrate across our entire client base a weight-loss rate of 5%—that it sustains after 36 months. It’s really a big differentiator that we’ve a behavioral health company. We’re not only focused on weight change. We’re about weight management, managing stress and anxiety, getting better sleep, and finding the right kind of diet and movement plan that fits with your lifestyle, dietary habits, and work schedule.”
Trends In Weight Loss Medications
This year, there has been a lot of talk about weight-loss medications. How has Wondr Health been involved in this space? Paddock pointed out:
“We have one of the first and most advanced programs out there with Wondr Advanced. Building on the success of our proven weight-management program Wondr, we introduced Wondr Advanced to provide a comprehensive solution to address the obesity epidemic and drive down healthcare costs.”
“Forty-two percent of U.S. adults have obesity, and organizations spend twice as much on health-care costs for individuals with obesity compared with individuals at a healthy weight. Wondr Advanced offers qualified participants access to a team of leading experts, licensed practitioners, and certified health coaches who provide tailored medication management paired with behavior change support to deliver a seamless experience with optimal outcomes.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Paddock emphasized:
“We have the vision that as the leader in metabolic, emotional, and physical health, we’re going to fill in the mosaic with programs on nutrition, cognitive behavioral medicine, and food as medicine. It will be a completely holistic program, and you’ll see it in the next 24 months.”
Is there any upcoming product release, partnership, or strategic move that you’d like to offer a sneak peek into or share with our readers? Paddock concluded:
“We will unveil some tremendous advances in programs over the next year using AI and offer a lot of important new personalization to our weight-loss programs. We will start incorporating new features like gamification and podcasts, things that make preventive care fun and engaging. On the backend, as more of an internal initiative that isn’t so much about what customers see but that is tremendously important to our operations, we’ll be re-platforming and better integrating all aspects of what we do, from our personalization agent to our content management system and learning management system. 2024 will be a very exciting year.”
