While employers are increasingly recognizing the importance of employee wellbeing in driving productivity and overall success, there is one important health issue that is often overlooked: digestive health. A staggering 70 million Americans are living with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. These conditions, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and more, can lead to serious impacts on a GI patient's personal life with meaningful bleed-over effects into work productivity and absenteeism. In fact, symptoms can be so severe that GI patients are willing to sacrifice up to 15 years of their remaining life expectancy for a cure today.

Digestive issues are expensive

Only recently have studies shown just how costly treating GI conditions can be given 1 in 4 Americans are affected. Overall, digestive conditions generate $140 billion in health care costs each year, more than heart disease, trauma and mental health. According to an actuarial analysis by Accorded, GI patients cost employers 3 to 8 times more than a healthy adult and GI issues are the fourth largest driver of employee-related health care costs.

Managing gut health problems frequently necessitates ongoing medical attention, including doctor visits, specialist consultations, and diagnostic tests, which results in high utilization. Unfortunately, standard approaches to digestive health care often don't address the root causes of discomfort, and patients bounce from clinician to clinician in search of an effective solution.