How investing in healthy habits can deliver a powerful return for society

As global longevity increases and chronic diseases become more prevalent, healthcare systems face mounting pressure to transition from reaction to prevention.

Non-communicable diseases account for 74% of all deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization. And while many are influenced by lifestyle factors, prevention only makes up 6% of total healthcare spend in EU countries and less than 3% in the US​. Moreover, most health insurers use models based on pre-existing risk. This means they assess risk at a single point in time without considering lifestyle changes that occur throughout a person’s life.

Addressing the global rise in chronic disease will require a shift to personalized behavioural interventions that reduce morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. This will improve outcomes for people, health systems and society.

The role of behaviour change in healthcare is critical and its impact on mortality rates is highly causal, directly improving health and longevity. Behaviour change is also elastic and equitable – its influence is consistent across different demographic groups and is even more impactful at older ages.

Consider the example of physical activity: an analysis of more than 500,000 participants over five years showed that those aged 45 to 65 years who transitioned from no exercise to medium or high levels of exercise saw a 38% and 58% decrease in mortality risk respectively. For those aged 65 and over, the difference was even more stark, with a similar increase in exercise delivering mortality risk reductions of 52% to 59%.

Changing behaviour is also transformative for those with chronic conditions. For example, physical activity significantly reduces mortality and healthcare costs for people living with diabetes. Data collected by Discovery over a three-year period shows that people who move from low levels of exercise to consistent levels of exercise (at any intensity) can see a 16% relative reduction in in-hospital costs and an 18% relative reduction in mortality.

Behaviour change is powerful. Its true potential lies in creating habits through sustainable and long-lasting changes. Habits can be formed quickly and, once formed, they are remarkably durable. An analysis of more than one million members of Vitality (a behaviour change programme created by Discovery) over 10 years showed that it takes 7 to 15 weeks to build a strong health habit, with most people achieving this at 9 or 10 weeks. Once a strong good habit is formed, it lasts twice as long as a strong bad habit.

Building good, lasting habits plays a crucial role in shaping health outcomes: the study participants with strong physical activity habits saw a 27% reduction in mortality risk and a 13% reduction in healthcare costs.

By making regular physical activity, a balanced diet and proactive health screening habitual, people can significantly improve their health trajectory. This improves their chances of living healthier and longer lives. Our collective approach to healthcare needs to embrace this shift to preventive and sustainable approaches.

Taking behaviour change and habit formation a step further, advances in technology are super-charging the potential of lifestyle interventions by making them highly specific, targeted and personalized. Wearable devices and health apps enable the collection of more granular health data, as well as the ability to communicate more effectively with users.

At the same time, richer data sets and more sophisticated algorithms allow deeper insights into risk and behaviour. By using advanced actuarial analysis, data science modeling, artificial intelligence and behavioural economics, it’s now possible to develop personalized healthcare plans for millions of people.

In addition to adjusting these recommendations to a person’s changing health status and life stage, another critical, but often overlooked, factor is the need for customized communication and rewards. These should be based on specific needs, circumstances and preferences, such as the best rewards to offer for completing certain actions.

Customizing health advice, as well as communication and incentives, makes interventions more relevant, improving uptake and engagement. In essence, we can now harness the power of data science and machine learning to move beyond generic health recommendations, with tangible benefits for people and healthcare systems. Healthcare organizations implementing personalization have reported a 5-10% reduction in administrative costs and hospital readmissions, as well as shorter hospital stays.

Investing in personalized healthcare plans also delivers a significant return on investment for insurers and health funders – an analysis by Vitality shows that for every $1 invested in rewards that incentivize personalized behaviour change, between $2.50 and $9.70 of value is generated for the insurer, depending on the respective habit (the original paper quotes South African rand, which we've converted to US dollars for the purposes of this analysis).

By understanding individual needs, predicting the likelihood of engagement and tailoring communication strategies, a personalized healthcare journey creates better long-term health outcomes for people, lower costs for healthcare systems and better sustainability for insurers.

The evidence is clear: By leveraging innovative solutions, we can drive positive change and address the growing burden of chronic disease on a global scale. Governments must consider integrating personalized healthcare plans into national health policies to achieve substantial cost savings and improve public health.

Data from the Vitality Habit Index highlights that National Health Service hospital costs could be reduced by as much as £15 billion per year if half of the UK’s inactive adult population began consistently walking 5,000 steps once a week – or three times a week for those with poor exercise habits.

Supporting personalized healthcare plans isn’t just an investment in individual wellbeing, it’s a scalable solution for healthier societies. Making preventive, data-driven healthcare accessible to all will ultimately lead to a healthier, more resilient world.