Employee and Employer Benefits From a Migraine Management Program: Disease Outcomes and Cost Analysis
Authors: Schaetz Leonhard , Rimner Timo , Pathak Purnima , Fang Juanzhi , Chandrasekhar Deepak , Mueller Jelena , Sandor Peter S. , Gantenbein Andreas R. 
Published: August 2020

Objective

To assess the impact of a migraine management program offered as a complimentary service by a company within its corporate well‐being program.

Background

Migraine imposes a substantial burden on patients, families, employers, and societies. As migraine primarily affects working‐age adults, this has important implications for both employees and employers. Workplace educational and well‐being programs positively contribute to employees’ productivity, reduce costs related to absenteeism, and improve the quality of life of the employees living with migraine.

Methods

This was a non‐interventional cohort study, which followed employees and their family members over time. Participants received 1 telemedicine consultation to determine migraine diagnosis or a high probability of having migraine and 6 sessions of individualized telecoaching from a specialized nurse via a specially developed smartphone application to optimize their migraine management leveraging all appropriate medical and lifestyle options. Participants were evaluated during the program and at 3 months after completion through a series of validated questionnaires including Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS), Patient Activation Measure (PAM), and satisfaction with the services offered. A cost analysis was also performed to determine the economic benefit of the program considering the number of completers, dropouts, their associated program costs, MIDAS data, average salary of a Swiss employee in the pharma sector, and working days per year.

Results

Of the 141 participants enrolled in the program, 79 completed 6‐month and 42 completed 9‐month assessments. The total MIDAS scores (mean, standard deviation [SD]) significantly improved from baseline by 54% at Month 6 (15.0 [13.6] vs 6.9 [8.2]; mean [SD] reduction: 8.1 [12.9], 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.6‐10.6;P < .0001) and by 64% at Month 9 (15.4 [14.7] vs 5.6 [6.0]; mean [SD] reduction: 9.8 [14.0], 95% CI: 6.6‐13.0;P < .0001). The PAM scores also significantly improved from baseline by 8% at Month 6 (63.8 [10.9] vs 69.6 [12.8]; mean [SD] increase: 5.8 [12.8], 95% CI: 3.2‐8.4;P = .003) and 11% at Month 9 (63.5 [10.7] vs 71.3 [12.2]; mean [SD] increase: 7.8 [11.0], 95% CI: 4.3‐11.2;P = .003). At Month 6, common coaching lessons and respective action plans focused on progressive muscle relaxation, sleep, hydration, nutrition, general disease education, and stress management. The exit survey showed that the majority of the participants who completed the program had a meaningful and sustained improvement in their overall health and reported a high level of satisfaction with the program. The cost analysis revealed that on average participants gained 10.8 (95% CI: 9.3‐12.3) working days/year that were previously lost due to migraine, resulting in a positive return on investment (ROI) of 490% (95% CI: 410%‐570%), indicating a higher magnitude of savings that could be achieved by the implementation of such program. In addition to ROI and work productivity gained, participants also gained on average 13.6 (95% CI: 9.9‐17.3) migraine‐free days/year for their private and social life.

Conclusion

The employer‐sponsored disease management program provided a better understanding of migraine, promoted methods and approaches to improve management by combining medical and lifestyle options leading to significant improvements in migraine symptoms that sustained beyond the intervention, supporting prolonged effectiveness of such programs. The program also provided a high ROI to the employer, supporting that the systematic inclusion of such programs into corporate well‐being initiatives can be of significant benefit not only to the impacted individuals but to the employers as well.