How health systems and employers can team up to prevent chronic disease

Chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes are reshaping both health systems and economies, increasing pressure on employers, public budgets and health services. In 2023, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for around 75% of global non-pandemic deaths, and chronic diseases are estimated to cost the global economy $47 trillion by 2030.

This global burden affects people of all ages and in all countries, highlighting the need for coordinated investment in prevention. But despite strong evidence that prevention and earlier intervention improve health outcomes and reduce long-term costs, most health systems focus on reactive treatment for already advanced conditions.

Research into the impact of NCDs published by the non-profit Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) in 2026 demonstrates the benefits of better alignment of health systems, while quantifying the repercussions of neglecting investment in early intervention.

PHSSR’s analysis shows there are common dynamics across the national health systems of the eight countries within the scope of the study (Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Poland and Spain). These health systems, regardless of location, fail to act early and miss opportunities for synergies. Conditions with overlapping risk factors are often treated in silos, while country resources are often not aligned with population needs.

Early action on NCDs is central to workforce participation, health system sustainability and economic resilience.

Health systems and employers share a common interest: healthier people contribute to stronger workforces and more resilient economies.

That’s why employers invest in prevention through workplace health programmes, health literacy initiatives and employee benefits. Major employers are already investing in intervention, with 62% of those with more than 20,000 employees offering diabetes management programmes and 66% covering GLP-1 medications for obesity management.

Investment in preventive care, however, deserves further attention. Across organizations globally, 20% provide biometric screenings for diabetes and heart disease, while 14% provide cancer screenings. This isn’t a new idea. Philips, for example, introduced tuberculosis screening for employees and their family members in the 1930s.

Effective prevention requires coordinated, multi-stakeholder alignment. Fragmented management of the growing incidence of NCDs has direct consequences on employees and employers alike – it contributes to avoidable illness, poorer health outcomes, higher absenteeism, rising benefit costs and lower productivity.

Employer-led initiatives cannot replace strong public health systems, but they can complement them by strengthening prevention and continuing to support integrated and coordinated care pathways.

Preventive efforts aimed at decreasing risk exposure, for example tobacco taxes, sodium caps or campaigns aimed at improving physical activity such as Brazil’s Agita São Paulo, remain cornerstones of successful population health strategies. While well-designed primary prevention programmes are clearly necessary, they aren’t sufficient to stem the growing burden of disease or the costs of late-stage care.

That’s why, beyond primary prevention, early screening is essential to tackle the healthcare burden from chronic diseases. And when linked to treatment, it’s highly cost effective.

According to PHSSR’s research, however, even widely available cancer screening programmes show substantial variation across countries that cannot be explained by resource availability alone. For other types of NCDs, systematic screening is underdeveloped, despite the burden on healthcare systems and the availability of low-cost tests and effective treatments.

Healthcare systems need to build clear pathways that connect prevention, screening, diagnosis, referral and treatment. Prevention and screening alone are not enough if patients can’t access medicines, specialist care or coordinated follow-up.

Employers can complement healthcare delivery by investing in workforce-tailored health promotion programmes, benefit design and health literacy initiatives that help employees understand their risk factors and participate in screening programmes. For example, World Heart Day initiatives can help employers raise awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and encourage screening participation.

Workplaces provide a strategic setting for health promotion, offering established infrastructure, regular access to large populations and the opportunity to engage groups that are often underrepresented in prevention initiatives. Employers are also important actors in the dialogue on transforming health value at both the policy and financing levels.

Digital services are key to creating more integrated health journeys. Better interoperable digital healthcare services at a national level would enable information-sharing between primary and specialist care, for example, while supporting accurate monitoring of care pathways and referral times.

Access to up-to-date data, handled within a robust privacy and governance structure, would make it easier to identify where interventions are needed. Similarly, gathering employee insights can enable earlier risk mitigation and show where people are struggling to access the care they need.

The PHSSR analysis indicates three ways that policymakers can support employers as they implement healthcare initiatives:

Employers’ willingness to invest in programmes supporting prevention, health literacy and early intervention offers an opportunity for public healthcare systems to align prevention strategies, resources and delivery.

Alignment at a national or regional level is particularly important for multinational employers, who want to maintain consistent prevention strategies across their workforce. Local variations in healthcare pathways and availability pose a challenge to effectively delivering equal programmes to their employees.

Governments can strengthen this coordination by creating incentives that reward prevention and better access to healthcare.

The current funding model of public healthcare systems is a key obstacle to investment in prevention. Funding is frequently constrained by annual budget cycles, but prevention requires sustained, multi-year investment.

To enable better prevention and earlier intervention, health financing must be resilient and sustainable, with dedicated funding covering the full care pathway from screening to treatment. Multi-year commitments would also reflect the long-term benefits of disease prevention. Transparent tracking of funding sources and health outcomes could further protect healthcare budgets from short-term disruptions.

Prioritizing prevention and screening, as well as changing funding models, requires a robust governance structure. In many cases, governance falls short in both monitoring and accountability, leading to persistent disruptions of care pathways.

Monitoring often exists at a national level but is rarely accompanied by adequate authority to trigger corrective action. Identifying issues is helpful, but not without the ability to offer solutions or influence budget decisions.

Developing comprehensive NCD registries could provide data on incidence rates and risk factors, while showing where inequalities persist.

Employers cannot solve the chronic-disease crisis alone. But by connecting workplace prevention with publicly funded screening, diagnosis and treatment, they can help health systems act earlier – before manageable conditions become costly and life-threatening.