Webinar Recap: The Women’s Health Imperative
Employers today are navigating a difficult balancing act: rising healthcare costs, increasing employee expectations, and a more complex benefits landscape than ever before. In our recent webinar, The Women’s Health Imperative: Unlocking Cost Savings from Preconception to Menopause, explored a critical but often under-addressed driver of both cost and workforce performance—women’s health across the full lifecycle.
Women’s health: A hidden driver of cost and outcomes
Not just a niche, women's health affects the entire organization. From preconception through menopause, gaps in care can create ripple effects that impact both employees and employers.
Janine Pearson, Director of Total Rewards at BioAdgelytics Labs, shared a perspective many employers will recognize:
“Gaps in coverage, access to care, and cost barriers during key life transitions often have lasting consequences.”
Those consequences show up in tangible ways:
- Increased health complications later in life
- Higher mental health needs
- Absenteeism and disengagement
- Escalating long-term healthcare costs
In other words, when women’s health needs aren’t addressed early and holistically, costs compound.
The lifecycle lens: From preconception to menopause
A key theme throughout the discussion was the importance of taking a lifecycle approach rather than addressing women’s health in silos.
Too often, organizations focus heavily on maternity benefits but overlook the broader continuum:
Each stage presents both risks and opportunities. Without continuity of care, employees fall through the cracks, and employers absorb the downstream costs.
The business case: Retention, productivity, and performance
Supporting women’s health isn’t just the right thing to do. Rather, it’s a strategic advantage.
“Addressing these challenges proactively is not just the right thing to do for our employees. It’s also a clear win for employers in terms of retention, productivity, and cost.” — Janine Pearson, Director, Total Rewards, BioAgilytix Labs
Organizations that take a proactive, integrated approach see benefits such as:
- Improved retention during key life stages
- Higher employee engagement
- Reduced avoidable healthcare spend
- Stronger overall workforce performance
Lissa Klein, SVP of Member Experience at Progyny, reinforced that this work sits at the intersection of experience, cost management, and provider steerage strategy:
“Understanding how we continue to deliver the best-in-class experience for our members and partners, while also helping manage cost, is really at the core of what we’re doing.”
Moving from insight to action
Here are a few ways employers can start:
1. Audit where costs are already concentrated
Look beyond total spend and identify where gaps in care are driving downstream costs, especially during key transitions like fertility, postpartum and menopause.
2. Break down silos in benefits design
Women’s health is often fragmented across vendors and programs. A more integrated approach can improve both outcomes and experience.
3. Focus on access and navigation
Even when benefits exist, employees may struggle to use them. Navigation, education and support are critical to unlocking value.
4. Align health strategy with workforce strategy
If a significant portion of your workforce is women, as in Janine’s case, where 63% of employees are women, this is core to business performance.
The bottom line
Women’s health is financial and organizational one priority, not just a clinical issue. Employers who take a proactive, lifecycle-based approach can unlock meaningful cost savings while improving employee outcomes and experience.
Frequently asked questions
Why should employers prioritize women’s health now?
Women’s health is a significant and often under-recognized driver of healthcare costs, productivity, and retention. Gaps in care, especially across major life stages, can lead to higher downstream costs, increased absenteeism, and disengagement. Addressing these proactively helps organizations better manage both spend and workforce performance.
Is investing in women’s health benefits going to increase overall costs?
Not necessarily. As discussed in the webinar, the opportunity is less about adding new spend and more about optimizing existing investments. By improving access, closing care gaps, and supporting employees earlier in their health journey, employers can reduce avoidable high-cost events over time.
What does a “lifecycle approach” to women’s health actually mean?
A lifecycle approach considers the full spectrum of women’s health needs, from preconception and fertility through pregnancy, postpartum care, midlife health, and menopause. Rather than addressing these stages in isolation, it connects them into a more continuous, coordinated strategy that improves outcomes and experience.
Where should employers start if they want to improve in this area?
A strong starting point is understanding where costs and gaps already exist. Employers can:
- Analyze claims and utilization data, including specialty pharmacy spend
- Identify high-cost or high-risk transition points and apply provider steerage where appropriate
- Evaluate how current benefits are used (or underused), and whether plan structure (self-funded vs fully insured) affects flexibility to close gaps From there, they can prioritize areas where better support or navigation would have the biggest impact.
