Once your program is underway, give your leadership regular updates to let them know if the program is reaching its goals. These updates are especially important if you’ve taken a phased approach to implementing your program and need to build commitment to expand it.
Engage Your Leaders in Evaluation Decisions
Before you implement your program, plan how you will evaluate it. Identify the specific outcomes you want to achieve before you continue or expand your program. Identify what data you need to collect and how the data will be collected. If you’re offering the program through your health plan provider or a CDC-recognized organization, they may be able to provide support for the evaluation process. The National DPP lifestyle change program lasts for 12 months. You don’t need to wait until one program offering ends before you provide additional offerings for other participants. However, you will need to have an evaluation process in place before you begin expanding your program. Your organization’s leadership can play a key role in the evaluation process. They will likely have specific goals they want to achieve. Program champions or others familiar with the program can help educate your leadership about what is realistic. For example, a meaningful return on investment is unlikely in the first year. Thus, return on investment would not be a good metric for evaluating the success of a pilot program. A more realistic metric would be how many people participate in the program.
Engage Your Leaders in Expansion Decisions
Make sure your leadership is aware of and supportive of your anticipated timeline to expand the program or make it available to more employees and beneficiaries. For example, if early metrics—like participation and improvements in physical activity levels—are encouraging, you may want to begin expanding the program immediately, rather than waiting for the first cohort to complete the yearlong program. Use your Healm Dashboard to track your evaluation metrics and share them regularly with your leadership.