Reimagining whole-person care in the coming decade
Health journeys rarely end with a diagnosis. For employees, navigating care often requires long-term support that extends far beyond the clinic walls from mental health and financial wellness to social determinants of health that shape daily life. Yet, today’s system remains fragmented, leaving individuals to piece together services that should work seamlessly.
Whole-person care offers a new path forward. By connecting physical, behavioral, and social health services, whole-person care ensures employees receive integrated support that reflects the full scope of their needs. This shift is not only reshaping the future of healthcare but also redefining the role of employers in creating healthier, more resilient workforces.
“As the healthcare landscape continues to change, the need for a connected, whole health approach is only becoming more urgent,” says Pete Haytaian, President, Carelon. “Innovation in data connectivity, care navigation, and digital platforms aims to make it possible to build more inclusive and responsive systems.”
As organizations look ahead to the coming decade, employers are uniquely positioned to lead this transformation by bridging gaps, strengthening outcomes, and reimagining what it truly means to support the whole person.
What is whole-person care?
The whole-person care model is a patient-centered approach to healthcare that focuses on treating the entire individual, not just their symptoms or medical conditions. This model recognizes that health outcomes are shaped by multiple interconnected factors, including physical health, mental and behavioral well-being, and social support needs. By addressing these dimensions in an integrated way, the whole-person care model improves outcomes through collaboration among healthcare providers, employers, and community partners, creating coordinated care plans tailored to each individual’s unique goals.
Why whole-person care matters
Whole-person care matters because it directly improves outcomes while reducing costs across the care continuum. By integrating mental health into primary care, employers can better support employees’ behavioral health needs, strengthening engagement and productivity. In post-acute care, coordinated approaches are proven to reduce readmissions.
CMS reported measurable improvements in potentially preventable readmissions of 0.5 to 2.7 percentage points across settings. Similarly, the CDC found that timely outpatient follow-up reduced the risk of 30-day readmissions by 21% for conditions such as heart failure and stroke.
“Prioritizing whole health means, for example, that even when cancer care is the primary focus, we cannot lose sight of patients’ other needs, like diabetes or cardiovascular disease,” says Craig Hunter, VP and General Manager, Oncology, Genetics, and Laboratory Medicine Solutions, Carelon. “Similarly, a patient with breast cancer may be focused on ensuring her cancer treatment doesn’t limit her future fertility.”
Benefits of the whole-person care model
Compared to older, fragmented models of care, the whole-person care model delivers measurable improvements by aligning services around the full spectrum of employee needs. Traditional approaches often treated conditions in isolation, creating gaps that led to duplicated services, higher costs, and uneven outcomes. In contrast, the whole-person care model emphasizes continuity of care, ensuring that individuals receive seamless support as they move between primary care, specialists, post-acute settings, and even palliative care.
This continuity leads to earlier interventions, reduced hospital readmissions, stronger engagement in preventive care, and higher satisfaction for employees and their families. For employers, it translates into lower costs, fewer productivity losses, and a healthier, more resilient workforce.
“Physical and behavioral health conditions have a bidirectional effect on each other, suggesting that improving care in one, can positively affect the other,” says David Wolfe, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership, a Carelon Behavioral Health company. “For example, an investment in depression treatment may very well yield improved outcomes – and savings – in cardiac or cancer care.”
Employers as catalysts for patient-centered care
Employers are uniquely positioned to shape how care is delivered by selecting benefits and partners that support whole-person care, connecting physical, behavioral, and social needs. Their choices in program design and vendor relationships can lead to better outcomes, lower costs, and a more resilient workforce.
Carelon’s data illustrates this impact:
- In its Facility-Based Post-Acute Care Case Study, a large health plan saved millions of dollars while also optimizing utilization by ensuring patients were placed in the right level of care, reducing unnecessary facility days, and improving member and provider satisfaction.
- In palliative care, Carelon has supported over 200,000 patients since 2013, producing $890–$3,480 in savings per member per month while delivering compassionate, holistic support.
- In behavioral health, Carelon’s Suicide Prevention Program achieved a >20% reduction in suicidal events among adolescents and young adults, along with a 30% reduction in behavioral-health spending per engaged member per month.
“Our job is to understand what each patient considers to be a good quality of life and to advocate for keeping that consideration front and center,” says Veronica Camacho, MD, Carelon Palliative Care. “This approach is informed by the concept of whole-person care.”
The role of technology in whole-person healthcare
Technology is the connective tissue that makes whole-person healthcare possible at scale. Digital platforms enable providers, employers, and care teams to share data seamlessly, ensuring continuity of care across physical, behavioral, and social health services. Advanced analytics provide insights that help identify at-risk employees earlier, personalize interventions, and close gaps that once went unnoticed. Telehealth and virtual behavioral health expand access, reducing barriers of geography and stigma, while remote monitoring tools empower individuals to stay engaged in their care journey between clinic visits.
For employers, these innovations translate into more proactive care delivery, better workforce health outcomes, and cost savings through reduced hospitalizations and improved chronic condition management. “As the healthcare landscape continues to change, the need for a connected, whole health approach is only becoming more urgent,” says Pete Haytaian. “Innovation in data connectivity, care navigation, and digital platforms aims to make it possible to build more inclusive and responsive systems.”
The future of whole-person healthcare
The next decade of healthcare will be defined by integration, personalization, and collaboration. The whole-person care model is moving from concept to standard, with employers, providers, and health plans aligning around care that addresses not just medical conditions but also behavioral, social, and emotional needs. Advances in digital health and data-driven insights will enable earlier interventions, more coordinated transitions across care settings, and deeper engagement from employees in managing their own health.
For employers, this future represents an opportunity to lead, building benefit strategies and partnerships that prioritize resilience, productivity, and well-being across the workforce. “Healthcare should be more than a series of disconnected encounters,” says Pete Haytaian. “It should be a continuous experience grounded in relationships, strengthened by data, and driven by purpose. When we connect the dots across care, we elevate not just the quality of treatment but the experience of health itself. That is the promise – and power – of delivering a truly connected, whole health experience.”
Discover insights from Carelon on how whole-person strategies can shape healthier, more resilient workforces.
