Case Study: Life Technologies achieves an 8% reduction in medical spend and 80% employee engagement with Castlight Health

Reducing health care spending with five best practices in employee engagement

Life Technologies, a global biotechnology tools company with about 10,000 employees, faced rapidly rising health care costs (an 8% CAGR over a decade) and found roughly half of those costs tied to avoidable conditions. To curb spending it shifted employees to a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) with a $1,250 deductible and an HSA, but anticipated major rollout challenges around plan understanding, consumer decision-making, and low wellness-program participation.

Life Technologies partnered with Castlight Health to deploy a web/phone transparency and care-shopping suite plus a multi-channel “Take Charge” launch campaign (incentives, executive messaging, targeted alerts and stakeholder engagement). The program drove strong adoption—53% engagement in month one, 67% registered and high repeat usage—and influenced care decisions for over half of users. Financially, the initiative supported an 8% year-over-year reduction in medical service spend and a 13% reduction versus projections, allowing the company to reinvest savings into wellness programs.

Life Technologies

Carole Heinze Mendoza

Director of Benefits