Evaluating the Return on Investment of U.S. Army Holistic Health and Fitness Performance Teams: A Matched Difference-in-Differences Study of Readiness and Economic Outcomes

Embedded HPTs produce robust, statistically significant, multidomain improvements in readiness, performance, and cost efficiency. These estimates exclude long-horizon returns such as retention, disability deferral, or downstream system savings-suggesting total ROI is significantly underestimated. This study indicates HPTs are core readiness infrastructure. Their full-scale implementation is a strategic imperative for modernizing force sustainment and preserving the Army's most critical asset: the soldier.