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Innovator Case Studies

December 2023

Introduction: Meta LATAM, like many global organizations, noticed that their employees were experiencing increasing levels of financial anxiety. The team became aware of more requests for financial education guidance given that the external economic environment was increasingly turbulent.

The challenge: Despite the extensive and diverse portfolio of benefits, during the pandemic, Meta LATAM took the opportunity to increase in their wellbeing wheel by enhancing financial wellbeing education support available. On discovering the financial education void, research concluded with a set of financial wellbeing objectives to make the biggest possible impact on their people and fill the financial wellbeing gap.

The solution: To deliver on a promise of impact, the team started by reviewing the ‘why’ (why do we need a financial wellbeing program?). Part of the ‘why’ is to outline the scale of the challenge, so one of the tools the team utilizes is nudge’s financial health check-up data to identify and understand employees’ financial health needs. The team uses the employee financial health ‘need’ to align stakeholders with the program, and cross reference all current benefits to bring together a holistic program that caters to the differing circumstances of their global employee communities.

An important aspect of the financial education program for Meta LATAM is trust. The team wanted to create a safe space to learn, Meta LATAM couldn’t risk confusing their people with information that has an ulterior motive. nudge's impartial financial education is the perfect solution because it is a reputable and a trusted source of financial education.

Now that the team has outlined the challenge, planned out the holistic elements of the program and aligned stakeholders, the next step was communication. Since the benefit program is diverse to suit the dynamic needs of their people, it needs a streamlined communication strategy. Meta LATAM uses nudge to bring the personalized and inclusive communication together into a cohesive experience for their people.

Outcome: Since launching, 90% of Meta LATAM employees are engaged with nudge’s financial education and 96% of those people have come back to continue their study. Demonstrating the program is making a big impact on Meta LATAM people.

In terms of delivering an increasingly holistic benefit program with streamlined communication, nudge has driven 69% engagement with the retirement contribution window and 65% engagement with their global RSU (restricted stock units – Meta shares) trading window.

Even though mental health care was included as part of Stanford University’s benefits package, employees still reported difficulty accessing care. Their challenge is not unique; 95.6% of adults report encountering barriers to mental health care. Barriers for Stanford employees ranged from a shortage of mental health providers in the Bay Area, to high costs, to not having enough time to attend in-person counseling sessions. The university needed a solution, and found one, in Meru Health.

In the wake of a sharp increase in mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, stresses related to work and home — and the delicate balance between the two — underscored the need for expanded access to mental health care for Stanford’s employees. University leaders wanted to supplement their existing mental health care benefits with something that would be flexible and easy to access.

To deliver what their employees needed, Stanford ensured that all Meru Health resources and programs were free to all staff and their adult dependents. The university’s emphasis on access and flexibility resonated with employees: 210 people began using Meru Health immediately after launch. Meru Health helps make mental health care more readily accessible for Stanford employees: Users can get the support they need, when they need it — without having to wait for an appointment with a therapist.

What’s more, after completing the 12-week program with Meru, participants are equipped with the knowledge and tools they need to ease stress and anxiety. With on-demand resources from Meru Health, Stanford’s employees were able to remove barriers to accessing care and to experience better mental health.

ENROLLMENT

More than 1,000 Stanford University employees had used Meru Health by the end of 2022.

RAPID RESPONSE

First therapist appointment availability for 1,034 Stanford employees who signed up for the program was less than 48 hours after registration (1.83 days).

ENGAGEMENT

By the end of 2022, 67% of participants completed the full 12-week program.

OUTCOMES

62% of completers showed a clinical treatment response* (at least 50% reduction in symptoms of depression and/or anxiety).

58% of completers were treated to symptom remission*, meaning they were no longer

clinically depressed or anxious.

*Measured on industry standard PHQ-9 (depression) and GAD-7 (anxiety) scales

FROM THE EXPERTS

“Access and time are always issues for people seeking mental health care. Many Stanford

University employees struggle to find a mental health care provider with the capacity for new patients. And even if they do have a therapist, time is a barrier for many employees. With Meru, employees don’t have to travel for an in-person appointment. Meru is always available and fits into people’s schedules.”

—Neal Evans, Director of Health & Welfare Programs, Stanford University

“Not only does Meru Health offer tools that you can access at any time, they are also doing the work to validate these tools for improving things like depression and burnout — and showing that it’s actually helping.”

—Ben Rein, Ph.D., Stanford neuroscience postdoctoral student and Meru Health participant

Listening to employee needs

In 2022, this company conducted a benefit survey that revealed, among other needs, a demand for tax preparation assistance due to the complexities associated with being a foreign-owned company.

Recognizing this misalignment with their commitment to supporting every employee’s needs, the company aimed to pursue a more inclusive solution.

A solution designed to adapt to everyone

In partnership with Level they introduced a Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) for those employees not on their high deductible/HSA plan. This new offering was designed to address a broader range of employee needs, covering areas such as wellness, financial well-being, and family support.

"The LSA provides a benefit that is equitable by design and personalized — you choose your own adventure."

— Senior Benefits Director

Impact on People: How listening paid off

By introducing the LSA alongside the existing HSA option, the company increased inclusion as an additional 70% of employees were provided an LSA amount that matched the company’s contribution into employees’ HSA. This showed the power and necessity of allowing people to make the right choices for their individual needs.

Incorporating financial services into the newly introduced Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) had an immediate impact, evident in Q1 of 2023, where tax preparation ranked among the top four expenditure categories.

Impact on Company Culture

The addition of the LSA specifically designed to address the needs surfaced by their employees showed they listened with a pragmatic solution that also enabled the company to uphold its commitment to a culture of well-being and inclusion.

What’s more, the LSA program bolstered organizational integrity by ensuring equitable service for employees with diverse backgrounds and needs. This not only strengthened the sense of belonging among the workforce but also underscored the company's commitment to supporting each individual on their unique well-being journey.

For more information on how Level now offers Pre-Tax Spending Accounts and LSAs on one platform, click here.

Firefly Health has been recognized by NCQA for delivering exceptional quality-oriented care and was selected to an exclusive panel of companies to help NCQA to shape the formation of a brand new quality standard for virtual primary care providers. Upon completion, this new standard will help employers to assess the quality of virtual care solutions.

In a pioneering collaboration aimed at defining the standards of quality in virtual primary care, Firefly Health has joined forces with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This partnership is centered around the joint effort to establish quality benchmarks for virtual primary care, which will contribute to the development of a new NCQA's accreditation program for virtual primary care providers. This program, the first of its kind, aims to provide a framework for evaluating and accrediting virtual primary care companies based on the quality of care delivered to patients.

Recognizing the need for quality accreditation in this rapidly growing industry, NCQA embarked on a mission to create a comprehensive program that assesses the quality of care delivered through virtual or hybrid modalities. NCQA recognized Firefly as one of the 18 innovative organizations advancing quality within this space to help them form the new standards from a pool of over 100 applicants. As a pilot organization, Firefly will play a pivotal role in shaping the development of NCQA's Virtual Care Accreditation program.

Nisha Basu MD, MPH, Senior Vice President of Clinical at Firefly Health, expressed the organization's commitment to leveraging virtual care to reimagine patient interactions with the healthcare system. Dr. Basu highlighted Firefly's investment in technology infrastructure and internal processes that facilitate long-term relationships with patients, ultimately leading to industry-leading health outcomes and patient satisfaction scores.

"Virtual care can and should match or surpass the care and quality standards of traditional, in-person, primary care," emphasized Dr. Basu. "We are eager to join forces with NCQA and other top organizations in digital health to make that ideal a reality."

The collaboration extends beyond the accreditation initiative, reflecting Firefly's ongoing commitment to advancing the field of virtual care. Dr. Basu recently presented at NCQA's Innovation Summit in October 2023, showcasing Firefly's innovative use of machine learning in a hybrid care model. The presentation focused on how machine learning is employed to route patient messages efficiently, thereby reducing median response times (<20 minutes and urgent message median response to 6 minutes) and increasing scalability in patient care.

As with any care delivery model, not all providers meet the same bar for quality. Through proactive engagement with NCQA and contribution to the development of accreditation standards, Firefly is not only validating its commitment to quality care but is also actively shaping the future of virtual primary care.

This collaboration serves as a model for other organizations in the digital health space, emphasizing the importance of collective efforts to establish and uphold high-quality standards in virtual care. As virtual care continues to gain prominence, the work between Firefly and NCQA stands as a testament to the industry's dedication to delivering superior healthcare experiences through innovative and technology-driven solutions.

October 2023

Making their health a priority

Health-care facilities pledge to provide the very best treatment and attention to their patients. But doctors, nurses, technicians, and support staff work long hours and take on high levels of work-related stress—which are all factors that can affect their own health. Notoriously, health-care providers take great care of others, but not such great care of themselves, —so organizations often struggle with how to encourage employees to make their own health a priority.

Bending the trend

Genesis, Mercy Health, and Advent Health each integrated Wondr into their respective employee benefits programs with the goal of improving health risk factors and enhancing the quality of life for their team members. All three reported measurable improvements in employee health.

Impact of weight loss on overall health

Reducing body weight by as little as 3-5% (6-10 pounds for a 200- pound man) can have a big impact on overall health. In fact, according to the Federal Obesity Guidelines, it can significantly lower blood pressure and blood glucose, as well as reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes.

During the 52 weeks of access to Wondr, Genesis, Mercy Health, and Advent Health participants reported an average max weight loss of 11.6 lbs for men, and 9.8 lbs for women.

Among the health system participants who reported having high blood pressure before starting Wondr,

more than 44% reported an improvement in their high blood pressure levels. Likewise, 40% of participants with pre-existing high blood glucose reported reduced levels across all three organizations.

“We wanted outcomes that lasted year-over-year and not another quick fix for our employees who were trying to improve their health. Wondr’s mindful eating program not only delivers great results, but also keeps people healthy, decreasing our claims costs and improving employee well-being.”

- Nicole Martel, System Director, Health and Well-Being for Mercy Health

October 2023

Case Profile and Challenge

SmartLight Analytics has developed a proprietary system to handle claim overpayments before they are processed. The innovative system substantially increases recovery rates on overpaid claims. This case study describes the new solution implemented for an EHIR client.

Speed and Accuracy

Self-insured employers hire claims administrators (TPA or carrier) to accurately process medical claims on their behalf. Accurate claims processing refers to correctly deciding which claims to pay, which ones to deny, and how much to pay on each submitted medical claim. Most claims are paid automatically through claim processing platforms without human review. This allows millions of claims to be processed daily at the lowest cost to the TPA. However, speed and accuracy are inversely related, so as speed increases accuracy decreases.

A random sample audit is the carrier-approved standard for assessing whether a claim was processed correctly. An employer with 50,000 member plan will pay over a million claims annually. Less than 0.1% of paid claims are evaluated in a 200-400 claim sample audit, missing much of the payment errors that exist.

Recent advances in technology and AI deliver a more meaningful way for self-insured employers to measure the accuracy of claim payments made on their behalf.

Speed and Accuracy Through a Prepay Solution

Carriers may protest when employers want to bring in an independent vendor to conduct prepay review. However, pay and chase postpay solutions return only pennies on the dollar. Carrier objections to prepay review center around processing delays and unmanageable volumes. SmartLight’s new innovative solution combines postpay analysis with pre-pay processing, adding only minutes to the timeline. This solution has been successfully implemented for a 40,000 EHIR member plan with excellent results.

Process Summary: SmartLight intakes the daily post-adjudicated prepay claims feed and identifies the specific claims that need to be pended for additional review. Targeted claims account for less than 2% of the daily volume. All claims are returned to the carrier within minutes of receipt with the ones marked to pend clearly identified. The entire process is automated and adds less than 15 minutes to the timeline. SmartLight is able to customize file delivery to the specific claims administrators platform.

Results

Since implementing this prepayment process, savings to the plan has steadily increased. The client saved $1.2M in the last quarter, a 184% increase compared to the same quarter last year, pre-implementation.

Example of prevented overpayment: The table below shows claims for an out-of-network laboratory involved in a self-referral scheme with a physician who was criminally convicted of kickbacks. All claims submitted after March 2023 have been denied prior to payment resulting in $135,000 savings in six months.

Conclusion

Identifying overpaid claims immediately prior to payment offers a proven method to maximize plan savings. Flagged claims are pended for additional review and the remaining 98% are cleared to pay. Implementing an independent AI solution allows self-insured employers with a tool to check accuracy of claim payments before they are made.

How Brightside Financial Care Drives Results for Fortune 500 Employers

Many employers attempt to address employee financial health using traditional approaches like financial education, coaching, and financial planning. And most eventually find these solutions do not move the needle on employee financial health. The explanation is simple: They’re designed for employees who have money. They’re not meant to address the urgent and complex needs of the 70% of employees who live paycheck to paycheck.

Brightside created Financial Care, a new category in employee benefits, to improve the financial health of working families while driving employer ROI. We combine behavioral science, technology, and care to meet employees where they are in the moments that matter most, and support them in establishing financial comfort.

The following case studies highlight the results that a Fortune 10 company and Unum experienced since implementing Brightside Financial Care as an employee benefit.

Brightside’s impact at a Fortune 10 employer

For the Fortune 10 employer, an organizational focus on social determinants of health led the team to consider a different approach to supporting the financial wellbeing of distribution center employees. It also sought to reduce the frequency of employee 401(k) hardship withdrawals.

Since implementing Brightside, the Fortune 10 employer has seen:

76% reduction in turnover. The turnover rate for those employees not engaged with Brightside is 43%. For those that are engaged, the turnover rate is 10%.
5% reduction in hardship withdrawals, well exceeding their expectations of a 2%-3% reduction.
Employee satisfaction. The organization’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) for Brightside is +90.
35% employee engagement. More than one in three eligible employees use their Brightside benefit.

Brightside’s impact at Unum

Unum provided its employees with several traditional financial solutions, including a 401(k) plan and company match, webinars, and self-serve resources. Yet, employees kept asking for support with their top financial stressors, including budgeting, saving for the future, and money emergencies.

After realizing that supporting these needs required an employee financial wellness solution that allowed employees to connect with a real person for personalized help for all financial needs, had no ulterior motives, and would integrate easily with its existing HR system, Unum added Brightside Financial Care to its employee financial benefits.

Since implementing Brightside, Unum has seen:

Reduced turnover. Employees who engage with Brightside are 50% less likely to leave the company than those who don’t. Ben Roberge, Director, Financial & Retirement Programs at Unum, noted that metric alone pays for the employer-sponsored cost of Brightside.
Savings per engaged household. Since launch, Unum households that work with Brightside saved about $1,800 in after-tax income in the last year. This puts money back in their pockets.
Employee satisfaction. Unum’s NPS for Brightside is +93.

The Unum team frequently hears powerful stories about how Brightside helps employees, regardless of salary or role. “You can be financially sick at any income level; it’s not just lower-income employees,” said Roberge.

Keep reading about the positive impact these large employers gained from Brightside Financial Care.

July 2023

Transcarent & Client Partner to

Increase Member Engagement

SITUATION

Client, a major academic health system based in the Midwest, launched Transcarent in February 2022 and partnered to set a goal of activating 30% of their primary Members* on the Transcarent health and care experience by the end of May 2022, three-and-a-half months later.

*Client offers Transcarent as a benefit for beneficiaries of their health plan including primary beneficiaries, spouses, and dependents.

OBSTACLES

• As health system employees, Client's primary Member population knows what makes great health care, likes their health system and their own doctors, and may be skeptical of new solutions.

• Low unique household utilization of existing benefits because of pandemic fatigue and lack of interaction from other solutions.

• Client noted their Member population, due to intimate knowledge of the Client health system and its doctors, had room to reduce ER utilization and increase use of Client health system physicians.

SOLUTION

The Transcarent Team designed a strategy for Client and their population around four key pillars of engagement. This tailored engagement strategy delivered high unique household activation, utilization, and retention rates of Transcarent. For year-to-date through December 2022, Client's unique household activation rate was 43%, unique household utilization rate was 95%, and unique household retention rate was 76%.

CHOICE — Build an engaging program designed for their population from the beginning with our comprehensive value-based experience.

Client implemented Transcarent’s full portfolio of care services. Instead of treating the Transcarent Telemedicine solution and Client's in-house telehealth solution as duplicative, we showcased both options side-by-side to highlight the value of Member choice. The Member could interact with a physician through Transcarent, or schedule a visit with Client's in-house physicians.

INCENTIVES — Leverage incentive programs to drive initial participation, ongoing unique household utilization, and make value-based care decisions. Each client situation is unique, and Transcarent tests many types of incentives (low dollar, unique household activation, spouse, etc.) to identify the appropriate incentive for a specific population. For another Transcarent client, a labor/health plan that serves a large number of employers, Transcarent tailored a unique household activation incentive plus referral to drive network effects that generated high monthly unique household activations.

Client was a unique case. Their primary Member population of savvy health system employees had pandemic fatigue and privacy concerns, which affected how many of them had activated their benefits and utilized in-network services in the past. We believed that connecting primary Members with a trusted, unbiased source — our dedicated Health Guides* — would help address both items.

Transcarent connected Health Guides and Members via wellness dollars that Client offers their primary Member population to incentive health behavior. Client had budgeted an appropriate high-dollar incentive (that aligned with their skilled workforce and unique situation). Transcarent and Client collaborated to define and execute the program and we configured the incentive to require that Client's primary Members call a Transcarent Health Guide to receive the incentive.

This interaction helped our Health Guides create credibility and begin developing a relationship with Members as they discussed their health benefit with them. Health Guides informed Members about Transcarent features such as the High-Quality Provider Finder and Telemedicine. They also discussed how Members can access additional employee benefits in the Client ecosystem and view high performing Client providers within the Transcarent experience. These conversations drove higher unique household utilization and helped Members understand the services available to them. In 10 months since the program’s inception, Client's unique household utilization of Transcarent was 95%.

COMMUNICATIONS — Build a targeted communications plan with various ways to communicate from an evidence-based foundation in behavioral science, coaching, and marketing approaches.

Client's benefits and communications team partnered with Transcarent to give us more access to communicate with their Member population. Client also shared their prior learnings on channels that worked well to communicate with their Member population in the past.

Transcarent then leveraged our best practices to develop a cadence of communications that highlighted the incentive — within legal parameters due to tax implications and compliant to regulations around kickbacks — and incentive design across the full breadth of Client's internal channels. Tactics included but were not limited to e-newsletters, printed collateral and clings, videos, and featured space on portals, email, and mail. We worked with Client to tailor a plan to drive optimal results for their population. The Client and Transcarent teams met weekly for four months to discuss communications specifically and make adjustments as needed.

Email generated the highest unique household activation. Transcarent made it simple for Client: we A/B tested emails behind the scenes and provided Client with results, and whitelisted work email addresses of Members so they would receive communications.

Transcarent adjusted with Client's COVID priorities to not occupy vital communication cycles during the surge in December 2021 and January 2022. We designed a custom plan and timeline for launch communications, which began in mid-February.

CULTURE & ECOSYSTEM — Leverage Client's culture of wellbeing and vast ecosystem of benefit communication channels and partners to create default behaviors of engagement.

Client's strong internal brand was an asset for engagement. All materials to non-activated Members were designed under Client's unique internal branding, which lent credibility to this new benefit and helped develop trust in Transcarent.

This news was incorporated in communications to Client Members to promote in-network unique household utilization of medical services. Transcarent configured the Provider Finder, Health Guide, and Surgery solutions to drive this unique household utilization.

RESULTS

The campaign activated more than 41% of Client's primary Members by the end of May 2022, far surpassing their goal of 30%. We surpassed the goal on May 23, a week ahead of the incentive deadline; and unique household activations the last week before the incentive deadline simply drove rates even higher.

Live Guidance

Ninety-five percent (95%) of activated Client Members engaged with Transcarent Health Guides. Even these Members, who are deeply educated in health care as they work for a major healthcare system, chose to contact our dedicated Health Guides.

Transcarent Health Guides met with Members on each of their terms, and provided them with 750+ hours of concierge, white-glove experience in aggregate:

Live calls (22.1% of activated Members)
Live chats (30.8% of activated Members)
Asynchronous messages (47.1% of activated Members)

Digital Guidance

Many activated Members also chose to utilize Transcarent’s Quality Provider Finder and AI-powered Symptom Checker. Client Members, who are health system employees and are well-versed in finding providers and checking their symptoms, turned to these simple, easily accessible features via our app to help them address their needs.

AI-Powered Symptom Checker

Eleven percent (11%) of activated Members utilized our AI-powered Symptom Checker to identify the likely cause of their health issue in the following areas:

Common cold
Abdominal pain
Lactose intolerance

High-Quality Provider Finder

Sixty-six percent (66%) of activated Members utilized our Provider Finder feature to find and book visits with top doctors in their network in the following areas:

Primary Care
Mental/Behavioral Health
Family Medicine

Incentive Program Success

To date, over 31% of all Client unique households and 42% of primary beneficiaries have activated their Transcarent account and received the incentive. Members who received the incentive were 8x more likely to contact Transcarent about a potential surgery through a high-quality Center of Excellence (COE) than those without the incentive, showing the value of the incentive leading to sustained engagement and positive behavior change.

High Satisfaction

Client primary Members showed high satisfaction (1-5 range) for the Telemedicine experience.

Provider rating of 4.94
Technology rating of 4.91

July 2023

June 2023

The relentless rise of pharmacy costs has placed an immense financial strain on patients and has become an overwhelming burden for employers, who struggle to provide adequate healthcare benefits amidst soaring expenses. Battling to manage rising costs, a leading grocery delivery service sought to find a solution to reduce pharmacy spend, without compromising high-quality Rx support for their members.

During implementation, the Rightway team configured its PBM to meet the goals of the client. They created a formulary and deployed clinical programs that would give members the greatest flexibility while still driving the cost savings the employer was looking for. They created a launch and engagement plan that seamlessly merged with their other benefits announcements to help members best understand the new pharmacy benefit and give them appropriate opportunities for touchpoints with their new care team.

To ensure minimal disruption during the transition from their legacy PBM, a traditional Big 3 player, Rightway’s pharmacists leveraged personalized data insights to proactively engage with high-risk and specialty members. Additionally, pharmacists conducted a series of “pharmacy benefit office hours’' with Rightway’s pharmacy navigation team. During these touchpoints, employees could get clarity around changes to their upcoming formulary, review their medications with a Rightway pharmacist, chat through lower cost alternatives, and get an overview of their new pharmacy benefits.

Every time an employee needed pharmacy assistance, they could connect with their dedicated health guide in the Rightway app or over the phone. Rather than being passed from one customer service representative to another, employees enjoyed having a single place to go for their pharmacy needs. By inserting human experts directly into the members’ care journey, Rightway provided an elevated member experience, driving member engagement. The company saw a 9.7% increase in Rightway memberships from the previous year and employees reported that they trusted Rightway to help them understand their pharmacy benefits, answer their questions, and get them the best price for their prescriptions.

During navigations, pharmacist-led care teams guided members towards affordable and high-quality prescriptions, proactively identifying generic alternatives and opportunities for savings through mail order services. They helped members manage prior authorizations and specialty drug refills, streamlining their overall benefits experience. On average, Rightway was able to save members $231 per claim.

Rightway pharmacists established trusting relationships that strengthened their ability to guide members to optimal medication regimens and savings opportunities. Rightway’s fully aligned pricing model and transparent solution gave members access to drug options at the lowest net cost, driving down monthly PMPM spend by 9%.

Rightway’s member-centric approach delivered a next-level healthcare experience for the online delivery company. Evidence-based clinical programs, high-touch pharmacy navigation, and proactive member engagement maximized patient outcomes and plan savings, lowering Rx costs by $830K for the delivery company.

Leading restaurant chain leverages Virtual Care to improve employee retention and recruitment.

Strong recruitment and retention strategy while adding employee value

In today’s increasingly competitive labor market, especially among organizations hiring part-time employees, adding employee value is a creative way to attract and retain staff. One leading restaurant did just that, investing in a new kind of perk for non-medically eligible employees and their dependents.

The organization partnered with Included Health to address their top goals:

Attract employees and return turnover
Provide an affordable, innovative health solution that addresses the physical and mental health of employees
Improve workplace productivity and enhance employee health
Drive employee satisfaction

Comprehensive medical perk for non-medically eligible employees

This leading restaurant chain partnered with Included Health in 2022 to offer their independent owner/operators a comprehensive medical perk for non-medically eligible employees, and their dependents. The solution gives employees access to high-quality physical and mental virtual care.

Employees have access to Everyday & Urgent Care to see a doctor in as little as five minutes—compared to an average 29 day wait time to see an in-person family medicine physician.* Additionally, employees have access to Included Health’s Behavioral Health offering to see a therapist or psychiatrist for a full spectrum of mental health needs in days. And all visits are offered virtually—so employees can visit with a provider 24/7 from anywhere, without having to leave work.

The perk supports better employee work-life balance, enhances employee health, job satisfaction and productivity, all while also serving as an advantage when recruiting employees.

View our results from this case study.

NextEra Energy Partners With finHealth To Reduce Healthcare Costs

NextEra Energy is a Fortune 200 highly respected clean energy company, with annual revenues of $24.8 billion and nearly 15,000 employees across the U.S. To help rein in escalating healthcare costs, NextEra Energy partnered with finHealth in early 2022. By way of background, NextEra Energy (NEE) is served by an independent TPA and a national insurer network to oversee their healthcare expenditures. As a first step, finHealth performed its proprietary Healthcare Value Assessment (HVA), critiquing every aspect of health plan expenditures and benchmarking NEE’s performance versus industry cost measures. finHealth’s data-driven, evidence-based approach meshed well with NextEra Energy’s culture and operating structure. The results showed NextEra Energy as a top performer in healthcare governance and performance, but nonetheless identified several opportunities for improvement. The initial opportunities spanned across 3 key categories:

High-Dollar Inpatient Hospital Bills – Given the financial magnitude of high dollar hospital bills (inpatient / outpatient / emergency room), NEE is now selectively verifying high-dollar hospital bills for accuracy and reasonableness; NEE is performing this review in addition to the reviews performed by their TPA and network carrier. The first claim reviewed resulted in a $500,000+ downward adjustment to the bill. NextEra Energy continues to operationalize the process to safeguard their health plan from erroneous and/or inflated charges for all claims exceeding $50,000.
Payment Integrity – The results revealed NEE’s current TPA missed flagging some claim processing errors. These exceptions include missed provider discounts, ineligible employees, medical coding errors, keying errors relative to quantities / rates, and much more. In the first month of review, NEE was able to recover $67K from the first two errors identified. The errors were overpayments on breast pumps that were supposed to cost $187 each. Instead of 1 pump at $187, the claim was keyed for 187 pumps times $187, leading to an overpayment of $33K for each of the 2 claims. This process is first being pursued as a monthly review, with the goal to migrate to weekly and ultimately a 100% prepayment vetting for all medical claims.
Drugs Administered in a Medical Setting – In addition to money disbursed via NEE’s PBM, there was an additional $18 million for specialty drugs administered in a medical setting. In addition to potentially forfeiting earned rebates, some providers place excessive mark-ups on outpatient drug infusions. We spotted several drugs that were costing NEE and their members as much as $10,000 more than competitive market values for monthly infusions. By spotting these anomalies early, providers can be held accountable for “reasonable” specialty drug pricing. NextEra is taking the incremental step of migrating appropriate specialty drug administration to providers with competitive market costs.

A recent Maven Clinic study of 500 women in the United States who pursued or considered fertility treatment found that 97% of women surveyed didn’t have all of the information needed when first considering treatment, while 65% reported leaving their fertility clinics with more questions than answers. With one in six people worldwide affected by infertility, employers are in a unique position to provide clinical, emotional, and financial support to those building their families.

"Every person deserves an approach to care that provides a more empowering and efficient path to building a family," says Dr. Neel Shah, Chief Medical Officer at Maven. "Our research underscores how overwhelming the current care model has become, alongside the opportunities to provide more trustworthy and accessible support."

Key findings from the study

Nearly all women surveyed (97%) said they did not have all the information needed when first considering treatment, especially about all of the associated costs.
65% of patients said that every time they visited a fertility clinic, they felt like they left with more questions than answers.
Nearly half of women (47%) said the biggest question they face about their fertility treatment is the underlying cause of their fertility challenges. 43% said the biggest question they face is whether or not there are other treatment options available to them.
More than 2 in 3 women (68%) with a spouse or partner say their partner is overlooked in discussions and decision-making about family building at least some of the time.
More than half of women (55%) said they didn’t know what was covered by their insurance or employer when they first considered fertility treatment.
Nearly 90% of patients feel they would have had to cut back on expenses to pay for treatments. 51% would cut back on savings. 36% would cut back on everyday expenses, like groceries or transportation.
81% of women say that the emotional stress of fertility treatment is equal to if not stronger than the financial stress of treatment.
97% of women said that offering fertility benefits would increase their desire to work for or stay with a company.

Maven partners with over 500 global employers and health plans to deliver personalized and impactful fertility care that helps patients thrive, overcoming many of the common challenges associated with fertility treatment. Maven members have access to robust preconception care, high-quality clinics with transparent pricing and data, and 24/7 virtual support from specialists across mental health, nutrition, reproductive endocrinology and more. Learn more about how Maven supports employees navigating family building.

Member Case Study: The right care for Hannah’s anxiety, at the ready

When Hannah’s anxiety worsened, Brooke (Hannah’s mom) spent three weeks and countless hours on the phone trying to get her in to see a mental health expert with no success.

Member: 14-year old girl struggling with social anxiety and depression

Triage to the Right Care: Once Brooke found Brightline, she was able to get a personalized recommendation for therapy based on a quick assessment and guidance from the Brightline team to schedule a therapy appointment right away.

Immediate Access to Specialized Clinicians: Brooke was able to quickly schedule an appointment with a therapist specializing in teen anxiety and depression. Brightline’s average appointment wait time is 2.2 days.
Family-Focused Care: Brightline engages parents and caregivers in care planning and progress tracking. Brooke felt at ease meeting her daughter’s therapist before their first session and receiving progress reports during regular check-ins directly with her. She also saw her stress as a caregiver improve through regular assessments.

Hannah completed her first year of high school, and she says feeling much stronger mentally thanks to the coping skills she learned and the freedom she
feels to share her mental health struggles.

May 2023

Payer Perspective: Using Digital Health Solutions to Engage At-Risk Members

New health plan partnership is improving outcomes for high-risk patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and behavioral health needs.

Overview:

Colorado's largest and most experienced public sector health plan has a tradition of forming partnerships to deliver better outcomes through more personalized care.

In June 2022, the non-profit payer partnered with Dario to support members living with diabetes and hypertension, as well weight management and behavioral health needs.

"Dario's digital health services will help thousands of ... members take better care of their health with simple and relevant support for chronic health needs," says the health plan's SVP of Health Care Systems and Chief Medical Officer. "This partnership has the potential for significant impact in the communities we serve."

A Positive Outcome—Right from the Start

The new Dario solution was up and running in 6 weeks, impressing the team of people who were spearheading the innovative new partnership.

Engagement Leads the way to Success

Dario and the Plan identified the highest-risk members for the initial scope of engagement. The Plan achieved close to 80% enrollment in the targeted population just six months into the program, and the upward trajectory is expected to reach the goal before the first year of the program is complete.

The overwhelming majority of members enrolled in Dario to support more than one chronic condition (86%), while nearly half enrolled in Dario (45.37%) to help manage all four chronic conditions. These numbers are reflective of the fact that chronic cardiometabolic, musculoskeletal, and behavioral health conditions often occur together.

Plan Members Sing Dario’s Praises

Feedback from plan members in the first few months of implementation have been extremely positive, making project managers optimistic that they've found an effective way to support a traditionally hard-to-reach population.

Dario's coaches have been capturing feedback from plan members who are using Dario, and they concur that it's been overwhelmingly positive.

One member said, “Dario has been a miracle for me. It is something that I know is reliable. The combination of knowing I have a coach to rely on as well as my devices to support my health has been the biggest blessing.”

A Commitment to Innovation

There is growing recognition of the value digital health can deliver for health plans, especially those in need of a fresh approach to engage historically underserved populations. As the partnership between Dario and the health plan progresses, both parties recognize that innovative solutions will play an increasingly important part in health management.

About Dario

Founded in 2011 as a direct-to-consumer digital health provider, Dario perfected its

solution with real users before selling to employers, health plans, and providers. Dario's proven and popular solution makes it easy for people to care for their health, with continuous and connected digital support that meets and anticipates individual needs, understands personal motivators, and facilitates engagement and behavior change.

May 2023

Mattel is a leading global toy company with a portfolio of iconic brands including Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price. With products sold across 150 countries, Mattel has more than 10,000 employees. Mattel turned to Headspace Health to help their organization manage stress, build resilience, and feel empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. Committed to employee well-being, Mattel sought tools that would help their teams manage stress, build resilience, and foster creativity and collaboration in an industry where innovation is key.

With approachable, easy-to-use, and inclusive content for all levels and lifestyles, Headspace Health helped Mattel employees reduce stress and burnout, and show up to work as their authentic selves — all while attracting and retaining top talent for the business. Mattel’s program saw 3,795 members and nearly 2 million minutes meditated in under 3 years.

“I get these stories from employees about how Headspace changed their life. It really permeates every employee no matter where they are,” said Sally Dail, Senior Manager, Benefits & Wellbeing.

Watch our video case study to learn more.

The Challenge

Low-value care corresponding to services that are inappropriate (e.g., fraud, waste and abuse) or that miss out on addressable health opportunities (e.g., poor outcomes, gaps in care etc.) are a major challenge to existing employer health plan cost-containment needs. Targeting this problem requires a multi-dimensional approach that includes monitoring for low-value care, digital tools to evaluate services and alert members of bad care choices, and real-time matching to providers most likely to achieve the best results for members’ individualized needs.

The Study

Health at Scale (HaS) analyzed claims for a client with ~50k members and total spend of $235 million to identify opportunities to reduce spend and improve member health. HaS’ unique approach uses advanced machine intelligence and a clinically nuanced understanding of the context of care to generate hyper-personalized care insights for individual members.

Fraud, Waste and Abuse Detection

HaS’ FWA technology identifies highly unusual care patterns poorly matched to individual member health needs. In the population studied, HaS uncovered:

$5.3 million of FWA (2.2% of spend) missed by existing carrier payment integrity
$3.6 million of additional reimbursements secondary to FWA services (facility fees, anesthesiology fees etc.)
31% of FWA flagged was recurrent, with vulnerable members repeatedly receiving inappropriate care over extended periods

The results above are a lower-bound on the true cost of FWA for employer health plans. For example, HaS uncovered $31K paid for a medically inappropriate implant of a cardiac device, resulting in additional lifetime follow-up monitoring costs and risk of downstream complications and unnecessary procedures. Helping members evaluate treatments, flagging bad care in prior auth and pre-pay, and directing members away from providers who repeatedly perform FWA services can deliver significant savings and productivity gains.

Personalized Provider Matches

HaS’ personalized provider recommendation technology deeply characterizes individual members across thousands of health characteristics to recommend in-network providers with a history of doing well with similar kinds of patients in the past. In the population studied, HaS found that:

84.5% of members seeking specialist care were sub-optimally matched to providers:
- $3.8K higher 90-day total cost of care per member for poorly matched members vs. well-matched members
If all members visited well-matched specialists, potential cost savings would be $12.7 million (6.2% of spend)

The Opportunity

HaS’ AI-powered employer health plan optimization platform delivers savings of 2-6% of healthcare spend through personalized care insights and nudges that guide members away from inappropriate care and to optimally matched providers. Employers can deploy these insights through:

Digital tools for provider navigation, claims insights, and evaluating treatments
Proactive outreach to mitigate recurrent FWA
Historical claims audits and FWA recovery
Integration with TPAs to flag FWA in real time and prevent payment before it goes out

The Challenge

Despite Oracle’s robust suite of family well-being and workforce inclusion policies, Oracle knew there was more to be done to support working parents of children with autism.

Oracle’s Senior Director of Benefits, Rhonda Davidson, began to understand the impact pediatric autism, learning disabilities, and developmental delays could have on parents and their employer in the early 2000s. She heard many touching stories from employees whose children had autism and educated herself on the barriers these children and their caregivers face—from insurance coverage to stigma and heightened mental health risks.

One in six children have developmental disabilities and employees with children under the age of 18 comprise close to 40 percent of the workforce. This means the issue likely impacts more than 4,000 children of Oracle employees. However, there is a severe shortage of pediatric providers trained to support this population, with only one Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) per 224 children diagnosed with developmental disabilities.

When Davidson learned RethinkCare could help Oracle’s employees avoid the long wait lists and expensive co-pays for BCBA appointments, she jumped on the opportunity and pressed for immediate approval from Oracle’s leadership team to launch the benefit.

“Honestly, this has really never happened with a vendor before,” Davidson said. “[RethinkCare] gave me the pitch, and I immediately left and got approval. That was it.”

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Solution

After receiving the green light from Oracle’s leadership team, RethinkCare lived up to its promise in 2017 and provided Oracle’s staff of 64,000 U.S. employees access to high-impact parenting skills trainings and expert support. Oracle’s team members have embraced RethinkCare with open arms, expressing their gratitude to colleagues, benefits administrators, and even the Chief Human Resources Officer.

Oracle launched RethinkCare’s Parental Success solution, (formerly known as Rethink Benefits) in July 2017. For more than 5 years, the program has empowered working parents and families with thousands of on-demand e-learning sessions and live consultations with on-staff Board Certified Behavior Analysts to address the unique behavioral and mental health needs for their children. This includes dedicated one-on-one support from RethinkCare’s master-and doctoral-level BCBAs who bring specialized training in helping parents of neurodiverse children diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or other learning disabilities.

“It completely made sense,” Davidson said about her decision to adopt RethinkCare. “We needed it. It seemed like the perfect solution and has proven to be so.”

Proven Outcomes

45% of high-risk Oracle employees use RethinkCare.
Participation rates increased 34% in 2022, compared to 21% growth in 2021.
RethinkCare’s training sessions helped every Oracle employee who provided feedback on the content in 2022.
36% of RethinkCare content consumed in 2022 focused on parents’ mental health, indicating Oracle’s proactive support for parents at higher risks of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
Oracle’s investment in working parents directly addresses employee performance, with 83% of RethinkCare users reporting less time distracted from work in 2022.

To learn more about Oracle’s journey with RethinkCare, please read the full case study here.

Unleashing the Power of Data: How Partnering with Springbuk Can Transform Your Benefits Program

Over the years, employer-sponsored benefit plans have been driven by a common goal: contain healthcare costs.

However, one Fortune 100 employer is flipping the script on how they approach and prioritize their health benefits. Their plans are driven by their members’ experience just as much as healthcare savings. As a result, over the past several years, they have added numerous programs and services to assist members with their health.

Diagnose

To maintain their employees’ experience, despite a fluctuating healthcare landscape after 2020, the employer made several plan design changes to absorb as much cost as possible. But they quickly realized they also needed to understand their program’s impact, and asked:

Did they drive members to the right types of care?
Were they effective in controlling program costs for members?
Did programs move the needle the way they intended to in their population?

Historically, the employer relied on individual reports from each program vendor to answer these questions. But their isolated data analysis gave them a stagnant, siloed view. Additionally, there was no easy way to verify the metrics provided by their vendors.

Frustrated with having data but no way to put it into action, they concluded that they needed a data warehouse that could integrate third-party vendor data and blend it with their medical and pharmacy claims to allow for a complete member or population-centric perspective. They also needed a partner that could collaborate with their vendors and become an extension of their team to:

Build meaningful reports to illustrate outcomes
Identify opportunities to inform intentional programs
Improve the health of their members

The employer chose Springbuk as their partner. With Springbuk, the employer gained more than a partner; they gained a team of experts to support them in their overall healthcare benefits strategy and initiatives. Springbuk gives the employer the ability to access multiple data sources in a single place and illustrate the full picture of their population’s risk and opportunities, along with demonstrated outcomes related to programs.

Plan

The Springbuk team started from the top by thoroughly reviewing the employer’s benefit offerings, including plan designs, programs offered, and program goals. This allowed the teams to understand what was working, where
the opportunities lie, and what areas of care
to focus on.

One of the employer’s main goals was to ensure their existing diabetes program was effective, reaching the right members, and data provided by the vendor could be validated:

Springbuk, the employer, and their diabetes vendor reviewed the vendor’s program re-port, followed by a Q&A session to understand methodologies, terms, definitions, and more
Next, the Springbuk Analytic and Strategic Consulting team internally built a diabetes-focused report with
two purposes:

Re-create and validate vendor reports with medical and Rx data
Produce additional measurements to address other data points the employer was interested in evaluating (Gaps in Care compliance by metric, clinical risk, and other chronic conditions that could be shared back with the vendor)

Measure

Once the report was built, the Springbuk team and the diabetes vendor met several times to review and collaborate on how to best present the data for the employer.

The final report included additional measurements that would allow the employer to fully understand the impact of the program and spot clear opportunities for ongoing improvements and program refinements:

Demographic breakdown of enrolled vs. non-enrolled members
Member cost breakdown comparing medical vs. pharmacy costs
Member disease severity levels
Compliance rates for specific diabetes care metrics

Evaluate

As a result of this collaborative process, at the next Quarterly Review, Springbuk and the diabetes vendor together presented data findings to the employer’s benefits team. This allowed all stakeholders to participate in the conversation and discuss ongoing steps to monitor and improve the program based on data from both parties.

In addition, they also developed short and long-term goals related to the program, including:

Expanded analysis of engaged members
Further evaluate medical/Rx costs 6-12 months prior to engagement with diabetes program to identify additional potential cost savings
Targeted education for specific gaps in care metrics
Diabetic retinopathy screenings
Foot exams
Medication compliance
Enhanced risk adjustment
Developed a strategy to engage younger members

Maximize the Impact of Your Health Investment

Healthcare moving forward is going beyond just focusing on medical and Rx costs. To see how Springbuk can help you merge all of your data and information together so you can make smarter, more informed decisions, visit springbuk.com/integrated-analytics.

GENOMICS FOR A HEALTHIER WORKFORCE

Situation

The pandemic ushered in numerous changes, and the “Great Resignation” created an exodus leaving employers to fill more than 10 million roles(1). Workforce strategy requires novel approaches to address challenges in recruiting and retaining employees. These past three years have also witnessed increased mental health conditions and reduced cancer screenings among employees. While employers prioritize specialized health benefits, including mental health and cancer support, gaps still exist.

Addressing Barriers to Health

These unprecedented challenges require finding solutions tailored to individual needs. Employee benefits can deliver a new way to solve a problem in a precision-based way. Employers are bringing scientific advancements to their workforce, providing answers to optimize health and well-being.

Genetic Testing As Employer Differentiator

Companies are finding ways to demonstrate care and concern through employee benefits. A genetic health screen can help identify a predisposition to developing hereditary cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and additional conditions. Approximately one in six people will be found to carry a significant genetic mutation that increases their risk of disease(2).

Genetic Testing, Cancer, and Support

People recognize cancer as a genetic disease from Angelina Jolie’s breast and ovarian cancer diagnoses. A child of an individual with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene variant has a 50 percent chance of inheriting the variant(3). Approximately 40% of people will receive a cancer diagnosis during their lifetimes(4).

Cancer is pervasive, and many types do not have symptoms in the early stages, prompting employers to develop a cancer strategy for increased care. According to the Business Group on Health, cancer has moved to the front among the drivers of large employers’ healthcare costs. Cancer treatment accounts for 12 percent of employers’ total medical costs in the United States(5). Of individuals who have had cancer for two years, 42 percent have depleted their life savings(6). Participation in a cancer support program can help lower cancer-related medical costs(7).

Pharmacogenomics (PGX) and Mental Health

For the 52.9 million people with mental health conditions, genetic testing called pharmacogenomics may help them find the right medicine. Approximately 91 percent of the population has a gene variant that affects how individuals respond to different medications(8). PGx benefits psychiatric patients by uncovering why a drug works or doesn’t, reducing the time and costs of drug optimization.

Genome Benefit Solution

Genomic Life partners with employers to bridge the gap to precision medicine with a genome management benefit. This differentiating platform offers a suite of essential genetic testing to uncover cancer risk, learn what medications work, and inform family planning.

Employees diagnosed with cancer receive a dedicated oncology navigator who facilitates timely access to genomic-based testing. They receive a feature-rich cancer support program and personalized resources across the care continuum.

Vantage Point Benefits, https://vantagepointbenefit.com/employee-benefits-trends-for-2022
Haverford, 2021
Petrucelli N, et al., National Institutes of Health, Updated 2016
National Cancer Institute, Cancer Statistics, 2020
Johns Hopkins, 2021
Gilligan A., et al., American Journal of Medicine, 2018.
Wu C., et. al., Journal of Oncology Practice, 2014.
Van Driest S., et al., Clinical Pharmacology Therapy, 2014

April 2023

The challenge

US Foods® uses the Artemis platform to steer decisions and support the implementation of pioneering pilots within the company’s benefits ecosystem.

One opportunity observed through Artemis analytics was brought to the forefront through reviewing total Rx specialty spend, which continues to increase each year.

The analysis

Narrowing in on specialty prescription spending through Artemis reporting showed that roughly a third of specialty costs were attributed to medications commonly used to treat psoriasis. Psoriasis is a multisystemic disease in which skin cells accumulate, forming dry, itchy patches. This condition has many common comorbidities, including psoriatic arthritis, excess weight, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and depression.

By measuring the impact of psoriasis within their employee population with Artemis, US Foods found that although less than 1% of their population struggles with psoriasis, the cost for treating this disease is extremely high and is expected to increase.

The action

One way that US Foods is thinking outside the box to curb costs in this fragment of their population is through a pilot study with a new phototherapy point solution, Zerigo, for chronic skin condition management. The FDA-cleared, convenient at-home treatment has an 81% patient “good, great, or life-changing” satisfaction rating.

The results

If the pilot is a success, it will provide an opportunity for a one-time ticket price point compared to ongoing drug consumption, which ultimately could provide an alternative to costly biologics, slashing specialty spending for this small employee segment. US Foods will then be able to reinvest millions of dollars into other programs that impact their larger population while still catering to the needs of their small fraction of workers with this multisystemic disease.

‍

Artemis Health is helping our customers take action with their benefits data, and that’s just the beginning of what we can do.

Get in touch to learn more.

April 2023

Accolade is a personalized healthcare platform with a mission to help people live their healthiest lives through care delivery, navigation, and advocacy services. With their commitment to inclusive support, fertility and family-forming benefits were top of mind. And after a $1.5 million pregnancy and childbirth claim, they hoped the right benefit could help employees access safe care that would reduce healthcare costs in the long run. Focused on diversity and affordability, the team began their search for a comprehensive fertility healthcare offering.

“I'm coming at it from the lens of what will empower, engage, and attract our employees, but we also want to make sure that we're driving home potential cost impact with our finance team,” said Mary Lasky, Director of Benefits at Accolade.

Accolade thoroughly vets all partners in their ecosystem to ensure customers can easily find high-quality benefits offerings. When considering options for their own team, they take a similar approach and search for clinically managed and well-vetted solutions. They selected Carrot because their vetting process revealed high-quality, comprehensive care with better health outcomes.

“I was given the evaluation that was done for Carrot related to the other point solutions that were out there in the market at that time,” said Lasky. “Carrot was above and beyond the others.”

They were also impressed with how Carrot’s vetting process matched the rigor of their own. Globally, Carrot has a network of 3,800+ clinics and 4,200+ agencies and attorneys, and all are vetted for medical standards based on their region and service.

The Accolade team valued that Carrot supported diverse journeys, from fertility preservation to adoption, to gestational surrogacy. “It is super important to be able to ensure that we're covering that gamut of all the employees we have in our organization, regardless of how they choose to start their family,” said Lasky.

The team also knew that reducing multiple births from fertility treatment was an impactful way to manage costs. Carrot includes care navigation and clinical guidance around single embryo transfers (SET), the single most predictive indicator of a singleton IVF pregnancy and subsequent successful birth. SET can also reduce risk of low birth weight, NICU admissions, and hospital stay lengths. Carrot’s industry-leading 97% SET rate is 26% higher than the national average. The team saw this as an important preventive measure that would set their employees up to make safe, cost-effective decisions on IVF journeys.

The benefit has been well received. Many employees have taken advantage of the educational resources and virtual chats with mental health experts specializing in fertility and family forming. Accolade employees are also enthusiastically signing up to use the benefit, with about 4.6% of eligible employees working with Carrot Experts to get personalized Carrot Plans guiding them through their journeys.

With a robust SET program, diverse fertility and family-forming paths, exceptional clinical standards, and extensive support for all members, Carrot proved to fit exactly what Accolade was looking for. “I would go back and pick Carrot all over,” Lasky said

With ways to retain and attract employees at the forefront of HR leaders’ minds, it’s important to consider offering benefits that support employee health and wellbeing—including health concerns like cancer that become more significant with age. According to new market research* from GRAIL1 and Ipsos of 1,000 full-time employees working at large companies, cancer screening is an urgent concern for nearly all surveyed employees, with 92% saying they would want to know if they have cancer as early as possible.

Employers can help address this concern and fill a gap in cancer screening benefits with early cancer detection by offering the Galleri® test. With a simple blood draw, the Galleri test can detect a cancer signal across more than 50 types of cancer – the majority of which lack recommended screening today.2

In the survey, Galleri was ranked the most important health benefit3 by 79.1% of the respondents, on par with an incremental $1000 salary increase and more important than a one-percent 401k increase.

The research also demonstrated that employers offering the Galleri test could improve employee satisfaction, retention and attraction:

76% of respondents agreed that they would be more satisfied with their employer if they offered the Galleri test as a no-cost benefit
69% agreed that if a potential new employer offered Galleri, it would have at least some impact on their consideration of that company versus other prospective employers
51% agreed that if their employer offered Galleri, they would be more likely to stay at the company

Offering the Galleri test could also positively impact employees’ perceptions of their employer:

84% of the respondents agreed that it would show the company’s commitment to fighting cancer
81% agreed that it would show that the company cares about the health and well-being of its employees
77% agreed it would show the company cares about providing access to healthcare benefits for a diverse employee population

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Outcomes Research: Clinical value of second opinions in oncology. A retrospective review of changes in diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

Second opinion programs have been a staple of the employer community for many years, however defining the clinical value of these programs can at times be challenging, and for cancer specifically, the value to patients’ quality of life during and after treatment has not been studied in depth. Recently, a group of physicians and researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), in close collaboration with MSK’s employer cancer benefit program, MSK Direct, published a peer-reviewed study in Cancer Medicine that seeks to quantify the impact of subspecialized oncology physician second opinions for individuals with a recent cancer diagnosis.

To assess the value of a second opinion, MSK conducted a retrospective cohort study using the medical records of 120 patients who received a second opinion for a newly diagnosed cancer from MSK. None of patients had begun cancer treatment. MSK subspecialized physicians used a data collection guide to compare each patient’s original diagnosis and treatment plan with MSK’s second opinion. When MSK’s second opinion suggested a change in diagnosis or treatment, researchers assessed the expected impact of this change on survival and quality of life.

Of 120 second opinions reviewed, one in three second opinions resulted in meaningful changes in treatment plans that were expected to lead to positive outcomes, improved expected morbidity and improved quality of life. One third of those patients also had improved expected prognosis. Additionally, one in nine cases received a clinically meaningful change in diagnosis, one in ten cases involved a shift from treatment to observation or surveillance and one in five cases involved eliminating or reducing the extent of surgery, compared to 1 in 20 where adding surgery or increasing its extent was recommended. Only two cases had expected worse short-term morbidity from having sought a second opinion, with unchanged long-term morbidity and prognosis.

The study found many expected improvements in survival and quality of life as a result of receiving a second opinion. While the study did not track outcomes, reviewers were confident in the expected benefits of the changes to the diagnoses or treatment plans. These finding suggests that the value of high-quality second opinions in oncology stems frequently from de-escalating or modifying treatment in ways that reduce treatment-associated morbidity.

MSK Direct currently partners with over 200 leading employers to help ensure that their employees and family members are receiving the highest quality care, no matter where they are through clinically verified digital tools, virtual expert medical opinions, and psychosocial support.

Citation: Lipitz-Snyderman A, Chimonas S, Mailankody S, et al. Clinical value of second opinions in oncology: A retrospective review of changes in diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Cancer Med. 2023;00:1-11. doi:10.1002/cam4.5598

March 2023

About the client

The client is a leading health plan and one of the largest corporations in the United States. Made of two distinct and complementary businesses; this health plan is working to improve access, affordability, outcomes, and experiences.

The Challenge

Providing employees with more convenient at-home biometric screenings

This health plan offers its employees a biometric screening program and incentives for completing wellness activities. Its employees can choose from multiple modalities to participate in biometric screenings, including at-home testing, on-site testing, visiting their primary care physician, or going directly to a laboratory. Working with the previous at-home screening vendor resulted in low kit return rates due to challenges with unclear instructions, long kit dispatch wait times of up to ten days, limited reminder communications strategies, no results portal, and poor customer service. The health plan sought a more convenient, user-friendly at-home screening option to simplify the process and provide insights that enable employees to manage their health and well-being.

The Solution

A tech-forward and user-friendly at-home biometric screening solution

The employer began offering LetsGetChecked’s more user-friendly and tech-forward at-home biometric screening solution in 2021 as one of several options to engage in screenings. The customized biometric screening program measures cholesterol, triglycerides, hbA1C, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure. With LetsGetChecked, participants can order test kits easily and receive them within two to five business days compared to the previous vendor’s ten days. Each kit contains all the items needed to collect personal health information, including detailed sample collection instructions and a pre-paid return label to help make the collection process more streamlined and convenient. LetsGetChecked also employs custom engagement strategies to encourage participation in the next step of the screening process, including incentive and deadline campaign reminders. Multiple proactive communication channels, including email and call outreach, are utilized to encourage completion actions. Participants also have access to LetsGetChecked’s dedicated in-house clinical team for guidance and answers to questions. Confidential results are accessible through secure online LetsGetChecked accounts typically within 48 hours. In the case of any abnormal results, a LetsGetChecked nurse calls participants to discuss the results and provide recommendations.

The Results

A screening program with a better user experience and an NPS score of 52

LetsGetChecked has delivered over 26,000 test kits to program participants. Of the returned test kits, we found:

64.24% have out of range LDL cholesterol
33.03% have out of range HDL cholesterol
34.92% have out of range triglycerides
6.37% have out of range and 22.19% borderline high HbA1c

Across 400 survey responses, participants gave LetsGetChecked a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 52, much higher than the average healthcare benchmark score of 38. LetsGetChecked’s better user experience encourages screening participation and provides health insights to identify high-risk participants, inform rewards and health-based action items, and reduce long-term healthcare costs.

March 2023

Summary

A third-party analytics firm validated that Purdue University plan members who engaged with Rx Savings Solutions (RxSS) in 2021 saw a decrease—or fairly flat trend—in costs for several of the top 10 drug categories. The firm concluded that RxSS successfully identified and engaged the higher-risk members in the client’s population and reduced their spend.

Background and Details

With 23,000 members, the Purdue University Employee Medical Plan offers a full spectrum of benefits and resources to help improve the overall health and wellness of benefits-eligible faculty, staff and dependents covered on a Purdue medical plan.
In 2020, Purdue University introduced RxSS as a key component of their wellness program to help plan members save money on prescription drugs.
Within 90 days, 22% of members with pharmacy claims were engaged in RxSS.
As of December 2022, engaged members who made a prescription switch saved nearly $1 million for themselves and the plan combined, a 42% reduction in their total costs.

Key Findings

Since 2015, Purdue University has utilized information from a healthcare-focused data analytics firm regarding pharmacy, biometrics and wellness measures in an effort to improve employee health and reduce medical spending.
The firm concluded that RxSS engages and delivers value to the right members, noting the strong correlation between active engagement with the RxSS tool and cost reduction.
An analysis of 2021 RxSS data examined RxSS participants alongside nonparticipants and evaluated the client’s total spend (medical and pharmacy) across both groups. Those engaged in RxSS were broken out into categories by risk, using Johns Hopkins AGC risk modeling to assign a risk score.
Further, for those engaged in RxSS in 2021, data analysis showed a decrease or fairly flat trend in several of the top 10 drug categories from 2021 to 2022. The data analytics firm concluded that RxSS successfully identified and engaged the higher-risk members in the client’s population and reduced their spend.

Member Engagement (as of November 2022)

32% of all members with pharmacy claims engaged in RxSS benefit

37% of engaged members switched to lower-cost options

Top Cost Savings by Drug Class

26.4% savings - Allergy/Immunology

13.3% savings - Dermatology

12.6% savings - Inflammatory

8.3% savings - Respiratory

Learn More

For more about RxSS and the latest updates on how we help employers control pharmacy

spend and boost engagement, visit: rxss.com/stories

February 2023

The problem:

Infertility is common. One in eight couples experience infertility in the U.S., outpacing both diabetes and cancer. High-quality reproductive healthcare is critical healthcare, but it’s inequitable, expensive, and inaccessible to most. It’s no surprise that Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, heard from its associates that improved access to fertility, surrogacy, and adoption support is a priority for them and their families. Walmart set out to solve this problem for its associates with a fertility and family-building benefit solution that would align with the cornerstone of their strategy:

The highest quality care;
The lowest possible price; and
Equitable access to Walmart's diverse population across the U.S.

The solution:

Walmart named Kindbody as its Center of Excellence (COE) for family-building and fertility services as of November 1, 2022. Eligible Walmart associates, partners, spouses, and dependents enrolled in most Walmart medical plans are each eligible to receive up to $20,000 for fertility treatments, donor egg or sperm, and fertility medications. Eligible associates will also have access to reimbursement of up to $20,000 for surrogacy and adoption services.

The COE for fertility and family-building builds on Walmart’s proven COE model, which provides benefit support and coverage for certain complex conditions like heart, spine and joint surgeries and cancer treatments, in partnership with some of the best healthcare providers and facilities in the country. At the heart of the COE is Walmart’s commitment to increasing access to some of the best specialists and facilities to ensure its associates have access to highest quality care nationwide.

Kindbody’s approach:

Kindbody is the only fertility benefits provider that is in the provision of care. Walmart associates have access to Kindbody’s network of 31 state-of-the-art clinics nationwide, including a new Kindbody clinic and IVF laboratory in Northwest Arkansas, just down the road from Walmart global headquarters. As the direct provider of clinical care, Kindbody is uniquely positioned to deliver a seamless continuum of care, decrease costs, improve patient experience, and deliver superior health outcomes through:

A broad spectrum of care in modalities to serve associates when and where they need it through virtual appointments, Kindbody signature clinics, and at-home testing.
Proprietary technology that combines online scheduling for virtual and in-person appointments and a patient portal and electronic medical record (EMR) for increased standardization of care.
A national bundled payment model that aligns incentives and provides equitable benefits to Walmart’s diverse workforce, resulting in more than 20-30%+ cost savings.
State-of-art clinics and IVF labs, veteran clinical leadership, and industry-leading success rates including pregnancy rates per IVF transfer that are 30% higher than the national average and a 98% single embryo transfer rate.
A delightful patient experience with a net promoter score (NPS) that is consistently 88 or higher. Fertility and family-building benefits that go beyond a navigation platform.

Kindbody provides associates with clinical visits in the comfort of their homes, no matter where they are, profoundly impacting the life of associates and their families.

February 2023

Putting healthcare workers’ heart health first during–and after–the pandemic

Background

The pandemic jolted and disrupted organizations and individuals worldwide, but healthcare workers were hit especially hard, facing high rates of not only coronavirus infection and death but also anxiety, stress, and sleep deprivation.1 With the long-term stress of COVID weighing heavily on this workforce, rates of anxiety disorders, chronic stress, and sleep deprivation increased, as did the risk for heart attack and stroke.2,3,4

Solution

Going into the pandemic, a health system in the Southeast with more than 30,000 employees had a tool in place to help their staff protect and even improve their heart health. In 2019, to reduce their claims costs related to heart disease — one of their top drivers of healthcare spending — the health system implemented Hello Heart.

Hello Heart is the only digital therapeutics company to focus exclusively on heart health and empowers users to achieve significant clinical outcomes validated in a peer-reviewed study published in a top-tier medical journal.5 Each participant receives a wireless blood pressure monitor and personalized digital coaching rooted in well-accepted clinical guidelines. Hello Heart's artificial intelligence and algorithms drive an individualized, unique experience for each person based on gender, comorbidities, age, geography, and user persona.

Approach

At the start of the pandemic, Hello Heart and the health system shifted the program’s enrollment strategy — from focusing on live, on-site events to multimodal, multi-message campaigns that maximized enrollment among the target population. The campaigns relied heavily on postcards sent to homes, limiting distractions during work hours and allowing both staff and eligible spouses to receive program information. Despite the pandemic and this shift in strategy, the program grew by 300%, and since 2020, over 2,500 members have enrolled.6

Hello Heart’s private and personal approach to digital coaching also kept users engaged throughout the pandemic. On average, 75% of enrollees engaged with the app (tracking their blood pressure, weight, steps, reading insights, etc.) each quarter.6

Results

Regardless of the additional stress of the pandemic, the health system’s healthcare workers using Hello Heart were able to lower their blood pressure. 79% of participants starting in stage 2 hypertension reduced their blood pressure and lowered their heart risk.6,7,8 On average, they dropped their systolic blood pressure by 20 mmHg.8,9

Beyond these clinical outcomes, implementing Hello Heart could have helped the health system lower costs. The Validation Institute recently analyzed multiple years of employer claims data and found that the Hello Heart program was associated with a $1,865 per participant reduction in year 1 total medical claims.9 If this savings holds constant for the health system’s 3,326 enrollees on average, the health system may have saved an estimated $6.2M by offering Hello Heart to their highest-risk population.10

For more information, visit www.helloheart.com.

Hello Heart does not replace medical care. You should always consult with your doctor to ensure you are diagnosed and treated properly.

1 Gupta N, Dhamija S, Patil J, Chaudhari B. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers. Ind Psychiatry J. 2021;30(Suppl 1):S282-S284. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8611576/. Accessed February 3, 2023.

2 Stress and Heart Health. American Heart Association Website. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/stress-and-heart-health. Published June 21, 2021. Accessed February 3, 2023.

3 Heart Health: Calm your anxious heart. Harvard Health Publishing Website. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/calm-your-anxious-heart. Published March 14, 2022. Accessed February 3, 2023.

4 How Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Heart. Sleep Foundation Web site. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-heart. Published April 1, 2022. Accessed February 3, 2023.

5 Gazit T, Gutman M, Beatty AL. Assessment of Hypertension Control Among Adults Participating in a Mobile Technology Blood Pressure Self-management Program. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(10):e2127008, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.27008. Accessed February 7, 2023. (Some study authors are employed by Hello Heart. Because of the observational nature of the study, causal conclusions cannot be made. There were 108 participants with baseline blood pressure over 140/90 who had been enrolled in the program for 3 years and had application activity during weeks 148-163. See additional important study limitations in the publication.)

6 Based on data on file at Hello Heart.

6 Based on a comparison of users’ average blood pressure level in their first week in the program compared to the end of their first year in the program.

7 Stage 2 hypertension is defined as blood pressure equal to or above 140/90.

8 Reduced heart risk is defined as a reduction in blood pressure.

9 Validation Institute. 2022 Validation Report (Valid Through October 2023). https://validationinstitute.com/mp-files/hello_heart_savings_2022_final.pdf/. Published October 2022. Accessed February 7, 2023. (This analysis was commissioned by Hello Heart, which provided a summary report of self-funded employer client medical claims data for 203 Hello Heart users and 200 non-users from 2017-2020. Findings have not been subjected to peer review.)

10 Estimated cost avoidance is based on one full year of participation for users enrolled in the program.

December 2022

Challenge:

Employers lose billions of dollars every year due to unchecked and undiscovered fraud, waste, and abuse in employer-funded health plans. According to the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA), losses due to healthcare fraud are in the tens of billions annually. This means, if you are an employer spending $150M a year in employee healthcare costs, you are losing $4.5M to $7.5M to fraud, waste, and abuse annually.

Most employers aren’t equipped to fight against rising healthcare costs — in terms of time, staff, and expertise. And they shouldn’t be. Employers should be focused on producing and selling the best products and services, not tracking down and remediating wasteful spending. Assembling the resources to do so is not only cost prohibitive but also inefficient and ineffective.

Approach:

SmartLight provides a low-touch, high-impact solution directly to Prudential Financial. The partnership allows for regular monitoring of plan payments to reduce Prudential’s healthcare costs and adds a much-needed layer of transparency. SmartLight ensures plan payments are solely for the benefit of members, enabling Prudential to uphold its fiduciary obligations.

One of the many examples of recent findings in Prudential’s data involved a suspicious relationship between a health and wellness physician and a nearby laboratory. Detailed research and investigation showed the lab and physician were located next to one another. Given the physical proximity, the number of shared patients, and the high number of wellness-related tests ordered by the physician (on average 65 tests per day), a questionable referral relationship between the two parties appeared probable. Adding to the suspicion was that patients were diagnosed with issues such as: elevated BMI, fatigue, or abnormal weight gain. In addition, the physician had a relationship with another lab that settled anti-kickback allegations in early 2022. The physician and laboratory were billing Prudential for services not supported by the patients’ clinical history. This identification and remediation saved Prudenital approximately $40,000 annually in services either not rendered or not covered by the plan. SmartLight is currently working with Prudential’s claims administrator to prevent payments for unsupported services to these providers and recoup dollars already paid in error. SmartLight routinely finds payment errors missed by the carrier’s adjudication processes, resulting in significant client savings.

Conclusion:

It is imperative employers have access and insight into their healthcare data to keep employee benefit costs low. Partnering with an independent third-party with both clinical and data expertise provides the knowledge needed to identify and eliminate wasteful billing, which results in lower plan costs.

SmartLight’s expertise and commitment to eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in health plans is why we are the industry’s most trusted resource for self-funded employers.

December 2022

A Generation in Crisis: Supporting Working Parents with Teens

The mental health of parents and children are inextricably linked. Parents are taking time away from work to seek care on top of being distracted by their child’s well-being. All of this can lead to lower productivity, absenteeism, and burnout. As an organization, it’s critical to support working parents, particularly parents of teens, where easy access to quality mental health care is crucial for their long-term well-being.

Kaia Health has been recognized by the Validation Institute as the first and only digital MSK therapy to deliver best-in-class cost savings and health outcomes.

All health and financial outcomes are validated by a renowned and independent organization that verifies performance claims to drive transparency in the marketplace

Kaia Health has proven performance of up to 80% cost savings compared to traditional methods

November 2022

The gap between need and care in mental health, exacerbated by the pandemic and clinician shortage, has never been wider, and more than half of adults in the U.S. with a mental health disorder are not receiving treatment. Through its Intelligent Healing Platform™, Twill leverages digital therapeutics, care communities, and clinically trained artificial intelligence (AI) to guide each person to the mental health and well-being care they need, when they need it, and in the way they want.

Twill offers Sequences™, which are configurable care experiences tailored to meet the needs of customers, specific medical conditions they cover, and the populations they serve. Sequences combine evidence-based digital therapeutics and well-being products, care communities, coaching, and third-party services on a clinical-grade platform designed to work seamlessly with the customer's existing digital solutions and resources. This enables a more precise, personalized and seamless care experience, at scale. Twill currently offers Sequences for specific medical conditions: Multiple Sclerosis, Pregnancy, Psoriasis, and now, Mental Health.

Twill’s new open and configurable Mental Health Sequence provides interventions that are evidence-based and grounded in disciplines such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), positive psychology, and mindfulness to motivate meaningful behavior change. The Sequence is built with the understanding that some people do not know what kind of support they need or have reservations about asking for help, while others may be proactively managing a condition such as depression or anxiety.

The current mental health landscape is complicated and cluttered with niche point solutions. However, Twill’s Mental Health Sequence weaves a clear path forward by streamlining access to care, improving well-being, resilience, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and leading to substantial cost savings. A health economics analysis revealed that Twill’s digital interventions are cost-effective compared to psychoeducation, resulting in significant annual direct and indirect medical cost savings of $2,635 per individual per year. Randomized control trials demonstrated improvements in the symptoms of depression and anxiety by 25-28% and improvements in resilience by 21-29%.

Twill recently partnered with a multinational Fortune 50 company seeking a scalable, tech-enabled solution to support the mental health and resilience of its 1M+ global employee population across 50+ countries. The client required a digital platform that was able to support their growing population, globally accessible, seamless, clinically rigorous, and customer-centric. Through the Mental Health Sequence, Twill has launched a best-in-class solution that is global and inclusive (available across multiple geographies and in 10 languages); hyper-personal; highly engaging; built around individual employee needs; and supports a broad spectrum of mental and physical health conditions. Within the first three days of launch, Twill successfully signed up a significant number numberof users and continues to see growing engagement.

November 2022

Employers need to have access to all types of data to inform their benefits strategies. That’s why we’ve woven integrated analytics into the Springbuk Health Intelligence™ platform.

At its core, integrated analytics is the ability to consolidate data from multiple disparate sources to provide a unified, single view. This can tell a completely different story, and ultimately help employers make smarter decisions.

Let’s explore how integrated analytics can be a differentiator in moving from short-term solutions to long-term impact.

As an employer tried to develop and enhance their wellness program, they experienced ongoing challenges in providing offerings and initiatives that specifically targeted the conditions and needs of its employees and members. In the past, program selection and development was mainly based on industry trends and broad-stroke initiatives. But to create real change in their employee population, they needed to go beyond analyzing claims and wellness data.

Leveraging Springbuk Insights™, the employer was able to quickly identify key areas of opportunity around gaps in care for chronic conditions, specialty drugs, and overall healthcare utilization.

With this information in hand, they then began meeting with their existing vendors to understand what programs were currently available and where they could add programs to address unmet needs.

As the program continued to evolve, it has expanded to include carrier-based programs, third-party diabetic and pre-diabetic solutions, add-on specialty pharmacy solutions, and an onsite fitness and wellness center.

Springbuk currently ingests data from each of these data sources (medical, Rx eligibility, carrier program flags, specialty pharmacy, diabetes management program, and onsite clinic) to understand the best candidates for these programs.

Taking it a step further, Springbuk can pinpoint the impact and outcomes each program brings in conjunction with one another to allow the employer to understand the impact from a population health view as well as health plan view.

These initiatives can be identified through:

Springbuk Insight cards (Risk Mitigation, Rx Savings, Care Efficiency)
Conditions Groups
Filter Bar
Core and Advanced Reports

To see how integrated analytics can help you improve the health outcomes of your employees, visit springbuk.com/integrated analytics.

Hello Heart, the only digital therapeutic that focuses exclusively on heart health, recently released a new cholesterol management feature, empowering members to achieve whole heart health. The first-of-its-kind, Hello Heart’s ‘My Cholesterol’ allows users to easily track and understand their cholesterol levels, and provides personalized insights based on peer-reviewed, published recommendations, encouraging them to make positive lifestyle changes to improve their health. The addition of cholesterol-centric capabilities makes Hello Heart the only solution in the market that enables users to manage the top and most prevalent heart disease risk factors – blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and cholesterol.

Hello Heart also released a new study, published in the American Heart Association’s Hypertension journal, that indicates that its digital coaching app could contribute to heart health equity. The study included 15,361 Hello Heart users and found no statistically significant difference in systolic blood pressure (SBP) reduction across age, race, and/or preferred language groups. These results confirm that the Hello Heart program assists users across diverse populations with adopting behaviors and lifestyle choices that reduce their cardiovascular risk. Additionally, a greater SBP reduction in females suggests that digital self management programs like Hello Heart could help to close the 2x higher mortality gap for women vs. men related to heart attacks.

October 2022

DESCRIPTION

Flipt is a PBM that helps control its clients’ pharmacy spend through cost transparency and member engagement. Our case study involving a large, multi-national pharmaceutical manufacturer client illustrates the results that we can drive for your company.

BACKGROUND

Prescription drug prices have risen 35% since 2014, and there are no signs of slowing. A significant contributor to this cost increase is the consolidation of the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry, which has resulted in three PBMs controlling 80% of the market, significantly eliminating competition within that part of the pharmaceutical value chain. The effects of the PBM industry consolidation have been compounded by an overall lack of PBM transparency as the three top PBMs keep their drug prices secret and have grown their profits through price spreads and drug rebates at the expense of patients and health insurers.

PROBLEM

Rising drug prices have put significant financial pressure on employers and other health insurers to find ways to contain (if not reduce) their pharmacy benefit costs while maintaining their employees’ clinical outcomes. The U.S. benefits team of Company X, a large, multi-national pharmaceutical manufacturer, sought a cost-minimizing solution that would give them greater transparency into the cost of prescription drugs and allow their members to actively engage in managing their own healthcare—a key tenet of their corporate healthcare strategy.

SOLUTION

To meet Company X’s goal of decreasing its pharmacy spend, its U.S. benefits team engaged Flipt, a young, innovative player within the PBM industry, in a pilot program and then as a full replacement solution for their employee and retiree populations on January 1, 2022. As a fully transparent, pass-through PBM, Flipt is at the forefront of the fight against the rising costs of prescription drugs. It charges a flat, monthly PMPM fee, and unlike the top three PBMs, does not have margins or spreads and passes through 100% of all monies received, including rebates, to its clients. Furthermore, Flipt utilizes technology to engage and educate members, resulting in behavior change that improves clinical outcomes and ultimately reduces costs for both the member and plan.

Flipt and Company X partnered together to implement plan design changes focused on retail substitution (no drug substitution incorporated at that time) that encouraged members to price shop and be active consumers of their healthcare, including

a new deductible
digital ID card only, located on Flipt’s platform
a financial credit to incentivize usage of Flipt’s platform to find a low-cost pharmacy

RESULTS

Since January 1, 2022, Flipt has been able to gain significant engagement from Company X’s members: 96% of benefit-utilizing employees have activated Flipt’s platform. And that has driven results. On average, Company X members who used Flipt’s platform saved $48 per prescription. In the post-deductible phase specifically, members who used Flipt’s platform to purchase their medications averaged 59% savings on their drug costs versus members who did not. After only six months of using Flipt, Company X and its members had already realized a total system costs savings of 16%, which is expected to continue to grow moving forward.

1. MacDonald, K. (2022, September 22). Whose Job Is It To Bring Down Drug Costs? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/09/22/whose-job-is-it-to-bring-down-drug-costs/?sh=3e4b54cb711f

2. “New Report Finds Largest PBMs Restrict Access to More Than 1,150 Medicines”. (2022, May 25). PhRMA Foundation. https://phrma.org/resource-center/Topics/Access-to-Medicines/New-Report-Finds-Largest-PBMs-Restrict-Access-to-More-Than-1150-Medicines#:~:text=The%20three%20largest%20PBMs%20%E2%80%93%20CVS,patients%20pay%20out%20of%20pocket

October 2022

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is growing pressure on companies to develop a cohesive and inclusive benefits strategy to unify the support offered to working families, one that offers end-to-end solutions that drive organizational health and improved work outcomes.

Cleo teamed up with Harvard Business Review Analytic Services to create a comprehensive report on benefits strategies for forward-thinking leaders as they create inclusive, family-first workplaces.

This decade will mark a strategic shift in how employers address the needs of working families, with companies offering more comprehensive and inclusive services. The result will be improving health, wellness, retention, productivity, and DEI outcomes.

The report, Redefining Benefits Strategies for a Family-First Workforce, explores the disruptions and rapid shifts of the past several years, and how a more cohesive program of benefits for working families can help an organization meet its employee engagement and retention goals. It discusses the options senior executives must consider in measuring the value of family-supporting benefit programs, and looks at steps companies can take to increase their utilization.

Building an adaptive family-first program is a strategic opportunity for companies to move the needle on employees’ job satisfaction and loyalty. “A lot of people in tech, especially in our area, are younger people who either have families or are aspiring to have families,” says Rob Paczkowski, senior director of global benefits at San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. “So, it’s extremely important just purely from a recruiting and retention standpoint to offer those benefits. When those folks feel taken care of, they tend to really do great work and be really engaged in the company.”

September 2022

Adobe wanted to build more mental wellbeing solutions into their employee offerings by focusing on resilience, mindfulness, and balance. The solution needed to be on-demand, approachable, and could meet employees where they are on their own journey of wellbeing and meditation. Sarah Torres, Adobe’s Global Wellbeing Strategist, ran a global pilot program and found that Headspace for Work helped employees feel less stressed, less anxious, and more resilient.. Torres knew Headspace was a success when she saw the adoption rates, noting it’s a favorite among their programs. Headspace has also outperformed many of their other wellness initiatives. Read more about Adobe's success.

September 2022

Company: Southeastern Grocers (S.E.G.)

Industry: Retail (Grocery)

Location: Southeastern U.S.

S.E.G. is a supermarket portfolio company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and serving the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. S.E.G. owns and operates Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket, and Winn-Dixie.

The Problem

S.E.G. employs a massive number of people and has provided healthcare to its workers for years. As healthcare costs in America have risen dramatically over the past few decades, many

employees working at S.E.G.’s locations have found themselves unable to pay high deductibles for essential care. As S.E.G. had many employees without strong background knowledge of the healthcare/insurance field, the company found that many people for which it provided care either weren’t getting the care they needed or were paying outrageous amounts for it. S.E.G. also has a higher-than-average need for employee surgical care. As a large-scale grocery-store portfolio, a high percentage of its employees are middle-aged or older, putting them in a high-risk group for needing expensive surgical procedures. “Southeastern Grocers’ population is, on average, around 50 years old,” Brooke Best, Senior Account Executive for Employer Direct Healthcare, said. “They’re right in that window where, when they’re on their feet every day, all day, they’re likely going to need a joint replacement or a spine procedure at some point.” S.E.G. had an issue providing surgical healthcare to its dispersed communities of workers spread all across the multiple states in which the company operates. When S.E.G. first contacted SurgeryPlus and its parent company, Employer Direct Healthcare, this was the concern that was most pressing.

The Solution

In 2018, S.E.G. implemented a new specialty surgical care plan with SurgeryPlus. Since then, SurgeryPlus has saved S.E.G. a total of $5,378,050 and performed 335 procedures.

Localized High-Quality Surgical Care

By accessing SurgeryPlus’ dispersed network of carefully selected and highly qualified surgeons all across the region, S.E.G. was able to provide localized care for employees close to where they lived.

Large-Scale Communication of Benefits to Plan Members

SurgeryPlus has helped S.E.G. communicate its new benefits to its employees, empowering them to get the care they need at no additional cost. On-site events, home mailers, and

new member ID cards all helped employees be more aware of their entitled benefits.

SurgeryPlus also guides members through the process of getting a procedure. Dedicated Care Advocates work with members to develop a plan and prepare for their operation.

Made-to-Fit Specialized Programs

Working closely with the needs of S.E.G., SurgeryPlus put together a specific plan for total joint and spine procedures that was tailor-fit to the company’s needs. As joint and spine surgeries have a higher rate of significant complications, making sure that S.E.G.’s employees were getting the highest level of surgical care for these procedures prevented everyone involved from dealing with unwanted complications and unnecessary expenses.

The Results

Since the program launched at S.E.G., the company has saved roughly $1.5 million annually and has averaged more than 100 successful operations each year.

Problem

In 2018, US Foods was evaluating its runaway surgery costs. Over two years, US Foods saw a 5X variance in hip and knee replacement surgery expenses across 65 locations – without any correlation to quality or outcomes. To decrease costs without sacrificing the quality of care for their 20,000+ employees and further straining their limited resources, they committed to finding a Centers of Excellence (COE) partner with an existing network of high-value surgical care.

Priorities for COE partner

• Reduce costs, prevent overpaying for surgery

• Help employees avoid unnecessary surgery and get appropriate care

• Improve quality of care and employee experience

Challenges

Small benefits team responsible for a broad range of competing priorities
Limited expertise in healthcare quality and direct provider contracting
Coverage for employees in 65 cities across the country

Solution

US Foods determined that a network of Centers of Excellence (COEs) was the right solution. While they considered several carrier and standalone COE options, they quickly discovered that Carrum Health would help them immediately overcome all of their challenges:

Covers US Foods' top surgical spend categories: musculoskeletal (hip/knee replacements, spine surgery), bariatric, and cardiovascular.
Offers members access to top 10% nationally-ranked surgeons, in line with their company culture of providing the best healthcare, close to home.
Delivers better health outcomes and guarantees care with a standard warranty, minimizing complication and readmission rates and lowering overall costs.
Predictably and transparently lowers spending for high-cost medical conditions by ensuring all recommended care is necessary and by bundling all services into one cost-effective care episode.
Engages a diverse workforce, from truck drivers to sales teams, with a high-touch, member-centric experience supported by a best-in-class technology platform paired with care specialists, meeting employees where they are.

Results

In the end, US Foods found that Carrum Health was the right COE partner, delivering more oversight, the highest quality care, significantly lower costs, and a better experience than they could achieve on their own or by working with alternative programs:

US Foods found implementation easy: within six weeks, they had a fully functioning COE program, leveraging an off-cycle start to improve benefit visibility. Carrum handled every detail, including plan design, contracting, implementation, full benefit ecosystem integration, and vendor cross-referral training.
Members love the benefit: US Foods members reward Carrum with a 97 Net Promoter Score, a measure of how likely a patient is to recommend Carrum to others, significantly outperforming carriers. Members cite Carrum's digital app, concierge experience, and US Foods' cost-share waiver as critical factors to their satisfaction.
Carrum significantly reduced US Foods' surgical spend by avoiding 27% of unnecessary surgeries and reducing unit cost by 30-45% for necessary surgeries. Further, Carrum delivered phenomenally better quality, proven with remarkably lower readmissions and complications versus US Foods' pre-implementation baseline.

This month’s Innovator case study features Carrot Fertility and its partnership with Momentive, the creators of SurveyMonkey. Carrot is the leading global fertility benefits provider for employers, built to support employees through their entire fertility healthcare journey. Momentive and Carrot have worked together since 2019.

Regulations, laws, and cultural norms related to fertility and family formation vary significantly worldwide. That creates a challenge for companies like Momentive that want to provide benefits parity to employees in all of their global locations.

The Momentive team’s initial interest in fertility benefits started with employee questions about their existing coverage, particularly around in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the restrictions that typically exist in traditional medical plans. At the time, the company’s plans required a medical diagnosis of infertility in order to cover fertility drugs, but it didn’t cover the IVF procedure or other fertility care. Existing benefits also left out employees pursuing adoption and donor-assisted reproduction.

In addition to finding a solution that supported all paths to parenthood, regardless of sex, gender identity, or relationship status, Momentive also needed to find a solution available in all nine global locations. Carrot stood out right away.

“We were looking for a solution that could be global, which was extremely hard to find,” said benefits leader Julie Fernandez. “Carrot was the only one that was able to support that.”

Fernandez added that they needed a solution that supported all of their employees to meet their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, too. “To be supportive of DE&I initiatives, it wouldn’t make sense to offer just to U.S. employees and not equitably to the rest of the population,” she said.

Since launching in 2019, Carrot members at Momentive have used their benefit to support a range of family-forming journeys — interestingly, these tend to differ depending on location. For example, employees in Europe are much more likely to use their Carrot funds for fertility preservation, while in the U.S., more members pursue in vitro fertilization (IVF). Carrot’s global expertise allows members to follow the right path for them wherever they are and navigate nuances specific to their location and situation.

Read more about Momentive’s selection process and the impact fertility benefits have had on Momentive employees around the world.

August 2022

The Client

The client offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two distinct platforms, one which provides health care coverage and benefits services; and the other, which provides information- and technology-enabled health services.

The Challenge

Although 95% of their employees rank their medical plan as their most important benefit, the client saw rising employee dissatisfaction with the plans offered, especially for those in lower-pay tiers.

In 2016, the clients’ business leaders took a fresh look at their benefits strategy through the eyes of their employees. With the help of 16 focus groups across five sites, the company determined:

High deductibles were causing financial hardship for many employees.
Employees were often deferring care and overusing emergency rooms due to deductibles.
Employees desired predictable, easier-to-use and more affordable offerings.

The Solution

The client responded by lowering deductibles and piloting tiered/narrow network Primary Care Provider (PCP) gatekeeper plans in specific locations. As expected, these changes increased employee satisfaction and the feedback reinforced how employees value more affordable choices in their plan offerings.

In 2019, the client introduced the Bind health plan to 14,000 employees who also had a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and PCP gatekeeper plan options. The Bind plan was piloted as an easier-to-use health plan:

More control and choice – a broad, national network and no PCP designation or referrals required
Easier to use – clear costs people see in advance with more effective treatments and providers priced lower
More affordable – the $0 deductible Bind plan provided a compelling alternative for employees fed up with deductibles. And it addressed employee feedback for more affordable premium and out-of-pocket costs.

As a result, in 2020 Bind was rolled out to the clients employees in every location where a PCP gatekeeper plan was not available.

The Result

Across the plans the client offers its employees, the Bind plan provides a winning combination of member satisfaction and savings.

Enrolled employees give Bind an NPS of 45 to 56 points higher1 than the standard plans the client offers.
90% of enrolled members stay in the Bind plan year-over-year, and overall enrollment across eligible population continually increases, from 4% to 21% in year four. 2
In year 4, the Bind plan moved to the lowest premium cost plan for those making less than $50K annually, pushing enrollment in that tier from 19% to 26%.
Initial studies indicate the Bind plan costs 13-19% less per member per month than the HDHP plans3 – proving savings and satisfaction can go hand in hand. In 2020, the clients Bind members paid 44% less out of pocket ($542 vs $976) than matched comparison group.4

The client was looking for an easier-to-use, more attractive and more affordable health benefit for their employees. Offering Bind as an affordable option has proven an effective solution. It’s helped remove barriers and made care more affordable and accessible. The client considers Bind part of its longer-term strategy to address health equity and plans to partner with Bind to continue to advance health equity for its employees.

1 2021 Client Medical Plan Survey

2 Enrollment percentage represents those enrolled out of those eligible for Bind in that calendar year. In year four (2022), over 110,000 employees were eligible for Bind.

3 2020 medical plan savings compared to Clients HDHP plans with similar population demographics, geography and disease burden.

4 Bind Client plan sponsor members with at least 12 months of incurred experience in 2020 and both medical and pharmacy data; compared to matched comparison groups from a nationally representative commercially insured database matched by gender, age, urbanicity, and state using exact matching algorithms. Results are adjusted for member risk using commercial HHS-Hierarchical Condition Categories (HHS-HCC) risk scores.

August 2022

Sleepio is the first-ever digital therapeutic to receive NICE guidance, confirming clinical and cost effectiveness

Big Health has become the first digital therapeutics company to receive guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which has recommended Sleepio as a cost-saving option for treating insomnia in a move that heralds a new era in digital medicine.

The NICE guidance states that Sleepio, Big Health’s digital therapeutic for insomnia, is a safe and effective treatment for people who would otherwise only have access to the current standard of care, which includes sleep hygiene advice and medication. In addition, NICE confirms Sleepio as cost-saving for the National Health Service (NHS), with evidence showing Sleepio reduces GP appointments and prescribing costs by providing instant access to cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) where face-to-face CBT-I is unavailable.

Studies show that nearly one-third of adults in the United Kingdom (UK) experience insomnia symptoms each week. NICE recommends CBT-I as the first-line treatment for insomnia, offered before or alongside medication. However, due to a lack of trained therapists, CBT-I is unfortunately not routinely available in the NHS for most people living with insomnia.

The NICE Medical Technologies Advisory Committee evaluated Sleepio’s industry-leading evidence base of 28 studies including 12 randomized controlled trials, featuring thousands of patients who had a diagnosis or symptoms of insomnia. Peer-reviewed clinical trials show Sleepio helps 76% of patients to achieve clinical improvement in insomnia.3 The Committee concluded that Sleepio is more effective than treatment as usual (sleep hygiene and medication) in reducing symptoms of insomnia in adults and is a cost-saving option, as demonstrated by an independent health economic evaluation of NHS services in the Thames Valley.

About Big Health

Big Health’s mission is to help millions back to good mental health by providing safe and effective non-drug alternatives for the most common mental health conditions. Designed by leading clinical experts and backed by 13 RCTs, Sleepio™ for insomnia and Daylight™ for worry and anxiety are among the world’s most evidenced digital mental health solutions. These programmes seamlessly integrate into primary care, enabling clinically effective self-management of mental health.1,2 With offices in London and San Francisco, Big Health’s digital therapeutics are used by leading health systems like the NHS and large multinational employers. For more information, please visit https://www.bighealth.com/

1. Carl et al. (2020). Depression and Anxiety

2. Espie et al. (2012). Sleep

3. Real-world data collected through Sleepio and Daylight (Scotland only) between Jan 2021-July 2022. Data accurate as of 14 July 2022. 75% of users who completed session two of Sleepio reported improvement in symptoms of poor sleep and insomnia. 58% of users who completed one check-in with Daylight reported improvement in anxiety symptoms.

DOC-1533 Effective Jul 2022

Sleepio and Daylight are available as an adjunct to usual medical care for insomnia disorder or generalized anxiety disorder, respectively, for adults ages 18 and older, without FDA review under their COVID-19 policy.

Benefits leaders are concerned with the rising cost of chronic conditions like Type II diabetes and its impact on members’ health and happiness.

In this case study, we’ll look at how one Artemis customer with over 20,000 US employees is measuring and improving employee engagement for diabetic members.

The challenge.

Like many large employers, this customer knows that Type II Diabetes is a top cost driver for their employee benefits plan. They partnered with Artemis to find insights into their population’s diabetes prevalence and costs to make plans to help their members get the care they need.

The analysis.

Artemis helped the benefits leadership team examine enrolled member demographics, including gender, age, and geographic location. Filtering their demographics allowed the team to focus on the members most likely to engage with their benefits. Additionally, we calculated the costs associated with members who have either a medical diagnosis of Type II diabetes or were taking a prescription for Type II diabetes.

Members with diabetes often suffer from comorbid conditions, which contributed to our finding that these folks are incurring costs two times higher than other members.

The action.

The customer and their consultant partners used this data to justify a new diabetes care management point solution for members. They looked at many options and decided to choose a program that combines diabetes testing and monitoring with coaching.

The Artemis team worked with the customer and their consultant to set some goals for the new point solution, which they would come back and measure after the program had been in place for two years.

The customer rolled out the new program and utilized several channels to promote this new benefit. They sent out emails and flyers to their target audience and followed up with quarterly benefits information meetings during Open Enrollment.

The results.

Over the past two years, the customer has continued to measure the impact of the point solution using Artemis’ data analytics. Here are the results of their efforts:

32% of eligible members enrolled in the program
89% compliance with diabetes medication
10% improvement in PCP visits
91% of enrolled members are satisfied with the program

While they didn’t quite reach their enrollment and PCP visit goals, they saw much higher rates of medication compliance and member satisfaction than anticipated. Members with Type II Diabetes are engaging with their health and this new benefit program. The customer is pleased with their results and will continue to use Artemis to monitor their success. Their next lofty goal: a 15% reduction in costs for members with diabetes.

Artemis by Nomi Health is helping our customers take action with their benefits data, and that’s just the beginning of what we can do. Get in touch to learn more.

July 2022

As the world’s largest generator of wind and solar energy, NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry on Fortune's 2021 list of "World's Most Admired Companies" and received the S&P Global Platts 2020 Energy Transition Award for leadership in environmental, social and governance. At the core of the energy revolution, NextEra puts a premium on innovation and performance in everything it does—including its employee healthcare benefits. To NextEra with its 15,000 employees throughout the US and Canada, employee satisfaction and health are major priorities. With employees engaged in everything from wind turbine maintenance to electrical line work to research and development, their human resources goal is to provide an exemplary, safe service for their employees and their dependents. And of course, the solutions they implement must provide maximum value for each dollar spent.

As an innovative organization in the digital age with a highly disbursed and often remote workforce, NextEra found telemedicine to be a natural solution. They needed an intuitive way for employees to access primary care that seamlessly integrated with their current programs. That meant easy integration not only with current NextEra technologies, but with other benefit programs and point solutions they offered.

The NextEra team found a match in 98point6 on a number of levels. Patient experience was key, and 98point6 provides an exceptionally easy-to-use text-based modality that eliminates user friction. Employee-patients can get care from board-certified physicians who work for 98point6 anywhere, anytime, 24/7/365, so both quality of care and scalable service are assured.

This fundamentally changes the cost of care delivery and maximizes NextEra’s investments in other benefit programs with a much higher right-care-right-time model. 98point6 extends the reach of care, as well as utilization and efficiency of employee benefits using innovative AI technology. This increases standardization of care while automation brings down costs.

NextEra has been delighted with their 98point6 partnership, and with good reason:

An amazing 12.1% utilization rate among NextEra employees.
84% of surveyed NextEra users of 98point6 said that, had it not been for the availability of 98point6, they would have gone to an in-person appointment.
Over 83% of employee interactions with 98point6 providers result in a resolution without additional action—meaning huge savings for employees and the company.
Employee satisfaction has taken off with 98point6, with a great Net Promoter Score of 60.

Looking ahead, 98point6 will continue to partner with NextEra to drive utilization, increase patient satisfaction, and promote employee health and well-being. At 98point6, the difference is a fully integrated virtual clinic where quality and experience drive innovation that will make a lasting impact on the health and wellness of all patients. The 98point6 team is honored to serve the NextEra team members and support them in living their best lives

July 2022

Why Accolade Expert MD?

ArcBest felt the Accolade Expert MD solution was reflective of, and could further contribute to, their organizational priorities regarding the health status of its employees and their overall health benefit offering.

In addition to providing ArcBest employees with expert medical opinions, Accolade Expert MD offers information and access to the right physicians in their specific markets. When asked what the most important features of Accolade Expert MD were to their company, ArcBest expressed that improving patient outcomes by being actionable on the right things, i.e., diagnostic errors, is the most important concept that Accolade Expert MD offers them.

Additionally, creating a data-driven culture of engagement in high-quality care is critical to their team and Accolade supports that goal. It’s very important to them to shine a light on high-quality care.

Results and Outcomes

ArcBest’s employees continue to show a strong appreciation and satisfaction with the program, and clinical outcomes have improved through Accolade Expert MD consults. Additionally, outstanding reviews of Accolade Expert MD’s overall customer service had a strong impact on ArcBest employees’ impression and overall outcomes.

~$669k in cost savings (2.7 ROI) generated by Accolade Expert MD consults
$5,395 average savings per consult
$11,767.25 average savings per musculoskeletal consult
+89 net promoter score
93% improved treatment plans
42% surgeries avoided

“The Accolade Expert MD Care Team Nurse has been a cherished addition to my son’s medical team. We are so thankful to have her fighting for him and arranging the consults that we would otherwise have no access to.”

-ArcBest member

ArcBest’s benefits leadership team sees healthcare as a supply chain issue and Accolade Expert MD has become the entry point to handle complicated cases effectively and efficiently.

Together US Foods and Wondr partnered to improve the health of thousands of associates.

The Client:

WHO: US Foods

INDUSTRY: Food Service Distribution

QUICK FACTS:

28K+ associates

45K+ health plan members

81% of associates are male

45 is the average associate age

About US Foods

US Foods is a leading foodservice distributor, partnering with approximately 300,000 restaurants and foodservice operators. US Foods is a Fortune 500 company guided by a spirit of innovation and an unwavering commitment to delivering superior quality products and value to customers.

The challenge

US Foods’ population is geographically dispersed with a wide range of job roles and types—making engagement a challenge. Traditional “wellness” activities weren’t moving

the needle.

The solution

US Foods needed a flexible and scalable solution that could drive high engagement for a middle-aged population to address overall obesity, improve physical and mental wellbeing, and easily integrate into their existing ecosystem.

With Wondr, they found:

A program that addresses both mental and physical aspects of weight loss through curriculum based in behavioral science
Science-backed, personalized program experience designed (and proven) to keep member engagement
Ability to complement their existing programs—such as their diabetes management program—with a more specific focus on addressing obesity
Infinite scalability through a 100% digital platform to work seamlessly and effectively across all locations and job types
Highly personalized program that meets associates where they were—no matter their work schedule, physical activity level, food preferences, or lifestyle
Ability to bill as a preventive medical claim with its health plan for easy implementation

Clinically-proven results

Members signed up in the first hour

11K+

lbs lost

4.1%

Average weight loss during first 10 weeks

54%

Engagement in the first 8 weeks

Losing as little as 3% body weight produces clinically meaningful health benefits, including reducing disease risk factors and overall disease risk.2

89%

Felt more in control of their weight

73%

Increased physical activity

71%

Increased confidence

69%

Increased energy levels

What Participants Are Saying About Wondr:

“I was miserable and was struggling just to walk from my car to my office at work. That moment [I signed up] changed my life, and I am now a completely different person than I was thanks to this amazing program. Wondr has empowered me to make lifestyle changes that will last forever.”

— US Foods Associate

Get to know Wondr

Wondr™ is a personalized, 100% digital weight loss program that teaches science-based skills to help people sleep better, stress less, improve emotional health, and more. A master class of sorts, our renowned team of experts teach clinically-proven skills that improve overall physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

Wondr Health. Expect it.

Get results like these for your population.

Visit wondrhealth.com/contact.

1 *Original case study was performed under the Naturally Slim name prior to our rebrand as Wondr Health.

2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6055795/

June 2022

To address the growing problem of diabetes in its population, Nielsen partnered with Virta Health to treat patients with type 2 diabetes as well as those with prediabetes. The Nielsen Company is a global, independent measurement company that’s focused on the future. With data backed by real science to drive business forward, Nielsen ensures clients always know what’s next—and get there first. Members with type 2 diabetes drive a disproportionate share of healthcare costs at Nielsen. While only 4% of their total covered population has the disease, those who have it drive 13% of total allowed medical and prescription spending.

Nielsen sought a disruptive new approach to diabetes, one that would create life-changing impacts for patients. Unlike traditional care or next generation diabetes management—each of which typically focus on medication adherence—diabetes reversal focuses on safe elimination of prescriptions through a medically-supervised nutrition therapy. Nielsen decided to partner with Virta, the only solution to reverse diabetes and eliminate medications. Virta placed 100% of its fees at-risk, all tied to outcomes.

After 1 year, 78% of Nielsen employees on Virta lowered their blood sugar, as measured by A1c, to sub-diabetic levels while eliminating diabetes medications. The proportion of patients with a sub-diabetic A1c (<6.5%) increased sixfold. Nearly all patients who started with a poorly uncontrolled A1c of 7.5% or more lowered their A1c to better controlled levels. Furthermore, 94% of Nielsen employees on Virta remained in treatment at 1 year.

Nielsen employee results after 1 year on Virta

$3,120 annual cost savings (average savings on medications alone per patient with type 2 diabetes*)
59% of diabetes-specific prescriptions eliminated
8.6% average weight loss

Victoria Pavlov, Director of Global Benefits at Nielsen noted, “The program has truly been a life changer for our members who engaged in it. From the company perspective, Nielsen is very happy these members get to be more healthy and productive.” Net Promoter Score (NPS) among Nielsen employees on Virta is 75. For context, the average NPS in the healthcare industry is 19; Apple’s is 72 and Netflix’s is 68.

In addition to driving health outcomes and cost savings, Virta’s outcomes represent meaningful savings in the lives of individual patients, reducing the financial burden of costly diabetes medications and empowering patients to take back control of their health . Verna, Panel Relations Specialist at Nielsen, reversed her diabetes as a Virta patient and eliminated 3 medications. Verna’s A1c improved from 7.9% to 5.5% and she lost 75 lbs.

“Virta is helping me create a new life for myself! I’m learning to create a healthier relationship with food, and have energy that I never had before. I honestly feel that without the one on one coaching, the community, and the ease of tracking biomarkers, I would once again be failing at making a change to my health.”

Today, Nielsen continues to partner with Virta to deliver transformative health outcomes to members with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.

As a non-profit employee trust, our client has been an innovator in affordable healthcare for over 40 years. They decided to enhance the quality of care their members have depended on for decades by adding new benefits. They recognized digestive disease claims were in its top five healthcare cost categories. However, digestive disease is a broad category covering 18 condition categories and 847 ICD-10 diagnoses. It’s not a one-size-fits-all issue for people silently suffering with these painful, costly conditions.

Our client needed a comprehensive solution to support the full scope of the digestive disease category while providing personalized care to members who felt the stigma of expressing their needs for sensitive health issues.

Our client embarked on a partnership with Vivante Health to address digestive conditions and disease for their population of over 30,000+ members. With focus on personalized, tech-enabled support for people with digestive disease, Vivante’s GIThrive® enabled ease of access, patient-centered virtual support at no cost to members.

Once they engaged, it was important to investigate whether their members who registered for GIThrive were driving reduced healthcare spend compared to members who weren’t enrolled in the program.

Our client, in conjunction with Vivante Health, conducted a match case analysis comparing claims data for 470 GIThrive users against 1,880 people not enrolled in GIThrive. Data was compared one year prior to GIThrive launch and 12 months post-GIThrive launch. Users were matched with non-users based on gender, age category, presence of any GI disease, and healthcare cost.

After removing outliers from both groups with a total medical spend above $50,000, GIThrive consistently saved more than $840 annually per member on average—a 15% reduction in spend. Calculating our client’s true savings takes a few key points into account: medical, pharmacy spend and in-person medical services.

After the client implemented GIThrive, an interesting thing happened: pharmacy spend went slightly up. This was attributed to an increase in medication adherence from members following GIThrive care team recommendations.

This ongoing accountability and interactive engagement led to more people taking their medications, as seen in the corresponding data. The client saw an $180 increase in annual pharmacy spend per member—a 21% increase.

However, this increase was countered by a 22% reduction or $1,020 annual savings per member in total medical spend compared with nonmembers. The data shows fewer emergency room visits and inpatient admissions for GIThrive members. By taking better care of their symptoms and adhering to doctor’s medication recommendations, flare-ups were better managed and members felt better overall. All of these steps to improve GIThrive members' health resulted in improved clinical outcomes, saving money for the client.

Vivante also realized a measurable improvement in our members' overall health. The patient reported outcomes showed positive patient outcomes at scale.

The results

87% better manage their digestive condition

85% are happier

83% feel healthier

80% have improved their quality of life

79% reduce stress and/or anxiety

69% identified a trigger food

68% reduced pain

59% encouraged to visit a doctor

SISC members achieved clinically significant weight loss and mental health outcomes

SISC s key priorities

Address the elevated stress impacting both mental and physical health.
Provide a virtual-first solution that is accessible to school workers across California.
Offer workers access to real, human providers to ensure long term engagement in care.
Maintain attractive benefits to support employee retention.

About SISC

Self Insured Schools of California is the largest public school pool in the US. For over 40 years, SISC has prioritized the highest quality healthcare and benefits for school workers across California.

Total employees: 130,000
Average number of conditions for Vida enrollees: 3
Aver ́ge employee age: 46
Top conditions: Obesity, depression, anxiety, back pain, sleep problems

Engagement and clinical outcomes:Engagement and clinical outcomes:

85% greater weight loss achieved when enrolled in weight loss program with therapy
24% increase in PCP visits among members who missed a visit in the previous year
44% of active members use Vida more than 5 days per week
47% average reduction in depression and anxiety scores in 3 months

3 Pivotal Moments for Benefits Leaders

Do you have the insight and tools to make the most of them?

Each year, there are three important moments in time in your benefits calendar that require you to make key decisions that will optimize your health investment.

1. Plan design changes
2. New program and vendor selections
3. Measuring the impact of current programs and vendors

1. Initiate Plan Design with Data-driven Direction

Can you answer:

“What are my population’s current needs and care gaps?”

Legacy solutions require you to know the questions to ask and where to look for answers. The Springbuk Health Intelligence platform gives you actionable strategies and answers to questions it anticipates you’ll have.

2. Turn Data into Strategic Program Selection

Can you answer:

“Which programs or point solutions will support the needs of my workforce?”

Springbuk Insights(TM) curates cards on your health data analytics dashboard to help generate a framework of where to focus your initiatives.

Springbuk Insights have helped employers identify:

2500 members in a population with a gap in care
$3M in plan savings opportunities by addressing gaps in care

Springbuk gives you the direction you need to:

Avoid future high costs due to compliance gaps in chronic conditions
Incentivize members to seek out lower-cost Rx and treatment options
Individualize treatment management based on condition

3. Objectively Measure Program Impact

Can you answer:

“What metrics can we use to track program engagement and identify opportunities to tailor communications?”

See and tell the story of the interventions that have driven the greatest impact for your population’s health with Springbuk TimelineTM. “What metrics can we use to track program engagement and identify opportunities to tailor communications?”

“Drop a pin” on the Timeline when you want to mark an event, such as a program change. Springbuk Timeline will monitor changes over time so you can see if your changes are having an impact.

When you partner with Springbuk – you don’t have to be a data expert to be an expert on your data. Let us show you how we provide data-driven employers like yourself with the immediate insights needed to optimize your plans and maximize your most valuable resource - your people.

Request a Demo

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges and changes to workplaces around the world, and DocuSign was no exception. The publicly traded San Francisco company had over 6,000 employees at the beginning of 2020, prior to the start of the pandemic, with more than half coming into offices on a regular basis.

Overnight, all of that changed.

After examining employee engagement surveys, having conversations, and working to understand the new world of work, the leadership team at DocuSign decided to take action. “It was really clear to me...that the pandemic has really elevated the need for us to support our employees in ways that we hadn’t before,” says Joan Burke, DocuSign’s Chief People
Officer.

The DocuSign team recognized that also meant they had an elevated responsibility to ensure mental health became a cornerstone of employee wellbeing. Time, access, availability, and effectiveness are some of the top barriers to mental health, and DocuSign was committed to eliminating these barriers for employees and their families.

DocuSign committed to a comprehensive, personalized approach to mental health

Precision Mental Healthcare
The first step was to help employees identify the right treatment at the right time for them, using a clinically-validated, dynamic assessment that screens for over 10 conditions. Each DocuSign employee or dependent who took the assessment was given a personalized Care Plan tailored to their results.

Dedicated human guidance
Each member was assigned a Spring Health Care Navigator, a clinically-licensed mental health professional who provides one-on-one emotional support, answers questions, and makes recommendations and referrals within the DocuSign ecosystem.

Fast Access to Care
If a member’s Care Plan included therapy, they were able to access a diverse group of in-network providers, filter and search by their needs and preferences, and directly schedule and manage appointments from within the Spring Health
platform. DocuSign sponsored # per employee and dependent.

Rich digital resources
Members also had access to digital cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) exercises for on-demand relief anytime, helping improve mental wellbeing for a range of issues including burnout, sleep, and anxiety. For some members, Moments was
also recommended as part of their comprehensive Care Plan.

Results

Immediate access to personalized, quality care eliminates barriers to mental healthcare

Access:
In the first six months, about 25% of DocuSign employees accessed the benefit.

Effectiveness:
World-class clinical trials typically result in 47% of participants improving their symptoms in an average of 6.3 appointments. At DocuSign, 66.5% of members improved their depression symptoms, in an average of one appointment through Spring Health.

Availability:
The national average wait time for a new therapy appointment is 25 days. DocuSign employees were able to meet with a therapist within one day. DocuSign employees who work with a Care Navigator for one-on-one clinical guidance throughout their mental health journey are 8.6x more likely to see a therapist and stay with them.

April 2022

In the first year of adding Regenexx procedures, CRH saved $1.3 MM compared to standard surgical care. CRH is the leading diversified building materials business that employs 77,000 people at 3,100 locations. Regenexx maintains an outcomes registry for patients. We have done so since 2005 and have more than 100,000 procedures tracked for improvements in pain and function over time. We decided to do a case study on CRH patients to look at cost savings conservatively.

We wanted to look at early indicators that patients would fail treatment and require additional surgery. In October 2020, CRH fully implemented Regenexx and informed all US employees of the benefit using our communication platform. Employees interested in Regenexx contacted our call center, were informed about the benefit, and were referred to the closest physician for a consult/telemedicine appointment. Patients overwhelmingly chose the Regenexx procedure when it was an option for them. We then looked at patients 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-procedure to assess whether these patients would likely require surgery.

After a review of registry data which included 100% of the patients treated in the first year, we concluded that Regenexx reduced the cost of patients treated by about 50% after factoring in possible future Regenexx failures.

April 2022

About Novelis
A global company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Novelis is the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum, producing everything from beverage cans to airplanes. It operates manufacturing plants in tightly-knit communities across the United States and employs 4,300 team members. Like much of the U.S. population, nearly 20% of their employees suffer from chronic conditions ranging from heart disease to diabetes.

Novelis prides itself on a high-touch culture that prioritizes functional expertise and workplace safety. Their teams include engineers and scientists who operate complex machinery. Rather than being benefits experts, their employees must be able to focus on the technical parts of the job while staying safe in their manufacturing plants.

Recently, Novelis underwent several company acquisitions. Its workforce now has 9 union populations with roughly six unique medical plans per union, resulting in extensive benefits complexity.

Building a legacy of excellence in benefits

Novelis has built a legacy of taking care of its people; its workforce spans generations of family members who have high expectations around their benefit delivery and design. Employing everyone from Gen Z-ers to baby boomers, they
recognize that everyone has different needs. Novelis needed a flexible, high-touch pharmacy benefit partner that would deliver concierge care to their people, regardless of their age or where they were in their healthcare journey.

Selecting a new PBM.

Novelis consistently seeks advanced, modern solutions to take care of their employees. Their pharmacy benefit partner had to lower costs, provide affordable medications to Novelis and its employees, and deliver on Novelis’ commitment to meet every individual where they are. In addition to managing the complexity of their plans, they needed a partner who would complete the integration of pharmacy benefits between Novelis and Aleris, a recent acquisition. They had to bring the latest technology, create a personal touch for the end user, and provide chronic condition support for employees with multiple prescriptions.

Communication between the PBM team and Novelis’ employees couldn’t feel like a transaction, it had to be based on a holistic approach that was about more than just saving money. For instance, if a member was diabetic, they had to have access to a clinical pharmacist who could help them manage their condition and alleviate their concerns.

Introducing Rightway.

In 2021, Novelis launched Rightway across its entire population. Rightway tailored its PBM to meet the needs of every medical plan within Novelis’ nine unions and partnered closely with their other vendors to integrate appropriate systems and processes.

Prior to go-live, Rightway’s health guides and pharmacists conducted extensive outreach to Novelis’ employees, informing them of their new PBM and ensuring a smooth transition to their new plan. Team members were able to access Rightway’s app prior to launch to familiarize themselves with their new pharmacy benefit.

Rightway deployed its multi-channel engagement process, recognizing that Novelis had a large older population who preferred connecting by phone. The Rightway team customized messaging to drive members to both its app and to telephonic communication. In addition, Rightway deployed its concierge care delivery program, including ongoing one-on-one interactions between employees and clinical pharmacists to ensure that patients were taken care of.

Delivering the Rightway difference.

Rightway’s member-centric approach delivered a next-level healthcare experience for the Novelis team. Every time Novelis employees needed pharmacy assistance, they could connect with their dedicated health guide in the Rightway app or over the phone.

On the backend, Rightway’s modern claims platform and robust clinical rules engine identified high-risk and specialty members that would benefit from proactive outreach. By working one-on-one with members, Rightway pharmacists established trusting relationships that strengthened their ability to guide members to optimal medication regimens and savings opportunities.

Over the course of the year, Rightway unlocked significant margin trapped by Novelis’ previous PBM and delivered it back to Novelis. Rightway’s leading technology, expert clinical guidance, and aligned business model decreased Novelis’ pharmacy spending by 16% per employee per year.

Taking the Proven Path to Success

What does it look like when one of the world’s most influential healthcare and pharmaceutical companies introduces a new pharmacy benefit for its employees? In a word: Perfect. That was the case when McKesson launched Rx Savings Solutions to offer immediate relief from rising out-of-pocket prescription costs, while reducing the plan’s pharmacy spend at the same time.

But perfection doesn’t come without preparation—or collaboration. McKesson’s success story has plenty of each and a strategic launch plan that engaged employees right off the bat.

McKesson + RxSS - By the Numbers

Members – 40,000
Launch – March 2021
Lifetime ROI at 7 Months – 3.02:1

Background

Off-cycle Launch: This March kickoff was further proof of the success clients can find when implementing RxSS outside of their open enrollment period.

Contact Info: With qualified email addresses for 75% of McKesson employees, RxSS was able to utilize its proven launch campaign to reach members and educate them on the new benefit.

Plan Offerings: McKesson employees chose from two high-deductible health plans in 2021 and could also select a PPO option starting in 2022. RxSS’ patented technology syncs up to each plan design.

Textbook Launch

Benefit programs only work if people understand what they are and how to use them. That’s why McKesson’s HR Benefits team got involved from the beginning and partnered with RxSS to make sure employees got a clear message about how to access this new resource and the prescription savings it could bring them.

Early Promotion: McKesson garnered buy-in quickly with an internal memo, followed up by a custom welcome message and demo, created by RxSS, integrated onto the corporate benefits platform.

A Little Incentive: Employees were awarded wellness points through Vitality for registering their RxSS account within the first two months of kickoff.

Best Practices: McKesson put their trust in RxSS’ time-tested launch strategy, including a four-part email campaign targeting eligible employees to drive awareness and account activation.
Immediate Results: A truly collaborative approach and sticking to the plan led to quick success. Activation, engagement and savings rose sharply from the beginning and saw sustained growth in the months that followed.

The Start of Real Savings

Just two months after launch, 28% of McKesson’s primary members had registered their RxSS account. After the successful launch campaign, employees began receiving personalized RxSS savings alerts based on their individual claims and communication preferences.

$239 average total savings per fill
40% of registered primary members are on maintenance medications
88.5% of savings suggestions are therapeutic alternatives

For more details, and the latest updates on how we help employers control pharmacy spend and engage their employees, visit: rxss.com/value

sharecare.e0d87ed4073d53aa5bb5a5120dba96c8.png

Deepening engagement for better health habits and measurable results

The Challenge

Empower associates to live healthier, longer and reduce the risk of unnecessary health problems and costs.

As a top employer, our client cares deeply about their hardworking associates. The client believes that when their employees live well, everyone benefits. This forward-thinking company sought to put the power of healthier living in their associates’ hands.

The Solution

Sharecare’s innovative platform and proven programs equip associates with health knowledge, tools, and coaching.

The client launched the core Sharecare platform, giving associates the ability to take the RealAge Test and gain personalized health recommendations. Associates also gained access to biometric tracking, health challenges, and quality health and wellness content. Additionally, the client offered Sharecare’s evidence-based programs with coaching on healthy living and managing diabetes, one of the most pervasive and expensive chronic health conditions in the United States

The Results

Associates improve their health outcomes While the client accelerates realizing value from the investment in health benefits.

The associates embraced Sharecare from the very start, and their engagement with the platform and the programs has only increased. After 2 years, 98% of associates engage with the Sharecare platform after they register, 90% use health tracking features, and 70% have taken part in health coaching. This very high engagement means associates are adopting new health habits. Those habits are already adding up to less stress, more effective medication

use, and more money in their pockets. This very high engagement also has moved the client quickly down the path to realizing value. While typically Sharecare clients see significant impact in year 3, this client saw it in year 2, estimated at $2.4 million VOI (value on investment).

The Future

Impressed by their results, the client is adding more digital therapeutic programs like craving to quit. And, informed by Sharecare data, the client is optimizing the communications that drive associate engagement.

March 2022

Description

Connected by a shared people-first mission, Onduo and H-E-B launched a partnership in March 2021 to support the large grocery chain’s employees (referred to as Partners) living with type 2. A URAC-accredited virtual clinic, dedicated care team, integrated devices, and successful partner marketing efforts led Onduo to surpass enrollment goals and achieve
improved outcomes with H-E-B’s diabetes population.

Overview
H-E-B’s motto “we’re in the people business, we just happen to sell groceries” is evident in the large retailer’s commitment to supporting its Partners, especially when it comes to their health.

Using a reward-based system, H-E-B’s goal is to incentivize its Partners by providing discounted healthcare coverage to those who achieve certain outcomes through biometric screening. The grocer saw Onduo as the ideal opportunity to engage its team in healthy lifestyle choices through a digital-first approach to diabetes management.

H-E-B’s type 2 diabetes population
With 14% of H-E-B’s Partners submitting a diabetes-related claim in the last three years, the grocer’s benefits team knew it was time they invest in a solution that could support its team across 420 stores throughout Texas. Knowing that access to care and specialists could be a limiting factor in some communities, H-E-B selected Onduo for its ability to deliver a personalized, virtual solution that would meet its Partners where they are. This included asynchronous access to coaches and telemedicine visits that could be scheduled based on the Partner’s availability.

Partnership timeline
After a kickoff meeting with Onduo and H-E-B stakeholders in August 2020, the two organizations finalized contracts in time for a Q1 2021 start date. A February soft launch provided population and condition-specific data that was necessary for a successful company-wide launch in March 2021.

Together, Onduo and H-E-B developed a dynamic, multi-channel communications strategy that engaged H-E-B’s Partners and delighted them with the opportunity to better manage their chronic condition.

Results
Onduo’s ability to seamlessly onboard H-E-B’s Partners, complement its existing health solutions, and provide care that met the unique needs of every individual, created a foundation for a successful long-term partnership.

Improved outcomes

81% of Partners with a baseline A1C>9% saw an average A1C improvement of 2.5%
A majority of Partners with a baseline A1C<8% improved or maintained their A1C
80% of Partners who initially had high diabetes-related stress levels indicated an improvement in follow-up surveys
Among those who lost weight, an average of 12.5 pounds lost*

Other noteworthy successes

Developed one of the strongest partner marketing strategies to date
Exceeded enrollment goal in 6 months
Received a 79 Net Promoter Score, considered nearly world class

Learn more about Onduo’s virtual clinic

At Onduo, we support employers, health plans, and the people they serve by providing a virtual solution for chronic condition management across type 2 diabetes, hypertension, weight management, or in combination. Interested in learning more? Visit our virtual clinic or reach out directly to find out how we can support your organization partners@onduo.com.

March 2022

ClassPass helps employees get modern care that fits into their busy lives

Challenge

Employees were having trouble finding doctors and fitting healthcare into their busy, on-the-go lives in a complex and antiquated healthcare system.

Solutions

ClassPass partnered with One Medical to give employees and their spouses/partners and dependents access to any One Medical office in the country as well as 24/7 virtual care and convenient travel health services for those who travel frequently for business.

Results
ClassPass has seen an improvement in employee health engagement and lowered their healthcare costs through fewer urgent care visits and a reduction in large claims.

Making it easy for people to look after their health.

ClassPass was founded with the mission to make working out easy and enjoyable. So it’s no wonder that health, simplicity, and experience are all major focuses of their benefits program. They seek out benefits that help employees not only do their best work, but also lead inspired lives, take care of themselves, and have a good work-life balance. Offering One Medical seemed like an obvious choice for ClassPass. “It’s easy to get sick. And One Medical makes it easy to go to the doctor. You pick up your phone, you open the app, you click an appointment, and you’re good. ClassPass has taken that same exact approach to going to a fitness class, going to a gym, and getting into a fitness routine that works for your life,” says Rochelle Williams Brann, HR operations manager at ClassPass.

By making healthcare accessible, convenient, and enjoyable, One Medical has not only changed the way ClassPass employees view healthcare — but also the way the company looks at their benefits. They now seek out other benefits that bring the same simplicity and exceptional experience as One Medical.

Easy access to care
With One Medical, employees have multiple ways to get care when they need it. Same- and next-day appointments are readily available at seven One Medical offices near their office. They also have 24/7 access to video visits, so they can get care after hours or when they’d prefer to stay in bed. And the One Medical app makes it easy to book appointments, renew prescriptions, and message the virtual medical team anytime.

A perfect travel companion

As ClassPass expands, their traveling employees are able to stay healthier and more productive thanks to One Medical. Those headed abroad can use One Medical’s travel health services to get all the vaccines, medications, and info they need to stay healthy during their trips. And in the U.S., they can get truly personalized care at any One Medical office in the country because all of our providers have access to their complete One Medical health record. In addition, they can use 24/7 virtual care when they’re away from home.

Lower costs

Fast access to care, a broad scope of services, and higher engagement have lead to lower healthcare costs for both ClassPass and their employees. They’ve seen a reduction in ER and urgent care costs as well as a reduction in large claims.

How Progyny helped a large school system increase employee retention while decreasing NICU costs

The Future of Family Friendly: What Working Parents Want

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) is a public school district serving the city of Nashville, Tennessee, and Davidson county, with more than 10,000 employees and 86,000 students across its 132 elementary, middle, and high schools.

The Challenge
Although retention is important in every field, it’s particularly significant in education where staffing disruptions can directly affect children’s learning and development. MNPS knew that in order to attract and retain top talent, it had to focus on high quality and comprehensive benefits. MNPS’ population is 79% female and David Hines, the Executive
Director of Benefits at MNPS, knew that the district needed to focus on women’s health issues and expand family-friendly benefits in order to support its young, female population.

MNPS, which has always been focused on making data-informed decisions, was also determined to reduce healthcare spend. While the average age of employees was constant, people were starting families later in life. This resulted in increased use of fertility treatment. With a rate of 7 multiple births per year and 5% of deliveries costing more than $49,999, the school district needed a benefit solution that supported all paths to parenthood.

The Solution

In 2019, MNPS implemented Progyny – and the benefit was well- received among employees. Because of the rigidity of school schedules, teachers don’t often have much flexibility for doctor visits, and Progyny’s dedicated Patient Care Advocates (PCAs) provided a much-needed intermediary for employees taking advantage of the Progyny benefit. PCAs can help schedule appointments, educate members, and offer emotional support. In 2020, MNPS members had more than 2,500 unique touchpoints (calls and emails) with Progyny PCAs.

The Result
With Progyny’s quarterly and annual reporting, MNPS’ benefits team has a full view of its fertility spend and clinical outcomes. With a decrease in multiples and high-risk pregnancies, the Progyny benefit has supported healthier, singleton pregnancies and driving cost savings. Since rolling out the Progyny benefit, MNPS has helped 42 employees build their families.
In 2020, MNPS members saw remarkable outcomes, including:

A single embryo transfer rate of 100%
Zero IVF multiples
An IVF live birth rate that is 17% better than the national average

As a result, employees and the school district have seen a substantial reduction in NICU costs.

“Over 15 years ago, we adopted the mission to look beyond health care cost alone to the impact of health on
productivity, knowing that healthy employees are better employees. With that vision in mind, we have done a lot of work to better understand our membership along with their needs and wants and develop or offer programming and benefits to meet those needs. Our district has a motto of ‘every child known’; we push for ‘every employee known’”

– David Hines, Executive Director of Benefits at MNPS

Promoting treatment to address problematic alcohol use in a manufacturing-led workforce.

Industry: Manufacturing

Lives Covered: 51,500

Angie, a 47-year-old manager who, in years past, enjoyed drinking alcohol socially on the weekends, had been steadily increasing her use of alcohol over the past several years. In the month before seeking out help from Quit Genius, she found herself drinking daily, and was having a hard time controlling it. This led her to feel anxious and concerned that something about her relationship with alcohol was changing, but she couldn’t get a handle on it on her own.

Angie tried to quit drinking completely on her own several times, and though she was able to put together a few days or a week sober here and there, it just wouldn’t last. “I always went back to drinking,” she said. Angie reflected on the obstacles she experienced to changing her drinking successfully, and she realized that she didn’t have any helpful tools to manage stress, temptations in various settings like at social events and around family members who were drinkers, and the discomfort she felt when she had cravings for alcohol.

A new approach to managing drinking

Angie was offered the Quit Genius program through her employer’s health benefits program. With the support of her counselor, Megan, combined with the medication she was prescribed by her Quit Genius physician to help curb cravings for alcohol, Angie began working towards her goal of reducing her alcohol use and drinking responsibly. In counseling, Megan worked closely with Angie to help her learn and implement new coping strategies, including mindfulness meditation to help manage stress and cravings, exercising regularly, replacing alcohol with nonalcoholic beverages such as tea when she needed to unwind, journaling about her progress towards her goals, having difficult conversations with family members about how they could support her goals, and posting positive affirmations in parts of her house that previously triggered desires to drink (such as the liquor cabinet).

Angie has now successfully transitioned to the social, weekends-only drinker she used to be, and when she does drink, she only consumes one or two beverages, which is a fraction of the amount she used to. She is losing weight, feeling better about herself, and noticed that she is more present and engaged when she spends time with her family.

Turnkey Implementation

Quit Genius was rolled out to Corning employees via a multi-channel awareness campaign. The Quit Genius team ran on-site pop-up clinics, mailed postcards, posters, telephone calls, word-of-mouth referrals, and raffles to drive participation

Early Success Indicators

In this case study, we examined changes in alcohol use within the first 30 days of Quit Genius care.

80% of enrolled participants reduced their alcohol use frequency by 30% or more within the first 30 days

62% reduction in alcohol use frequency within the first 30 days of care

In their words:

“Quit Genius delivered on their promise for a seamless implementation process and fantastic member engagement.’’

Joyce Greggs | Manager for Health Plans and Compliance

Millions of people have left their jobs since the start of the pandemic, and many of you in the HR community are feeling the impact. Employees have been forced to reconsider their careers, their priorities, and what they can manage. This past spring, Heather Long at The Washington Post realized we were not in the middle of The Great Resignation, but a Great Reassessment — people, especially women and working parents, are reconsidering their jobs, and re-thinking what they wanted to do with their lives.

At Ovia, we’ve seen this Great Reassessment up close. We’re a research-driven, women’s health, family-building and parenting solution. We’ve helped nearly 17 million families navigate fertility, pregnancy, birth, and parenthood — and over 2,000 client organizations improve employee health, retention and return-to-work rates.

To understand this trend more deeply and learn what employers can do to improve retention and support working parents, we surveyed our members, asked what they thought of existing support, and what mattered most to them in terms of employer support and benefits.

Our findings are clear—in a post-pandemic world, organizations need strong family benefits to retain (and attract) employees, help working parents develop into leaders, and meet growing DEI needs.

But what does a strong family benefits portfolio look like? And what matters most? Our members weighed in on that too, and we’ve added our expertise to explain exactly what HR leaders can do to help improve parental support, mental health, retention and health outcomes. Here’s what they said topped their list:

Create a family-friendly culture.
Extend leave time.
Create return-to-work programs for parents.
Make sure your family-friendly policies are inclusive and equitable.
Stay flexible and understanding.
Help your employees know and understand their benefits.
Invest in comprehensive family benefits that include coaching and mental health support.
Assist with childcare options.
Improve mother’s room condition and quality.
Help them manage and track their health during key moments in their life.

Our research also proved that when organizations listen to families, and structure their culture and benefits to help people balance the work and the people they love, employees stay and thrive. Our clients are seeing 92% return to work rates, and serious clinical improvements like a 28% reduction in preterm births or 18% reduction in preeclampsia.

This isn’t just a pandemic solution. The Great Reassessment only intensified the problems working parents have managed for far too long. That’s why the future of benefits is family-friendly. In fact, this shift may be one of the few truly good things to come out of so much upheaval—at this moment, we get to reimagine the world of work. We can make it more sustainable, equitable, supportive, and inspiring for working moms, all employees—and their families.

For more details and an action plan to improve or implement the above, download the interactive Future of Family Friendly Report or contact Ovia Health for a personalized discovery call.

If your organization wants to stay competitive during The Great Reassessment, you need to be family friendly. The future of family friendly starts with your benefits. But what benefits matter most to working parents? Find out in our new, interactive Future of Family Friendly Benefits Report to learn where parents are struggling and what matters most to them: https://user.oviahealth.com/future-of-family-friendly/index.html

Link to resource: What Working Parents Want: The Future of Family Friendly Benefits

Link to book a discover call: https://info.oviahealth.com/schedule-a-demo-with-ovia-health

February 2022

The Meru Impact: How one email campaign impacted the mental wellbeing of Stanford University’s population

Stanford University partnered with Meru Health to offer a world-class mental healthcare benefit to their employees. As the university explores the future of work for its employees, one thing remains clear: the need to prioritize health and wellbeing. In the spring of 2021, Stanford introduced Meru Health as a free benefit for all university staff and their adult dependents. The new benefit was very well received — 344 members started an intervention with Meru Health within the first few weeks of the rollout.

Within 24 hours of the launch, Meru Health sent out an email communications campaign, instantly reaching 47% of Stanford University’s population.

210 people immediately started the Meru Health Intervention, climbing to 344 people within one month after the campaign.

Enrolled participants went on to spend a total of 3,810 hours using Meru Health.

65% of participants who started the program with clinical levels of depression or anxiety no longer met these criteria at the end of treatment*

Learn more at meruhealth.com, or contact us at info@meruhealth.com

SSRI data is presented for comparative purposes only and comes from Kroenke, K., West, S.L., Swindle, R., Gilsenan, A., Eckert, G.J., Dolor, R., Stang, P., Zhou, X.H., Hays, R. and Weinberger, M., 2001. Similar effectiveness of paroxetine, fluoxetine, and sertraline in primary care: a randomized trial. Jama, 286(23), pp.2947-2955.

*Clinical levels of depression or anxiety defined as a pre-treatment score of 10+ on the industry standard Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item depressive symptom scale (PHQ-9) or 10+ on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 item anxiety symptom scale (GAD-7) declining to less than moderate (<10) levels of depressive or anxiety symptoms at the end of program.

February 2022

Modern Health conducted a retrospective, observational study of retention patterns of employees with access to Modern Health through their employers. We explored retention rates of employees who engaged with Modern Health compared to employees who did not. To be included in the analyses, employees had to:

Be employed by a company that launched services with Modern Health prior to November 1, 2020
Be eligible for Modern Health services for a minimum of 30 days
Have job tenure for a minimum of 1 year

Analyses

Modern Health calculated the total percentage of employees retained on eligibility files relative to the percent removed from eligibility files on a per-annum basis. We compared differences in percentages between employees engaged in the Modern Health platform versus those who were not engaged.

Results

Records for a total of 149,451 unique employees were analyzed. Across all years of employee tenure with their companies, a greater percentage of employees who used Modern Health were retained relative to those who did not use Modern Health mental health services. Retention was 5.5% higher amongst employees who engaged with Modern Health services versus those who did not. Among employees who never used Modern Health, an average of 23.56% were terminated (voluntarily or involuntarily), compared to only 18.03% of employees who engaged with Modern Health services. This difference was statistically significant, X 2 (1, 148,572) = 384.35, p <.001.

The trend in retention among employees who used Modern Health services was consistent across all years of employee tenure. Overall, more Modern Health members were retained over time compared to non-members, whether the employee was with their company for one year versus five or more years. Employees who were with their companies the longest had the lowest rates of separation.

What does this mean?

These data suggest that employees who use their Modern Health benefit have a higher likelihood of staying with their employer. Having a solution that is flexible and tailored to individual needs means that the entire workforce can benefit, impacting all kinds of employees by meeting them where they are and giving them the right kind of care at the right time.

These data are only one way of examining employee retention and are only based on data from employee eligibility files sent to Modern Health. We are not able to differentiate employee termination due to voluntary versus involuntary causes. There are many other factors that influence an employee’s retention in a company, including performance, compensation, job satisfaction, among other factors. However, we think these data show an initial, encouraging sign that engagement with Modern Health can be beneficial to keeping employees with your company. We would love to partner with you to look more closely at your company data to examine the impact of Modern Health on your workforce retention.

Most of us acknowledge that our daily habits impact our overall health – in fact, experts believe an 80% decline in chronic disease is possible with simple lifestyle improvements. Newtopia, a tech-enabled habit change provider focused on disease prevention and reducing the cost of care for self-insured employers, is unique in the industry for its incorporation of an evidence-based, extensively researched set of genetic markers to enhance the impact of its solution. Unlike medical genetics, the Newtopia gene panel provides behavioral and metabolic insights. This information allows health coaches to further personalize their approach and use actionable recommendations to better align with the genetic profile of participants. Does this improve health outcomes?

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, October 2021, Newtopia presented findings quantifying this impact. After controlling for age, sex, ethnic background, initial weight and personality, participants who underwent genetic testing had a 25% higher weight loss at 12 months (4.0% vs 3.2%, p=.001) and 1.3 times higher odds of losing at least 5% body weight (OR=1.3, 95% CI 1.08-1.59).

Newtopia’s genetic panel comprises 7 key behavioral/metabolic genes:

Body Fat Gene (FTO)
- Determines how the body breaks down fat
  - How easily do you gain weight?

Eating Behavior Gene (DRD2)
- Regulates dopamine
  - Do you eat when you’re stressed?

Appetite Gene (MC4R)
- Regulates how quickly someone feels full when eating
  - Do you eat until you’re too full?

Resilience to Stress Gene (BDNF)
- Suppresses appetite and promotes energy expenditure
  - Does exercise help you manage your stress?

Caffeine Gene (CYP1A2)
- Determines how quickly we metabolize caffeine
  - Is caffeine impacting your sleep, stress or anxiety levels?

Clock Gene
- Regulates circadian rhythm
  - Are you sleeping enough?

Exercise Gene (CADM2)
- Speaks to your motivation to exercise
  - What keeps you engaged in regular exercise?

Detecting the presence of variations of these genes within individuals improves the effectiveness of health coaching, generates actionable recommendations, and provides participants with important personal insights:

“The genetic test showed that I have a deficiency in my genes which affects how full I feel. Often, I am guilty of mindless eating and devouring something until it is gone. Having this information has helped me be in tune with choosing proper portion sizes ahead of time.” Brenda, Healthcare

“Having an understanding of how genetics may be impacting the effects of the choices I'm making made me realize that those choices were even more critical than I'd previously thought.” Dominic, Retail

“The genetic testing showed me how things effect my weight. Carbs are not the enemy, but I don’t process them well. I’ve had to change what I eat for the better so my unique system can process them into fuel. I’ve learned to use food to fuel my well-being.” Amy, Financial Services

According to Dr. Louis Pérusse, renown genetic epidemiologist and Professor at Laval University, genetic-based interventions within a habit change program like Newtopia facilitate results because genetically-influenced lifestyle behaviors are known to impact health.

As you can see, behavior change is influenced by genetic testing when combined with the personalized habit change coaching provided by Newtopia.

Newtopia proudly serves EHIR members including Levi’s, Accenture, Ross and JPMC. For additional details, please visit our website for an abstract presentation of our research analysis, as well as a webinar discussing behavioral genetics and its application at Newtopia.

Meet the Omada Insights Lab.

Where in-depth data meets deep expertise.

In the growing market for virtual care, Omada Health has continued to deliver proven health outcomes and ROI for its customers. Now with the Omada Insights Lab, the company unveils the interdisciplinary collaboration and system for innovation behind its industry-leading care delivery, and releases introductory data and insights about the importance of meaningful relationships in chronic disease management. What’s more, these findings and future research of the Insights Lab foster innovation in Omada’s programs and can help improve the healthcare industry as a whole.

The majority of Americans have at least one chronic health condition. Consumers face an extensive array of solutions that aim to address the booming need and desire for virtual care, from telehealth services through healthcare providers and third parties, to countless direct-to-consumer options, including tens of thousands of health apps for mobile devices.

But how do individuals know what will actually improve their health? How do employers, health plans, pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), and other buyers know which solutions are cost-effective—and which are just yet another app or gimmick?

Furthermore, the rise in virtual care over the last decade has generated an unprecedented amount of new data that can advance population health management and better personalize each individual’s experience. How can virtual care providers use this data to improve care and reduce costs, while also managing it responsibly?

At Omada, we’ve created a system for virtual care development and delivery that not only offers members with multiple chronic conditions the ability to achieve their health goals, but also creates transparency that can improve care across the industry and show employers and payers the elements that make virtual care programs worth investing in.

By leveraging deep expertise across five core functional areas, the Omada Insights Lab is the internal data corps powering the Omada platform. Thanks to data learnings from over a decade of research, the Omada Insights Lab remains focused on driving higher enrollments, improving ROI, increasing engagement, and delivering lasting outcomes.

We’ve always shared our outcomes with customers, partners, and the medical community in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Now we’re unveiling the Omada Insights Lab to (1) demonstrate how our programs drive industry-leading outcomes, and (2) achieve a broader goal: to share our unique data and insights with the healthcare industry at large so that we can help make chronic disease care better for everyone.

Link to asset

1. Buttorff et al. RAND Corporation, 2017. (See References for full citations.)

2. Google Play store and Apple’s App Store.

January 2022

In 2021, NFP, a leading national insurance and employee benefits consultant, launched Genomic Life’s Cancer Guardian program as a new employee benefit. The team at NFP identified Genomic Life as an innovative partner that would deliver a unique benefit offering to their employees and their family members. The program promised to deliver a solution that provides access to personalized medicine and improved patient outcomes. NFP felt confident in the value of this program for its staff as well as its use as a tool to attract and retain employees to enhance the current benefits offering.

Soon after NFP deployed Cancer Guardian, one of its employees felt an immediate impact.

John Mueller, VP of Corporate Benefits, learned that his wife Jessica was diagnosed with cancer.

The Muellers quickly engaged with the Genomic Life team and Jessica was connected with one of our oncology nurse advocates, Jess Olson. Jess Olson was Jessica’s dedicated cancer support specialist throughout her entire journey. In addition to personalized advocacy and support, she helped to coordinate and facilitate the entire suite of Genomic Life services, which includes multiple genetic testing options, genetic counseling, financial navigation, clinical trial matching, and an expert pathology review.

The Muellers were amazed by the personalized attention and support they received from Jess and the Genomic Life team. Thankfully, Jessica Mueller is now cancer free. Based on this positive experience, Jessica and John volunteered to provide a testimonial video. They greatly appreciate that NFP offered Genomic Life as an employee benefit.

Jessica and John Mueller share their story here: https://vimeo.com/595603500

In learning about his colleague’s experience, an executive at NFP added, “This benefit rises to the top of my list based on the support, resources, and top-quality experts…”

- Deb Smolensky, SVP, NFP Ventures

January 2022

December 2021

Wondr Health Case Study: US Foods

US Foods is a leading foodservice distributor with over 28,000 associates and 45,000 health plan members. They were looking for a flexible and scalable solution to address overall obesity, improve physical and mental wellbeing, and easily integrate into their existing ecosystem.

Results:

US Foods’ population is geographically dispersed with a wide range of job roles and types—making engagement a challenge. With Wondr, they saw unprecedented engagement–almost a thousand US Foods associates signed up for the Wondr program within the first hour.
Weight loss

Over the first 10 weeks of the program, US Foods participants lost over 11,000 pounds for an average loss of 4.1% body weight. (At just 3-5% body weight loss, participants experience clinically significant reductions in their risk for serious diseases)

Quality of life improvements

The results went beyond weight loss—89% felt more in control of their weight, 73% increased their physical activity, 71% felt more confident, and 69% increased energy levels.

Here’s what US Foods has to say:

“Traditional wellness programs didn’t work for US Foods, since our folks are dispersed across the country, and on-the-go. They were able to do the program anywhere, without going to meetings—it’s very easy to engage with Wondr.” – Joe Toniolo, US Foods Sr Director of Health and Welfare Benefits.”

Read the full study.

Interested in learning more about Wondr? Get in touch.

US Foods, a leading foodservice distributor with over 28,000 associates, needed a flexible and scalable solution that could drive high engagement to improve physical and mental wellbeing and easily integrate into their existing ecosystem. With the solution Wondr, thousands of associates improved their lives with weight loss, increased energy levels, increased physical activity and more.

How one company offers its workforce genetic health benefits.

Genome Medical is the leading genomic health services company that gives people the power to personalize their health through on-demand access to genomic medicine.

Employers partner with Genome Medical to offer their employees access to genetic counseling, testing and insights that identify the potential health risks that stem from their precise genetic make-up. Genetic health services can significantly improve employee health and medical outcomes and reduce health care costs.

Genome Medical, however, is more than just a benefits provider. We are a nationwide virtual medical practice, with a team of more than 100 genetic specialists who are constantly updating their knowledge to ensure the employers, employees and patients we support have access to the best genomics care.

As an example, we recently partnered with GRAIL to offer the GalleriTM multi-cancer detection test, which detects more than 50 types of cancer using a simple blood draw. Many of the cancers it detects are not commonly screened for today, and when a positive signal is identified, the test can predict where in the body the cancer is located with 89% accuracy. This helps guide next steps to diagnosis and helps individuals be proactive about their health.

Innovative Cancer Benefit

In mid 2021, a large, multi-national life sciences company began offering the Galleri test at no cost to eligible U.S. employees and their dependents through Genome Medical and its workplace genomics benefits program. Utilizing a simple, self-guided online process, individuals submitted information to determine test eligibility, and Genome Medical’s genetic specialists ordered the test — while also offering optional one-on-one genetic counseling sessions to interested employees.

The new benefit was introduced through six online educational programs, conducted by Genome Medical’s genetic specialists. More than 10% of employees attended a session or accessed information about the benefit.
Within the first 30 days, nearly 400 employees requested access to the Galleri test — and many had taken advantage of virtual genetic counseling sessions.
Within three months of the program launch, Genome Medical ordered more than 750 Galleri tests and returned results to many employees — again utilizing our specialists to help individuals understand the findings and what to do next.
Interest and engagement in the Galleri program continues to stay strong, nearly six months after its launch.

By adding GRAIL’s Galleri testing to the five standard recommended routine cancer screenings, three times more cancer can be detected early. Early detection of cancer can dramatically improve cancer survival, while also reducing cancer treatment costs across an employee population.

Genome Medical is among the first trained clinical partners for the Galleri test. This program is just another way Genome Medical is applying its virtual care delivery and cutting-edge clinical expertise to benefit patients — in this case, those provided access through an innovative benefits program.

To learn more about how Genome Medical creates customized programs for employers large and small and how genetic insights can enhance your employee benefits offerings, visit our website.

Lyra Health Case Study: Amgen

Amgen is one of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies, with more than 10,000 staff in the US alone. Their innovative culture and focus on benefits continue to be recognized year after year. Amgen was searching for a more comprehensive and robust mental health care solution. Through a partnership with Lyra, they gained access to a proven, curated network of high-quality providers, ensuring that Amgen staff and their families get the care they need. With Lyra, no one is left behind. Lyra leads with a focus on culturally relevant care for the whole family including children, teens, couples and more. Lyra enhances its elite network based on where Amgen members work and live to ensure convenient access to high-quality providers, and no gaps in care or support. As Amgen’s population changes over time, Lyra’s network grows and scales along with it. With a large, diverse population across the US, the ability to serve all geographies at the same high-quality level was essential for Amgen. By gaining access to sustained, care continuity with high quality providers through Lyra, 82% of Amgen patients reliably improved or recovered. Lyra’s solution makes integrating therapy into people’s lives as easy as possible. Staff and their families can get therapy onsite, in person, or via live video—it’s all about convenience and making them comfortable. In addition to therapy, Lyra offers personalized behavioral health coaching programs, self-guided apps, a 24/7 expert care team, crisis support, and work-life services. Amgen is an early adopter of data-driven solutions; naturally, their culture aligns with Lyra’s approach to quality, efficacy, and outcomes. With Lyra’s comprehensive, evidence-based care programs, Amgen was able to make care more accessible and more effective, while measuring the positive impact on their staff. Not only did Amgen see their staff start to improve and recover as a result of Lyra, they saw their staff retention improve as well. With Lyra, Amgen saw a 40% reduction in its employee turnover rate. Amgen staff who used Lyra were less likely to leave their jobs than non-Lyra users. As Amanda McComb, senior associate of employee experience at Amgen, noted, “Lyra is always there when you need them.”

December 2021

November 2021

Kaia Health Combines Superior Computer Vision Technology with Human Care to Deliver Physical Therapy-Grade Exercises and Achieve Better Outcomes

Groundbreaking clinical trial results demonstrate Kaia Health computer vision technology is as accurate as physical therapists in suggesting musculoskeletal (MSK) therapy exercise corrections. Kaia Health computer vision technology is now the only digital therapeutic with the demonstrated ability to detect and correct exercise form similar to a physical therapist.

The power of automated exercise feedback in delivering effective MSK physical therapy is demonstrated in a groundbreaking new clinical study involving Kaia Health’s computer vision technology. Our proprietary, advanced, artificial-intelligence technology provides automated, real-time feedback by tracking exercise form through the user's smartphone camera.

The study, titled “App-based feedback for rehabilitation exercise correction in patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis” and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), demonstrates the ability of Kaia Health computer vision technology in guiding user exercise corrections. The peer-reviewed, prospective cohort study is the first-ever to compare smartphone-based MSK digital therapy with physical therapists (PTs).

In the JMIR study, Kaia Health computer vision technology was able to provide consistent feedback to users across different exercises, body parts, and difficulty levels, as well as across genders, age, BMI, and pain areas. Key study highlights include:

24 participants were enrolled and performed the assessments
The interrater agreements showed an accuracy of 0.828 (Kaia Health app vs PTs) vs 0.833 (PT1 vs PT2), P <0.001 and confirmed noninferiority of computer vision technology to PTs
There was no detectable difference in levels of interrater agreement between computer vision technology vs live PTs and PTs themselves in any of the 6 exercises, regardless of exercise pose or exercise difficulty levels
The interrater agreement for suggesting corrections during therapeutic exercises observed in the current study did not differ between 2 PTs among each other and PTs and the computer vision technology
These results confirm the ability of Kaia Health computer vision technology to detect form during exercise and provide valid feedback to users with preexisting musculoskeletal disorders. This finding was valid for all investigated exercises and subgroups.

Not only have these results been demonstrated in research, but they have been put into practice by our Kaia Health team in real life. Employers, health plans, and their members have benefited from superior computer vision technology combined with human care resulting in lower costs, higher engagement, and improved outcomes leading to significant return on investment (ROI).

Improved health outcomes associated with Kaia Health’s digital therapeutics program can be seen in as little as six weeks, with preliminary data showing a 47% decrease in pain and a 30% improvement in physical and mental well-being. A recent case study found that Kaia Health customers experienced 22% in net cost savings in 2019, representing a 1.6:1 return on investment in the first year of deployment. Kaia Health customers see an ROI of 3-3.4 based on the measurement of user pain reductions correlated with cost savings.

As the world’s most popular MSK platform with 60 million lives covered worldwide, Kaia Health continues to advance next-generation MSK digital therapy and build clinical validation of our computer vision technology. Built on the most rigorous clinical evidence, Kaia Health provides 24/7, physical therapy-grade exercise feedback straight to your employee’s smartphone or tablet. To learn more, visit www.kaiahealth.com.

Zynga Improves Clinical Outcomes with Maven Fertility and Maternal Care

As the U.S. government takes steps to improve maternal health outcomes, employers can play a critical role in delivering a member-centric maternal care experience that reduces healthcare costs.

That’s what interactive entertainment leader Zynga has achieved since integrating the Maven digital care model into their employee health and benefits plan, complementing in-person fertility and maternal care. According to Zynga Director of Benefits Bryan Aycock, from 2019 to 2020, Zynga saw in 83% increase in pregnancies and an improvement in maternal and child health outcomes. Specifically, from 2019 to 2020, Zynga

Reduced their C-section rate from 27.8% to 18.2%.
Reduced the average NICU length of stay from 10 to 4 days.

Aycock shared these results at an AHIP conference in a presentation with Maven Founder and CEO Kate Ryder and Dr. Brian Levine, a reproductive endocrinologist with CCRM in New York.

Aycock said that Zynga chose Maven after working with their benefits broker to find a family-building solution that would:

Provide comprehensive support for the entire journey, from family planning and fertility to maternity and postpartum.
Be easy to access and use from anywhere, 24/7, just as Zynga’s mobile games are for consumers.
Support every person’s journey, in line with Zynga's focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Continuously evolve to enhance the support for members.

“Maven was the only solution that was focused on that virtual support, which was really important to us,” said Aycock, noting that Maven looks for “ways to enhance that solution and add features and support items.”

Engaging members early in the family-building journey was paramount to Zynga. “I know the correlation between early support and positive outcomes, so finding a solution that provides support as early as possible was key,” said Aycock.

According to Dr. Levine, it’s important to provide early support and evidence-based education to aspiring parents, in place of the anecdotal education that often happens through social media. They can learn about options for starting a family; how to preserve their fertility by egg, sperm or embryo freezing; and how to prevent a progressive disease that could affect the health of mother and child. Maven educates members through its library of clinical content, provider-led virtual classes, and personalized support from its Care Advocates.

Zynga also wanted a solution that would help aspiring parents navigate their benefits and access the right care for their needs at the right time. “Aside from all the different 30+ specialty provider types that Maven has, they also understand our entire benefits ecosystem,” said Aycock.

For Zynga, Maven’s ability to support all paths to parenthood was also key in the selection process and is making an impact. Zynga has used Maven Wallet, Maven’s customizable reimbursement solution, to create a program that allows members to submit expenses for egg freezing, adoption or surrogacy.

“The Maven program has been a win, win, win,” said Aycock. “We’ve seen lower costs and better health outcomes for employees and their families. It’s been a great experience for employees, which helps us attract and retain talent.”

The following Case Study references all content previously shared during a recent joint presentation between Newtopia and Accenture at The Business Group on Health 2021 Annual Conference “From Crisis to Opportunity” in May 2021.

Accenture experienced first-hand how effective a personalized approach to employee health and well-being is, even during the worst of times. “We’ve always taken a wholistic approach to finding programs that inspire people to be better” said Julie Wilkes, Senior Manager, North American Well-Being & Resistance Lead at Accenture. She said that over the past few years, they began noticing gaps in this broader approach to care. They wanted to reach those people who had either tried well-being programs in the past and didn’t see results, or they didn’t see the value in participating in such a program in the first place.

Accenture began looking for an integrated and sophisticated solution that could help them bridge that gap. Newtopia was the answer. “We implemented Newtopia in January of 2019 and had great success,” Wilkes said. “Our employees were very interested in the program and those who were eligible for it told us: this feels like something special, this feels like something different to us.”

Fast-forward to 2020. Most employees travel to be onsite with clients which of course, had to change as social distancing guidelines were rolled out nationwide to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “We wanted to provide them a simple platform for them to set up their own habits.” The key was personalizing the program for each individual’s unique goals.

Results

“We are absolutely blown away by what was able to be accomplished during the pandemic,” said Wilkes. While the general population struggled with weight gain, exercise, nutrition, and sleep, Accenture did not. “In our partnership with Newtopia our participants actually created a different story.”

Of those who enrolled, 69% remained engaged after 12 months. 73% of those who enrolled lost weight at an average of 6.3%.

According to Wilkes, the secret to the success of any habit-based program that's trying to get people to establish new patterns in their brain and in their bodies is that they're just consistent with it. “To say that 69% were able to stay consistent is pretty significant,” Wilkes said. “I don't know that you'll find too many programs where 73% of those who participated lost weight.” Wilkes believes the results are “extraordinary,” saying “We’re really proud of our employees and we’re really proud of our Newtopia partnership.”

At Newtopia, we are proud of what we continue to offer our Accenture participants, and to our other clients. Changing habits for sustainable health improvements is not easy – but it’s the only way to ensure a lifetime of good health.

Results:

US Foods’ population is geographically dispersed with a wide range of job roles and types—making engagement a challenge. With Wondr, they saw unprecedented engagement–almost a thousand US Foods associates signed up for the Wondr program within the first hour.
Weight loss

Quality of life improvements

The results went beyond weight loss—89% felt more in control of their weight, 73% increased their physical activity, 71% felt more confident, and 69% increased energy levels.

Here’s what US Foods has to say:

Read the full study.

Interested in learning more about Wondr? Get in touch.

November 2021

October 2021

Zynga Improves Clinical Outcomes with Maven Fertility and Maternal Care

By incorporating Maven’s digital care model into their health benefits system, interactive entertainment leader Zynga has improved the employee family-building experience and maternal health outcomes.

As the U.S. government takes steps to improve maternal health outcomes, employers can play a critical role in delivering a member-centric maternal care experience that reduces healthcare costs.

Reduced their C-section rate from 27.8% to 18.2%.
Reduced the average NICU length of stay from 10 to 4 days.

Aycock shared these results at an AHIP conference in a presentation with Maven Founder and CEO Kate Ryder and Dr. Brian Levine, a reproductive endocrinologist with CCRM in New York.

Aycock said that Zynga chose Maven after working with their benefits broker to find a family-building solution that would:

Provide comprehensive support for the entire journey, from family planning and fertility to maternity and postpartum.
Be easy to access and use from anywhere, 24/7, just as Zynga’s mobile games are for consumers.
Support every person’s journey, in line with Zynga's focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Continuously evolve to enhance the support for members.

October 2021

September 2021

How Paychex Is Finding Benefits Cost Savings with Data

Many employers are facing rising benefits costs, but it’s not easy to find ways to save that still offer great coverage for employees and their families. In this case study, we’ll highlight the innovative way Paychex is addressing avoidable emergency room spending using their benefits data.

The problem.

The Paychex benefits team noticed they had an opportunity to save costs on emergency room claims. They partnered with Artemis Health to look more closely at their benefits data, and they saw that avoidable emergency room claims accounted for a staggering $1.5 million in their spending in the first half of 2019.

Additionally, that number was trending up. Members were visiting the ER more often, in larger numbers for each analysis period, and the cost was rising both for Paychex and for their members.

The analysis.

The benefits team wanted to understand which conditions were being treated in the ER that could have been addressed at a more appropriate point of care, like an urgent care clinic, a primary care doctor’s office, or even a telemedicine visit. They found members were using the ER for conditions like UTIs, headache, and low back pain. Artemis uses a unique data model to flag certain types of visits as “avoidable” using the NYU Wagner study to calculate total costs that could have been avoided if all claims were directed to the best point of care.

In order to get to a set of actionable tactics, Paychex wanted to understand more about their avoidable ER spending, so they also analyzed the utilization by office location. Here’s what they found.

This information gave the Paychex team the data they needed to target the right members in the right places.

The action.

Paychex is taking a data-driven approach to tackling their avoidable ER spending. Paychex is:

More aggressively promoting their telemedicine program for everyone at Paychex to ensure members are aware of their options for immediate care
Sending targeted member education materials on appropriate ER visits through the health plan and telemedicine vendor to office locations with higher avoidable ER costs, and tailoring the messages based on the demographics where the problem is identified to make them more impactful
Conducting on-site benefits team educational visits to locations with higher ER utilization

While the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted awareness and utilization of their telemedicine program, it’s also caused some members who needed immediate care to avoid the emergency room. The on-site educational visits are delayed, but Paychex’s benefits team hopes to continue teaching members how and when to use the ER vs. other available care options.

Paychex is also empowering employees to make smart healthcare decisions, save the plan money, and save money on out-of-pocket costs. By tackling high ER utilization with targeted member education efforts, Paychex is incentivizing good healthcare decisions for employees and their families.

Click here to read the full case study.

FujiFilm and Happify Health Build on Their Relationship to Take on Mental Health Support for Teens

The partnership between FujiFilm and Happify Health to build stronger mental health for its employees began in 2017. At that time, FujiFilm was experiencing an increase in stress related medical and disability claims. When their health insurance provider, Cigna, offered FujiFilm the opportunity to include Happify as part of their benefits, FujiFilm enthusiastically agreed because of the following reasons:

Science-based tools adapted from proven behavior change disciplines including cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness and positive psychology
Gamified approach was well-suited for their workforce
Breadth & depth of content on a variety of relevant topics
Health plan integration reduced administrative lift

Happify remains a critical part of FujiFilm’s holistic well-being strategy with active collaboration by both parties to promote Happify as a trusted and effective tool to help employees build stronger mental health and resilience. As a result, activation, engagement and retention remain strong:

Nearly 45% of the eligible population is signed up for Happify
Over 60% of those signed up remain active on the site after 3 years
Among the employees initially reporting severe depressive symptoms, 89% reported improvement

Building on this success, FujiFilm wanted to take Happify further. FujiFilm recognizes that the stress and mental health of its employees is impacted as much by what happens at home as at work. Particularly troubling to FujiFilm was hearing from its employees about the increasing mental health issues experienced their teenage children, particularly in the wake of the pandemic.

At the same time, Happify Health was hearing from other clients about the need for tools to support teen mental health. Working with child psychologists, teens and other professionals, Happify created an extension of its adult platform for teens, remaining faithful to the multi-discipline science but reframing topics, content and activities to appeal to a teenage audience ages 13-17.

Happify shared the news of the new program—one of the first enterprise-grade solutions for teens—with Cigna and FujiFilm. Both were excited about the development and were eager to implement. Over the past few months, actions have centered around implementing the new platform and creating a launch campaign that makes it as easy as possible for the parents to share information with their teen and for the teen to sign up for Happify.

Hello Heart Clinical Results Summary

Hello Heart empowers people to understand and improve their health using technology. In 2017, a single arm pilot retrospective observational study to validate proof of concept was conducted by researchers at Harvard and UCLA. The outcomes were published in the Journal of Health Information Science and Systems. The authors found:

Significant decrease in blood pressure with improved metrics over time.
Higher engagement was associated with greater blood pressure reduction.
Engagement was higher amongst those with greater clinical need of blood pressure control.

The authors also cited Hello Heart as a leading operational mHealth technology company to improve patient engagement and clinical outcomes. Since 2015, Hello Heart has deployed its solution to over 40 Fortune 500 employers across the US with 1.5 million eligible members. Below is a spotlight of four representative clients of varying types, locations and company size. Key findings include:

The original research continues to be validated as patients in these groups achieve 19-20 mmHg reductions in systolic blood pressure and sustain the reduction over a longer period. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5632340/
The value of these solutions are evident in the clinical research which has found that a 12-13 mmHg blood pressure reduction results in a 21% reduction in coronary heart disease, 37% reduction in stroke, 25% reduction in total cardiovascular mortality, and 13% reduction in all-cause mortality rates. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10467215/

The Hello Heart employer data, along with the body of clinical research, provides compelling reasons for employers to consider implementing validated heart health solutions for their employees to lower health risk and reduce medical plan costs.

Outstanding outcomes. Energizing Employee Engagement.

Onduo is excited to share the latest study results presented at the ADA and ATTD demonstrating lasting outcomes for its diabetes solutions, and share how one of our Employer Health Innovation Roundtable (EHIR) members has met its program enrollment goals.

The Onduo virtual care solution was the focus of two presentations at diabetes-focused conferences this past June. Onduo was initially launched to support individuals living with type 2 diabetes; these analyses represent new views into the outcomes supported by the Onduo model.

At the American Diabetes Association 81st Scientific Sessions, Onduo showed an updated analysis of participants with type 2 diabetes who had A1c improvements at six months and were maintained at one year. This was a large cohort study (n=772) and demonstrates the success of the Onduo model in driving lasting change through the combination of an app, personalized care journeys, individualized coaching, and telemedicine access to Onduo physicians.

Additional highlights include:

Participants in the study that were provided with continuous glucose monitor devices (CGM) with a baseline A1c >9.0% had a 2.8% decrease in A1c and participants who did not use CGM had a decrease of 1.8%.
Both groups demonstrated an increase in the percentage of participants meeting the HEDIS target of A1c <8.0%; the increase was greater in the CGM group, 64.4% to 78.2%, vs no CGM, 69.6% to 74.0%.

A presentation at the 14th International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatment for Diabetes reviewed how the Onduo program, combining endocrinologist access and CGM use, facilitates medication changes that address gaps in care and help improve glycemic control.

Highlights include:

Onduo with intermittent CGM use optimizes medication prescriptions, drives improvements in care through reduction in A1c, and overcomes clinical inertia.
Of 55 participants, 48 (87%) had a medication change, a baseline A1c reduction of 1.6% from a baseline 8.9% to 7.3%, and an average of nine-pound weight loss.
Endocrinologists substituted existing prescriptions with more effective medications with cardiovascular and kidney protective effects and that promote weight loss.

Engaging your employees

The Onduo approach for providing care is to match the right pathways to the right person at the right time, scaling services based on the individual’s needs as identified through our whole health assessment. This approach extends to enrollment and engagement as well. Using a multi-channel approach, we combine direct mail, digital, and even telephonic outreach to maximize our ability to connect with employees, serving up smart, dynamic “journeys'' that adapt to the consumer’s behavior.

This approach in partnership with Quest Diagnostics was successful. We worked with the team at Quest to help ensure the engagement activities reflected the Quest brand and experience their employees expect. SInce then, Onduo has helped enable Quest to meet and exceed their initial goals, as they shared in a webinar earlier this year.

Multi-condition support

The Onduo solution has extended its support to include type 1 diabetes, diabetes prevention, weight loss, hypertension, and mental and behavioral health. Onduo helps improve health outcomes for employees and reduces costs for their employers. The 3Ds: doctors, drugs, and devices provide access to essential support and tools like telemedicine access to endocrinologists and psychiatrists, medication management, continuous glucose monitors, and more.

Click here for more Onduo outcomes.

September 2021

August 2021

On Demand Primary Care for the Modern Workforce

News Corp wanted to provide its employees with the best possible telehealth service and sought a solution that would result in high engagement and lower overall healthcare costs.

After assessing its own experiences in the telehealth market, the media giant behind The Wall Street Journal, realtor.com, and HarperCollins Publishers (to name a few) determined that a text-based virtual primary care approach would align better with the way people are accustomed to communicating these days. They needed a low-cost, mobile-first solution that was convenient and easy to use.

98point6 offered just that: employees could have convenient, quality care that fit into their busy lives, without straining the company’s benefits resources.

After a complete rollout of the service in just 45 days, 98point6 now provides 24/7 on-demand diagnosis, treatment, and consultation to all 12,000+ of NewsCorp's employees and their dependents – all while decreasing overall care costs for their organization. Here are the results News Corp has seen so far:

98point6 is giving employees the care they need without unnecessary cost – 70% of patients indicated they would have gone to the ER or urgent care had they not used the app
Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 64 – NewsCorp employees expressed high satisfaction with 98point6
News Corp employees keep coming back – The average number of visits per patient is two
The company experienced an ROI of 132% after adopting 98point6

News Corp employees now benefit from a convenient virtual care service that’s helpful and easy to use, giving them access to reliable and affordable healthcare from anywhere at any time.

For more information about how a low-cost, text-based virtual care solution can transform your healthcare offering for your employees, contact sales@98point6.com.

Leveraging consumer-grade technology
engages 82% of registered Delta employees
in the personal pursuit of wellbeing

Headquarterd in Atlanta, GA Delta Air Lines has an international workforce of over 70,000 employees across more than 200 locations worldwide, the company places a strong focus on their people — culturally emphasizing global diversity, inclusion,
and holistic wellbeing.

They strive to offer benefits that make an impact on all of their employees from call center representatives working at sales offices to flight crews traveling around the world and airport-based tech ops engineers and baggage handlers. Delta’s General Manager of Global Health & Wellbeing, Jae Kullar, describes the evolution of their corporate wellbeing program as increasingly prioritizing consumer-grade technology and virtual access that sends the message, “We care enough about you to provide you with the very best products and experience.”

"We realized really quickly that Grokker could build something that could grow and innovate with us.”

— Jae Kullar, General Manager of Global Health & Wellbeing

Checking the boxes of a holistic wellbeing solution

Kullar discovered Grokker in 2018, recognizing early on that if offered a more comprehensive solution than their existing tool, an “incentives engine” that offered very basic educational wellbeing content and lacked the functionality required to meet the changing, large-scale needs of Delta’s diverse and dispersed, mobile workforce. “We realized quickly that Grokker could grow and innovate with us,” says Kullar, noting the importance of the availability of digital programming in all areas of wellbeing, including ﬁnancial wellbeing. With respect to vetting a new vendor, Kullar was able to get expeditious approval to purchase Grokker outside of the company’s usual budget cycle based on the strength of its global value proposition and existing relationships with enterprise-level clients. “Technically, I could tell Grokker was much more advanced,” she adds attributing much of Grokker’s appeal to its strong technical foundation. “There were single sign-on capabilities to directly integrate Grokker with our internal social media platform, Sky Hub, enabling us to continue expanding engagement into the social realm.” Additionally, the solution quickly survived the process of “passing” supply chain, legal, and IT scrutiny, while easily meeting all GDPR compliance.

Increase Engagement and Mitigate Future Disease Risk

Today’s benefits leaders believe in the power of data. They know that data holds the key to unlocking better decisions, better health, and better spending.

As Acrisure, a high-growth insurance brokerage, continued to push the envelope and focus on current employee health trends, they partnered with Springbuk to extend beyond their legacy solutions to identify care compliance gaps and start preventing disease with data.

Shortly after the Acrisure team began analyzing an employer client’s aggregate data in Springbuk Insights™, they noticed a large compliance gap in mammogram screenings – only 66% of the population had completed this screening.

Diving deeper into Springbuk, the team realized this issue had been a top cost driver for the past five years and had gone unnoticed in their legacy solution.

The team easily pulled this information into a report using the Springbuk Report Builder, which allows any of the data and information cards within Springbuk to be compiled in a custom report with the click of a button. They presented their client with an opportunity to increase engagement within their population, mitigating future disease risk and high costs.

Armed with actionable data, and knowing that breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States, the client decided to bring in a mobile mammogram clinic that would be parked in front of their various offices for two days. Breast cancer is easier to treat when detected in the early stages, and early detection increases the chance of survival.

To track the success of the mobile mammogram clinic, the broker used Springbuk Timeline, a solution that can help assess the impact of changes and populations over time. It allowed them to plot the mammogram clinic event on a timeline and track the number of breast cancer screenings before and after implementation of the mobile clinic program.

This promotional event helped members complete their recommended preventative care and help with early breast cancer detection.

In the following 12-month reporting period (Oct. 2019 - Sept. 2020), breast cancer screening compliance for this population increased to 73%, an overall increase of 10.6%.
The screenings also indicated that one employee had early-stage breast cancer.
- The doctor stated had this benefit not been offered to employees, this employee’s cancer could have gone on undiagnosed and developed into a much more severe stage, requiring more invasive treatment and increasing additional complications.

With access to the right information at the right time, this is the type of disease prevention employers are capable of, demonstrating that you don’t need more data - you need direction.

August 2021

July 2021

Meru Health

MGM Resorts International is a hospitality and entertainment company operating several destination resorts across the country. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, increased travel restrictions and lockdowns were hitting the cornerstone of what MGM employees do, creating significant psychological impact.

MGM’s leadership recognized their employees would need resources to support their overall mental wellbeing as the new uncertainties of the pandemic were increasing levels of anxiety, stress, depression, and burnout.

Challenge:

As an industry-leading employer, MGM wanted to provide the best mental health solution for their population; yet, trying to identify the best solution was challenging.

One of the biggest challenges presented was supply and demand. There are simply not enough therapists for the current demand for behavioral health services. On top of that, people are often misdiagnosed, over-prescribed drugs, and experience overall poor results that can lead to higher costs long-term.

MGM experienced a sense of urgency and needed to make sure their employees

were taken care of — and with a lot of options on the market, it's easy for businesses to feel confused and overwhelmed.

MGM’s mental wellbeing solution had to be quickly/easily implemented, show proven ROI/cost-savings, and provide short-term relief with long-lasting results for their entire population.

Solution

After extensive research, MGM Resorts partnered with Meru Health to provide employees with the best solution for their mental wellbeing. Different from other companies, Meru Health focuses on teaching people the skills needed to create long-lasting healthy lifestyle habits — all with the daily support of a personal therapist and peer group.

Meru Health’s 12-week program has a set start and end date with proven long-term results (12+ months post-program), creating clear cost-benefit expectations for MGM.

MGM specifically liked that this discreet, user-friendly solution went beyond CBT and incorporated multi-modalities like sleep hygiene, nutritional psychiatry, and biofeedback training.

One of the deciding factors for MGM choosing Meru Health was the HRV biofeedback device included in the program that tracks and improves a person’s physical response to stress so they can feel calmer, faster.

Meru Health made access to care simple for MGM’s benefits managers and MGM’s EAP, Harmony Healthcare, through simplified contracting and seamless integration into their existing benefits landscape.

Outcome

A big concern employers often ask themselves is, “will my employees actually use this or find it helpful?”

Fortunately for MGM, they didn’t need to worry about that with Meru Health. On average, each program completer spent over 20 hours of engagement during the 12-week program.

Not only did MGM's population experience high engagement rates, but they also experienced significant improvement in their overall mental wellbeing. Participants, on average, experienced a 52.9% decrease in symptoms, with 58% of those treated to remission and are no longer experiencing symptoms.

The best part is participants will continue to improve after the program ends because of the continued access to the digital content and biofeedback training, at no added costs, allowing them to self-serve their future needs.

Consumer Medical

Cerner was struggling to control medical costs while also supporting employees with complex medical conditions. Introducing a decision support program—with a shared responsibility requirement—delivered more than $9M in savings and nearly 20% engagement, while maintaining high satisfaction rates.

ConsumerMedical and Cerner Partner to Reduce Inappropriate Surgeries--Saving $9.4M While Maintaining High Employee Satisfaction

To help reduce spend on high-variation, high-cost conditions, improve health literacy and support their employees, Cerner worked with ConsumerMedical to implement a multi-channel program focused on surgery and treatment decision support as well as expert second opinions. The Surgery Decision Support® (SDS) program provides evidence-based information and personalized support for a participant’s diagnosis and corresponding treatment options. The SDS program includes a participation requirement, which supports Cerner’s goal of shared responsibility. If participants elect to proceed with surgery, ConsumerMedical guides them to specialists and Centers of Excellence (COEs) with recognized quality outcomes.

What is Shared Responsibility?

When an employee is asked to share responsibility with the plan sponsor, they are offered evidence-based information and personalized guidance tailored to their unique circumstances for the following semi-elective surgeries: hip or knee replacement, lower back surgery, weight loss surgery, and hysterectomy. If participation in the SDS program is declined, employees are charged $1,000 when their claim is processed. Many employers are initially concerned with the potential impact upon employee satisfaction. However, Cerner’s experience (and the experiences of many other ConsumerMedical clients) proves satisfaction levels typically remain high!

Case in point: at the beginning of the program, Cerner offered a $500 SDS incentive to employees considering hip and knee replacements, lower back and weight loss surgery, and hysterectomy—all high-variation, high-cost procedures. In 2019, Cerner introduced a $1,000 requirement (i.e. penalty) which used predictive modeling to support employee outreach. This pivot in incentive strategy and program design resulted in a 315% increase in engagement with no discernable drop in employee satisfaction.

More Program Results

$16: $1 return on investment
$9.4M savings
17% engagement
97% associate satisfaction

“If I hadn’t gotten the second opinion per your recommendations, I would have likely gone forward with a surgery I would not have needed.”

- Cerner employee participant

Key Takeaways

Comprehensive, high-touch medical and surgery decision support programs offering less invasive alternatives can help steer members to Centers of Excellence (COEs), improve health literacy, and boost savings.
The risk of incurring a penalty can dramatically increase program utilization while not negatively impacting employee satisfaction.
Switching to more appropriate, less invasive treatment options—even if volumes are low—can produce a significant return on investment.
Extending your clinical network through Centers of Excellence improves clinical quality and reduces costs.

About Cerner

A publicly traded global Healthcare Information Technology (HCIT) solution company

Total Employees: 29,000 worldwide; 18,600 U.S.

Demographics: average age, 35; 60% male; 40% female; mostly white-collar

To learn more about ConsumerMedical or the shared responsibility program implemented by Cerner, email: info@consumermedical.com

Modern Health

Therapy-first mental health solutions are well intended but are they set up for failure? In collaboration with researchers from the School of Public Health at Rutgers University, Modern Health asked 3,661 members from multiple countries their preferred modality of mental health care and found just 44% of members wanted to start with one-on-one care from a provider.

Mental Health is Not One Size Fits All

The mental health care field assumes that individuals with mental health care needs should be directed to one-on-one therapy with a master’s or doctoral level provider as the automatic and best course of care. This long-standing model is problematic for many reasons, among them:

There are not enough therapists to serve the worldwide need
Many people are priced out of individual therapy, and
Therapy may not be the best clinical approach for an individual's given set of symptoms.

Modern Health has been charting an alternative path since its inception, instead using an evidence-based model called "stepped care" wherein individuals are paired with the best modality of care, therapy or otherwise, based on their unique clinical needs.

The therapy-first model fails patients in another regard: Not only does it assume that all patients need one-on-one care with a licensed therapist, it assumes everyone wants that type of care.

Modern Health aims to connect members to the type of care that will achieve the best outcomes for their needs, knowing that personal preference will play a role in the success of the care. To confidently match Modern Health members with the right type of care based on both clinical need and personal preference, we need to assess what members’ personal preferences are.

In collaboration with researchers from the School of Public Health at Rutgers University, we asked 3,661 members from multiple countries who onboarded with Modern Health between February and April 2021 about their preferred modality of mental health care. We offered four choices:

Fewer than half of respondents (44%) selected one-on-one as their preferred mode of care

Nearly 25% chose self-guided care
8% wanted to listen and learn
24% chose "I'm not sure"

Preferences were associated with demographic factors including age and gender

49% of young adults (18-24) preferred one-on-one care compared to only 28% of older adults (45+)
Older adults were almost 3x more likely than young adults to select “listen & learn” care Men were almost 1.5x more likely to select self-guided care than women

People with clinical needs were able to successfully self-select

Individuals who screened positive for depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms preferred one-on-one care more often than those who screened negative. This aligns with the modality that Modern Health would most likely suggest for their care.

Conclusion:

In order to meet the needs of a diverse employee population, a mental health benefits solution must offer multiple care modalities with a care matching program that has been demonstrated to be effective in achieving clinical outcomes. Modern Health’s care matching philosophy is designed to do just that, by pairing members with the modalities that will achieve the best possible clinical and personal outcomes for their mental health.

Newtopia

Learn how a large financial institution selected Newtopia and its tech-enabled solution that leverages genetic, social, and behavioral insights to improve health to prevent, reverse, and slow the progression of chronic disease.

A large financial institution with a strong mission to empower their employees to take ownership of their health through positive lifestyle choices introduced Newtopia in two markets for employees with elevated health risks and incorporated an innovative incentive program. For participation in Newtopia each month, participants were rewarded with contributions to their Medical Reimbursement Account. The experience was designed to increase engagement, participant satisfaction and reduce population health risks by preventing, reversing, and slowing the progression of chronic disease.

The program launched January 2020, just two months prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newtopia designed personalized participant experiences tailored to their health risks, genetics, medical history, motivation, social determinants of health, personal preferences, and goals. Virtual one-on-one habit change coaching by a personality matched Inspirator provided accountability and a caring listener during the pandemic. Participants connected with their Inspirator using video chat, phone calls, text, or emails. They were also supported by connected devices and interactive apps that help keep track of goals and achievements while giving access to a library of pre-recorded videos and educational tools.

Newtopia’s approach combines social, behavioral, and genetic information to activate habit changes that last a lifetime. The Newtopia experience includes the following elements:

Personal Profile to gather information about individual’s personality type, level of motivation, eating habits, activity level, and social determinants of health
Welcome Kit which includes a smart scale, activity tracker, access to the Newtopia app, a genetic test, and other program tools
Genetic testing for behavioral recommendations around overeating, macronutrient break down, type of exercises, and resiliency to stress based on the participant’s genes
Inspirator and participant pairing through a proprietary personality matching algorithm
Personalized experience to intervene in participants daily choices around nutrition, exercise, and behavioral well-being to improve habits
Newtopia app for all program progress updates and resources to support the participant journey with gamification, video lessons, goals, trend tracking, and more
Personalized weekly goals to develop sustainable habit changes
Supportive online social community
Ongoing white glove, concierge service to optimize the participant experience

Results

Newtopia demonstrated the power of habit change coupled with strategic incentive design on engagement and outcomes. Of the eligible population, 71% enrolled in the pilot, which is significantly higher to Newtopia book of business. This is largely attributed to the strategic incentive program. 84% of the population was engaged during 2020. Of the engaged participants, 94% had a one-on-one coaching session in a given month. For those who remained continuously engaged over the 12-month period, they experienced a 4% average weight loss, and 21% shifted to a lower BMI class (e.g., obese to overweight). This success occurred at a time when 42% of Americans gained 29 pounds.

In addition to losing weight and improving health during the pandemic, participants in the pilot felt supported by Newtopia Inspirators. Survey results show that participants believe that Newtopia helped them cope with the stress and challenges related to the pandemic.

Learn about Newtopia’s unique and effective approach to prevent, reverse, and slow the progression of chronic disease while enriching mental health, resilience, and overall human performance.

Regenexx

Our newest RCT on treating shoulder rotator cuff tears shows a mean 89% improvement at 24 months. We also have expanded our utilization management to focus on surgery avoidance and high value services for clients.

We have had a lot of traction of the past year. Lots of new members with coverage, and a significant amount of traction with brokers brining Regenexx to their accounts. We now have more than 30 large brokers who decided to cover Regenexx on their own health plan and are brining us to their clients.

Mike Hylant, CEO of Hylant, had a Regenexx procedure after a complication from a hip replacement, then he added coverage to his self-funded plan, and now his team is bringing the solution to their self-funded accounts.

“My hip surgery left me with a dropped foot related to nerve damage. [Since Regenexx] I am 85-90% better. I am not sure why anyone who is eligible would not try this first.”

This past year we have also taken steps to expand our utilization management program. We are concerned about adding value for our self-funded clients, so we have expanded to do pre-service reviews on all patients considering Regenexx procedures. We have added a standard pre-service review that determines if the patient would be approved for surgery under your health plan right now, and we have built a database looking at the net value of our procedures compared to the surgery avoided.

We also recently published a randomized controlled trial on our treatment for rotator cuff tears. Patients reported a mean 89% improvement at 24 months with sustained functional gains and pain reduction. A review of MRI showed a size decrease in most tears post-BMC treatment.

June 2021

Big Health

As employee demand for mental health services rises, how do employers know which interventions will help employees feel better and deliver a cost-effective? A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins, UCSF, and Big Health demonstrates that digital CBT — as represented by Sleepio — is the most cost effective option for addressing poor sleep, when compared to other leading choices.

New study finds digital CBT the most cost effective option for poor sleep, when compared to other leading choices.

Measuring the value of mental health benefits has long been a vexing calculus for employers. As employee demand rises, it presents the question: How do we know if it’s worth it? An important study by Forrester Research illuminates that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health difficulties were the cause of 200 million workdays lost annually by U.S. employers. Perhaps even more alarmingly, employers’ healthcare spend was 300% higher for individuals who did not have access to or engage with a mental health service compared to those who did.

The research corroborates what employers have experienced: in the end, it costs significantly more not to invest in mental health benefits. But, as employers look to the future, what mental health investments will help employees feel better and deliver a cost benefit?

Reaching more employees with technology

Innovation has transformed mental health care; it was inconceivable a decade ago that technology could provide therapeutic value to people suffering from mental health difficulties. How could something that employees engage with on a device, on their own time, have clinical value? But that’s exactly where great innovation in mental health care has surfaced.

Big Health’s digital solution Sleepio has been a breakthrough approach for millions of people suffering from poor sleep. Because it is portable, highly personalized, available 24/7, and low cost, it demonstrates how technology, and changes in consumption, can finally begin to combat the mental health crisis.

Study finds dCBT the most cost effective option for poor sleep

A new study authored by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and Big Health, finds that digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (dCBT) — when compared to other care options such as sleep medication, group and individual CBT — is the most cost-effective intervention for helping people overcome poor sleep.

Published in the journal SLEEP, the study examined the cost effectiveness of dCBT over a six month period using a Markov model simulation of 100,000 individuals and measured the direct and indirect costs of insomnia, including health care expenditures, workplace accidents, and workplace productivity.

Sleepio had a positive net monetary benefit after 6 months

The results showed that, when compared to no insomnia treatment, dCBT — as represented by Big Health’s Sleepio — was the most cost-effective care option followed by group CBT, sleep medication, and then individual CBT. Sleepio had a positive net monetary benefit of $681.06 per individual over a six month period. A positive result means that the total cost benefits associated with Sleepio were greater than its direct cost.

Beyond cost, “digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help overcome significant barriers to insomnia treatment for millions of people, including limited access to clinicians in rural areas, the lack of trained clinicians and, for others, the lack of awareness of their treatment options,” said Dr. Andrew Krystal, Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Read about the study in more detail here.

About Big Health

Big Health’s purpose is to help millions back to good mental health, with digital therapeutics — fully automated yet highly personalized behavioral programs for mental health. Big Health’s products are Sleepio™ for helping individuals address poor sleep; and Daylight™ for helping individuals address worry and anxiety. Designed by leading clinical and creative experts, Big Health’s solutions combine the intimacy of the human voice, engaging animation, and evidence-based cognitive and behavioral techniques to help people overcome their mental health challenges. Sleepio and Daylight are backed by world-leading clinical evidence with more than 56 papers including 13 randomized controlled trials. With offices in London and San Francisco, Big Health’s products are used by large multinational employers and major health plans to help improve sleep and mental health, covering millions of lives.

Contact: workpalce@bighealth.com

Disclaimer: In the US, Sleepio has not been cleared by the FDA for use in diagnosis or treatment of a disease or condition, such as Insomnia Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder or Major Depression Disorder.

Users are directed to not make any changes to their prescribed medication or other type of medical treatment without seeking professional medical advice.

Coriell Life Sciences

In 2017, the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) of the State of Kentucky, in conjunction with Coriell Life Sciences and the Know Your Rx Coalition, launched a Medication Safety Program for 36,000 of its retirees to voluntarily participate to see how they would likely respond to several hundred different medications. Results at 18 months have yielded an average savings per enrolled member of $5,176 (based on the charged amount). Further, non-enrolled member costs grew 12% faster than those in the Program.

This state-run pension program initially covered approximately 33,000 retired teachers (now 37,000), ranging in age from 62 to 107 (now 109). At 65, their members take an average of 15 prescription medications per year—in addition to over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and supplements. That’s a lot of copays and a lot of potential for side effects, adverse drug reactions, drug-drug interactions, and drug-gene interactions.

This group retirement plan was looking for an innovative solution to simultaneously lower healthcare costs while improving the health and satisfaction of members. In April 2017, they turned to Coriell Life Sciences.

As part of our turnkey, DNA-based Medication Safety Program, we began with a population risk assessment. Using the group’s claims data and our Comprehensive Health Insight Portal (CHIP), we found that almost 84% of members were on at least one drug known to be affected by genetics. Immediately, the group learned that 23,000 of their 33,000 members might need to stop or change at least one medication. We were able to give the plan administrators a sense of how much they could save by leveraging pharmacogenomics and which cohort of members would be most likely to benefit from PGx testing.

We reached out to these high-risk members first, inviting them to be tested as part of a free service offered by the retirement plan. CLS is handling everything, including invitations and enrollment. Members who agree to participate are sent a saliva collection kit that they then ship to one of our network of laboratories for DNA analysis.

For each member, we run the DNA analysis through our own interpretative algorithms to generate a detailed and personalized medicine report. This report includes pharmacogenomic alerts as well as known drug-drug interactions, lifestyle factors, age-related toxicity risks, FDA black box warnings, and medication risks associated with cognitive impairment. The interactive report is then subjected to pharmacist review to develop a recommended Medication Action Plan (MAP) shared with the member and their primary care physician.

Throughout the Program, a dashboard allows the plan administrators to monitor overall member enrollment and progress through the system. The administrators receive general financial and plan statistics, while members’ individual health privacy is maintained.

Outcomes

Results at 18 months have yielded an average savings per enrolled member of $5,176 (based on the charged amount). Further, non-enrolled member costs grew 12% faster than those in the Program.

Ginger

For employees to provide exceptional customer service, Delta is committed to providing wellbeing resources for its 75,000 employees around the globe.

The Situation: How Ginger Meets Delta’s Needs

At Delta, it is essential that every employee has access to mental health support whenever and wherever they need it—whether they are a flight attendant, anxious and far from home, at the end of their shift at 2 a.m., a ground maintenance worker after working extra hours, or a customer service agent who has just managed hundreds of calls from concerned customers. For Delta, it was clear Ginger could provide these employees with immediate access to mental healthcare 24/7, with most Ginger users connecting to a healthcare provider within two minutes.

Ginger can engage more employees by addressing the broad spectrum of mental health needs. It is especially important to Delta to shift to a preventive approach while ensuring support for those with more acute needs. Under Ginger’s collaborative care model, a team of behavioral health specialists (coaches, therapists, and psychiatrists) work together to ensure Ginger members have access to the right level of care at the right time.

Finally, Ginger can seamlessly integrate with Delta’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) partner to create an enhanced mental health offering. Employees who need therapy could do so through Ginger at no cost by using their free EAP sessions. Employees who choose in-person EAP resources could continue their care virtually with Ginger after completing their EAP sessions.

The Results: How Ginger Has Helped Delta People

Care in the moment it’s needed

Since Ginger’s launch, thousands of Delta employees have received immediate, personalized mental healthcare from the Ginger care team. On average, Delta employees have been able to connect to care at Ginger within 48 seconds.

During COVID-19, there has been an overwhelming demand for Ginger. Engagement is nearly double pre-pandemic levels. As pandemic restrictions ease, Delta employees are faced with yet a new set of challenges. From increased levels of stress from keeping up with all the changes caused by the pandemic, including additional steps added to the cleaning and sanitization process and an increase in phone calls to our customer service agents to heightened anxiety about returning to the office, employees continue to turn to Ginger for support during these challenging times.

Elevated mental health strategy

Ginger’s measurement-based approach to care has enabled Delta to advance their mental health strategy. Equipped with real-time insight into the top challenges their employees are navigating and how it impacts their lives, Delta has been able to take a more tailored approach to mental health education and awareness campaigns with Ginger’s partnership. Together, Delta and Ginger have invested in a comprehensive year-round communications strategy, uniquely tailored to Delta’s diverse workforce, to destigmatize and make mental healthcare preventive. Sign-ups continue to triple quarter over quarter - an unprecedented rate for any employee benefit.

“Having the support I need in an easy-to-access format has been a game-changer. It's been a rough year, and it's been a relief to talk about some of my life challenges.” - Delta Employee

Grand Rounds

Growing with Grand Rounds Health from Expert Medical Opinions to Navigation

This case study focuses on how Salesforce raised the standard of care to successfully support employees and elevate the member experience. Salesforce first implemented Expert Medical Opinions in 2017, then expanded its Grand Rounds offerings to include Enhanced Navigation tools for its 70,000 members.

See why Salesforce’s expanded partnership with Grand Rounds resulted in:

A 20 percentage point increase in physician quality among members
An 82% member satisfaction rating
A 2:1 return on investment

Download the case study here.

Rx Savings Solutions

Two years after implementing Rx Savings Solutions, this Global 500 employer couldn’t wait to get more of a good thing and renewed early.

Engagement, ROI and Trust Turn into Early Extension

For this U.S.-based Global 500 medical devices and health technologies provider, ROI wasn’t its initial goal with Rx Savings Solutions. Helping its 74,000 employees and dependents reduce pharmacy costs was simply the right thing to do. However, following a careful, phased rollout, the partnership has evolved to deliver ongoing value year over year.

Background

The client boasts a long history of taking care of employees, ranking annually in the lists of best workplaces in healthcare. It chose to implement Rx Savings Solutions primarily to give employees a cost-saving tool that would help them identify ways to save on out-of-pocket prescription expenses.

Challenges

True to its employee-centric culture, the client is sensitive to the volume of communication employees receive, and the email “noise” or privacy concerns it might raise. Due to these dynamics, Rx Savings Solutions initially deployed only limited components of its traditional member engagement plan.

FROM ROLLOUT TO RENEWAL

Impact Follows a Soft Launch

The client opened with a soft launch on Jan. 1, 2018, with no direct communication to members in line with their “hands-off” approach. Little traction was gained initially, so a postcard was sent to primary member households in March. The client saw a 110x increase in registrations after the postcard mailer.

Engagement Climbs

Integration with the client’s benefits platform helped establish trust in the program and build incremental engagement. But when the client was ready for Rx Savings Solutions to send out the first educational email in September, the client saw an 11x increase in registration.

Generating Momentum

While still only deploying occasional engagement-building tactics, the client saw steady growth in participation, behavior change and plan/ member savings in Year 2. In June 2019, the client agreed to another direct-mail send—this time to approximately 6,600 unregistered members who had a savings opportunity. Monthly savings doubled by fall 2019.

Earning Trust

Over time, multiple factors strengthened the client relationship and trust in the partnership:

Positive NPS and member feedback
Executive involvement and responsiveness
Effectiveness of engagement tactics and their correlation to savings

Savings Surge

In September 2019, the client gave the green light for email and direct-mail Savings Notifications to be sent to every member with a savings opportunity. Savings spikes soon followed, increasing the monthly average by 76%.

Over the next 8 months, monthly savings for members and the plan continued their steady upward climb, helping the client achieve a lifetime 1:1 ROI in 19 months. Months before, run rate ROI surpassed 1:1, and currently exceeds 3:1.

Though hard ROI wasn’t a priority initially, it became a significant factor in the Global 500 company’s decision to request a 3-year extension a full year prior to renewal.

“Rx Savings is no longer the new kid on the block,” says their Benefits Manager. “I've seen a lot of growth. It's great to see organically, rather than me pushing it. I think my account team is open to hearing what I need, and that's being a great partner.”

June 2021

July 2021

May 2021

2ndMD

Does Engagement Still Matter?

Learn Ways 2nd.MD Helped to Increase Employee Engagement with Communications

We’ve heard it a million times. Employee engagement is the key to success for any benefits program. But if ratcheting up employee engagement was as easy as turning a wrench, everyone would have sky-high participation in all their programs. Just think of all the things human resources professionals could do if employees were engaged in their health and actively using all the point solutions designed to help them stay healthy instead of continually asking them questions about where to get help.

Just as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to providing benefits to help employees make better health choices, there is no magic tool that can guarantee engagement. That’s why HR professionals have had to become communications experts. They now find themselves worrying about email subject lines, newsletter graphics, and trying to make sure the benefits portal has enough pizazz to grab employees’ attention.

Why? Because it’s worth it. At 2nd.MD, we’ve seen with our clients how communication leads to engagement. Clients who participate in engagement campaigns have a 45 percent increase in account activations compared to those that don’t. Those employers also see a 24 percent boost in the number of employees who complete a consult with one of our expert physician specialists at a time when they are experiencing a health crisis such as a new diagnosis or considering surgery.

Savings also increase. After implementing an engagement campaign, clients see savings increase 141 percent, from about $3,400 to more than $7,500 for each case.

It makes a strong statement for communications. That’s why at 2nd.MD, we work with our clients to map out a communications strategy and plan for the entire year. This includes quarterly campaigns, new employee communications, webinars, and more.

This way, everyone with access to the service receives reminders about how to initiate an expert medical opinion multiple times throughout the year. When the time comes that a second opinion could be helpful, these communications are the thing that come to mind and prompt a member to recall the benefit they have access to through their employer.

Until employee engagement is as easy as turning a wrench, we know that reminding them about it is the best tool we have to get people to use the service. Once a member uses the service, they become our best advocate, referring others. At 2nd.MD, 70 percent of consults come to us that way.

To help others we’ve put together a list of some of our best practices for engaging employees with multi-channel and automated communications. Get more information in How to Increase Employee Engagement with Communications. (ttps://front.2nd.md/employee-engagement/)

Carrum

RAND Study Validates Carrum Health’s Dramatic Impact on Surgical Spend

A new study conducted by RAND Corp., validated the financial savings of Carrum Health’s Centers of Excellence platform for both employers and patients, proving its value.

The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging and published in Health Affairs, examined the experiences of eight organizations with employee populations between 1,000 and 100,000. After evaluating 2,372 surgeries focusing on total joint replacements, spinal fusions and bariatric weight loss surgery, RAND’s findings revealed that Carrum Health’s program saves companies more than 45% per surgical procedure–an average of $16,144 per surgery.

Also, patients saw significant savings in their outlay. Before implementing Carrum, patients paid anywhere from $998 to $2,387 in out-of-pocket and co-pays. With Carrum, the patient costs were zero.

“Our analysis of Carrum Health’s market-leading COE platform shows that both employers and patients can see immediate and significant savings on completed surgeries, while getting high-quality care from the top hospitals around the country,” stated Christopher M. Whaley, Ph.D., RAND Corporation healthcare policy researcher and author of the study.

RAND Corp.’s results clearly proves that Carrum Health’s program offers financial benefits for both employers and patients, while providing high-quality care. As employers seek to contain healthcare spending without shifting any burden to employees, Carrum Health’s program reimagines how care is paid for and delivered.

To learn more about Carrum Health, visit carrumhealth.com or request a complimentary savings analysis today.

Sibly

Sentiment analysis reveals effectiveness of mental health coaching app

Sibly, a digital mental health company, uses machine learning and sentiment analysis to show how its empathy-centered coaching improves employee wellbeing.

The situation: Unmet mental health needs at major employer

Before the pandemic highlighted the need for quality workplace mental health solutions, HR innovators at a Fortune 50 telecom company were dissatisfied with the available mental wellbeing offerings and benefit utilization across its workforce.

Existing programs focused on mental illness, with little support for mental health. Benefits were underutilized, despite promotion and navigation services. Access was an issue, with most employees unable to overcome barriers for help, such as therapist unavailability and scheduling challenges. Services were not well-integrated.

In short, the market’s best solutions did not meet their needs.

The solution: Introducing empathy at scale

Through a co-creation partnership, the client introduced Sibly’s 24x7 empathy-driven coaching service to fill these unmet needs. Trained human coaches respond on demand through a secure text messaging app to help employees manage stress, cope with emotions, reach goals, promote wellness and more. Coaches guide employees to act on their health and engage in benefits, getting them to the right resource at the right time.

Nearly two years later, Sibly has exchanged more than 88,000 messages with the target group and made 638 benefit referrals in more than 5,100 health coaching sessions. Employee feedback is high. Yet, proving ROI for wellness benefits remains notoriously elusive.

The challenge: Measuring human interaction

Sibly set out to evaluate the effectiveness of complex human-to-human interactions in a way that is reportable, scalable, repeatable, and scientifically rigorous.

To do that, the research team leveraged sophisticated data science and machine learning (ML) strategies with anonymized data to conduct rigorous quality assurance and surface powerful workforce insights to employers. Using supervised and unsupervised models, Sibly analyzed all conversations between Sibly coaches and the client’s employees, anonymously and without bias, to track changes in attitudes and emotions (sentiment).

Results: Improved mental wellness

The results demonstrated Sibly’s positive impact on mental wellness across multiple dimensions. Notably, 57% of members show a consistent rise in positive sentiment throughout their relationship with Sibly, regardless of the issue or situation they faced.

Other findings:

Employees bring multiple, weighty concerns to Sibly -- While 13% of employees came to Sibly with just one problem, more than 65% brought three or more complex, interrelated issues.
Sibly’s coaching outcomes track other proven interventions -- Sentiment increased across 60% of all coaching sessions, a comparable rate of improvement to cognitive behavior therapy, for example, which meta-analysis found effective 55% of the time.
Coaching helps members make change -- Employees who set personal goals with Sibly coaches were 40% more likely to reach them.
Texting yields unique advantages -- Because texting preserves records of all coaching interactions, researchers were able to mine the experience of all participants, rather than relying narrowly on sample subsets willing to engage in assessment protocols.
Sibly’s approach to coaching drives participant engagement -- The conversation techniques used by Sibly’s trained coaches encouraged back-and-forth dialogue that drove behavior change and positive sentiment.
The 24x7 model works -- Although 80% of Sibly conversations take place with a single coach, hand-offs occur to ensure around-the-clock staffing. These transitions had no impact on member sentiment.

Summary: Coaching in a new light

Sibly’s members value and benefit from the support and guidance they receive from a personal coaching service that is empathetic, based in science, private, secure and “always on.” Learn more at sibly.com.

May 2021

April 2021

Bind

Bind and Medtronic are partnering together to provide an innovative employee health benefit option.

This month’s innovator case study features Bind and its partnership with EHIR cohort 2 member, Medtronic. Introduced in 2016 by veteran health insurance innovators, the Bind plan is health insurance designed—finally—like the other useful services of our modern daily lives.

Medtronic rolled out Bind in 2019 as an option for eligible employees across three states, and the relationship has continued to grow ever since.

“[A] key to our success was finding a collaborative health plan partner and a unique plan design that enabled us to achieve what wasn’t possible before—more opportunities to improve and maintain the health of our employees and their families.”

Denise King, VP of Global Benefits and Total Rewards Operations

For more information on Medtronic’s success with Bind, view the full case study here.

Cleo

Cleo has expanded the breadth of our clinical interventions to support working families, including the launch of our Perinatal Mental Health Program which addresses perinatal mood and anxiety disorders among expecting and new parents. Cleo has seen high engagement with the mental health pulse check and ensuing support with 50% of members who are identified with a mental health need reporting improvement within 6 weeks.

Since its founding in 2016, Cleo has defined what it means for employers to bring the concept of health and wellness to one of their most vulnerable employee populations—working parents. The COVID-19 pandemic lifted the veil on the crisis working parents have faced for years—limited mental health support, challenges balancing work and parenting responsibilities, increasing health complications associated with pregnancy, and growing cases of pediatric health challenges.

2020 intensified demand for Cleo’s support and led us to expand our offerings, including the launch of Cleo’s Perinatal Mental Health Program. Up to 25% of new mothers and 10% of fathers experience anxiety or depression during pregnancy or the postpartum period. The pandemic has only increased the prevalence of anxiety disorders during pregnancy.

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) can have major adverse effects on parents, children, and families’ mental, physical, and emotional health. Unfortunately, many families don’t get the support they need—either to diagnose symptoms or get treatment. 50% of mothers with anxiety or depression symptoms don’t seek mental health support. The cost of not treating mothers with mental health disorders is high—experts estimate the societal cost for untreated PMADs is about $6,400 per year for each mother and child pair based on healthcare spending, productivity loss, absenteeism from work, and departures from the workforce.

Cleo’s Perinatal Mental Health Program identifies risks and addresses mental health disorders among enrolled Cleo members. Cleo members are notified to complete a short mental health screening questionnaire in the Cleo app at several points during pregnancy and in the postpartum period—particularly high risk times for expecting and new parents.

Cleo Guides, health and wellness experts that provide personalized 1-on-1 support for all Cleo members, are alerted by any scores that indicate a potential risk and reach out to members to schedule an emotional wellness check-in call. For members with an identified mental health need, Guides either connect them to a mental health specialist from Cleo’s network of experts or help find a mental health specialist covered by their insurance. For members whose employer offers a mental health benefit, Cleo connects members with their existing mental health offering.

Cleo’s mental health Pulse Checks are helping us identify members who are in need of support sooner.

More than ⅓ of pregnant or postpartum Cleo members completed the screening questionnaire
~40% had an identified mental health risk
100% of members at risk received follow up from their Cleo Guide and were offered an emotional wellness call
60% of those at risk participated in an emotional wellness call and were navigated to additional resources and specialists for ongoing care
>50% of the Cleo members that were connected to additional mental health support reported an improvement in their status within six weeks

Cleo’s Perinatal Mental Health Program is one example of how we are expanding support for personalized interventions around key health and wellness outcomes for Cleo members. We are excited about how these programs will drive additional value and outcomes for Cleo members and our employer clients.

Ovia Health

The Employer Parental Mental Health Toolkit

Since the pandemic began, nearly 4 million women have left the workforce, and 32% reported childcare as the main reason for their decision to leave.

New moms and parents are particularly feeling the struggle to juggle work, remote learning, family responsibilities, and even simple things like showering. To help employers provide support for working parents, we created the Parental Mental Health Toolkit. It provides resources for your employees to help them through the last stretch of the pandemic. Download and share the toolkit with your workforce today.

Virta Health

Virta Health + Concordia partner on the future of diabetes care. Diabetes was a top cost-driver for Concordia due to costly prescription drugs. Virta is now on track to deliver over $1.5M in annual Rx savings.

+ $9,056k projected 2-year Rx savings per patient

+ 73% 2-year Rx savings

+ 62% patients who have reversed their type 2 diabetes in 6 months

+ 82% patients off 1 or more diabetic medications at 2 years

Welltok

With COVID, we're hearing it's harder than ever to connect with employees, yet it is more important than ever. Welltok is doing all the work for many of your peers to drive increased employee wellbeing and program effectiveness, for organizations of all sizes, with diverse employee populations.

We start by streamlining access to all types of wellbeing resources in one, east-to-use web and mobile platform. Then we drive engagement with them by optimizing outreach using predictive analytics to accurately target the right programs to the right individuals using a fully integrated multi-channel approach.

Like many employers, Spectrum Brands had an existing wellbeing program in place. But “good enough” wasn’t going to cut it for this employer that wanted to increase engagement across its entire population, not just those already invested in health. Here are 3 ways Spectrum Brands improved its wellbeing program with Welltok, which they call an “extension of their team.”

March 2021

Carrot Fertility

This month’s Innovator case study features Carrot Fertility and its partnership with global technology company Box. Carrot is the leading global fertility benefits provider for employers, built to support employees through their entire fertility healthcare journey. Box and Carrot have worked together since 2018.

As a global technology company with worldwide connectivity at the core of their product, two things were at the center of their search: inclusivity and global coverage. An estimated 1 in 8 couples are affected by infertility globally, and, as a company with family-friendliness as one of their core pillars, they decided it was time to address that need. It was critical to them that their fertility partner offer a solution that addressed everything from education and Care Navigation to adoption and fertility preservation for all of their employees, no matter where they were located. After vetting multiple vendors, they decided that Carrot “was the complete package.”

“A lot of companies say they are 'global,' but they can’t deliver on it,” said Global Benefits Director MaryBeth Kramer, “With Carrot, it’s been easy to take our benefit global. Ultimately, it was a business decision, and Carrot was the complete package.”

A key part of the business decision to bring Carrot on board was cost. “We looked...not just at the amount fertility benefits would cost on the surface — we looked at what we are spending in our health plan, how many people attempted to use fertility benefits through that compared to how many came and talked to us, and cost savings that could result from fertility benefits,” Kramer explained. In a recent NewsPicks story, she shared that 1 in 8 Boxers have used Carrot in some way and, by using Carrot, Box was able to reduce medical expenses by $435,000 last year alone.

For more on how Carrot and Box partnered to deliver life-changing results, click here.

Progyny

With Progyny, Cerner implemented a comprehensive fertility and family building benefit that improved the member experience and reduced costs – helping over 100 people grow their family.

This month’s Innovator case study features Cerner, a global health care information technology company, and their partner Progyny, a leading fertility benefits company covering 2.7M lives. With Progyny, Cerner implemented a comprehensive fertility and family building benefit that improved the member experience and reduced costs – helping over 100 people grow their family. Cerner members achieve superior outcomes far above the national average, increasing the rate of pregnancy, with higher live birth rates, and a lower incidence of multiples.

March 2021

April 2021

February 2021

Vivante Health

Finding 3:1 ROI with Digital Digestive Health Program

Did you know digestive disease is 2x as prevalent as diabetes?

When left unchecked, digestive issues can progress into even more costly and consequential conditions, severely degrading employees’ quality of life. While it is proven that GI troubles cause significant ER visits, inpatient visits, and prescription of high cost biologics when left unchecked, there hasn’t been a clinically validated solution - until now.

Learn how Vivante Health helped improve the lives of members for an employer with 30,000+ employees in this case study, which compares the first year of using GIThrive against matched nonmembers in the prior year.

In this case study, learn how GIThrive drove:

$840 in annualized savings per member
Reduced spend by 15%; resulting in a 3.02x in just year 1
A 79 NPS for the GIThrive Care Team

Download the case study

February 2021

December 2020

Grand Rounds

The Home Depot Case Study: Creating a Central Destination for Top Quality Care and Support

Navigating the healthcare system is difficult. For many organizations, finding top-quality care and support for members is and will continue to be a high priority, but it can be a very large hurdle.

We look at this in our recent case study, Creating a Central Destination for Top Quality Care and Support. In the case study, Lesley Leiserson, Senior Director of Benefits, shares how The Home Depot is taking a comprehensive approach to improving the quality of care and care experience for its 400,000 associates who bring “More Saving. More Doing.” across the retailer’s 2,200+ U.S. stores.

In this case study, learn how The Home Depot was able to:

Achieve an 88% member satisfaction rating
Scale access to high-quality care by utilizing a healthcare navigation solution
Gain an ROI of 1.9x from reduced costs by seeing high-quality providers

Download the case study

Naturally Slim

This month’s Innovator case study features Naturally Slim (NS) and its partnership with EHIR Cohort 2 Member, Medtronic. NS is a digital behavioral change program, focused on weight management, that helps employees improve their physical and mental wellbeing through simple, interactive and clinically-proven skills and practical tools. NS and Medtronic connected through EHIR back in the fall of 2018 and since then, have helped thousands of Medtronic employees measurably improve both their physical and emotional health, and overall quality of life.

“Our match with NS has proven to be successful, with more than 7,500 enrolled participants over the last two years,” said Denise King, Medtronic’s Global Vice President for Benefits & Total Reward Operations. “Enrollment and engagement in the program have exceeded our expectations and we continue to receive positive feedback and testimonials from our employees. Thanks EHIR and Naturally Slim!”

In the first 18 months of the partnership, 4,700 Medtronic participants combined to lose 23,000 pounds and have reported meaningful increases in self-confidence, physical activity, and mood. For more on Medtronic’s success with NS, click here for the full case study.

LYRA

How Genentech delivered a best-in-class mental health solution for the top minds in biotech

Genentech’s benefits team knew it needed a better way to support their people’s mental health—with a frictionless path to effective care, and transparency to evaluate whether the program actually worked. Partnering with Lyra not only made these goals achievable—it was simply “the right thing to do,”.

December

November 2020

Physera

As digital health accelerates at an exponential rate, employers have access to more solutions than ever before. No doubt you are comparing solutions to determine which ones do the best job at improving access, experience, outcomes and value—with a goal of creating a value-packed digital health roadmap. Recently, Physera competitors are announcing a turn toward our model of placing licensed physical therapists (PTs) at the heart of virtual physical therapy. The market has spoken, and our competitors’ announcements further validate our approach. Today, we’re here to explore why it matters so much that we got virtual physical therapy right from the start.

Springbuk

Unlike legacy data warehouses, at Springbuk, we simplify data-driven decision-making with an intuitive user experience, predictive modeling, and curated action steps that guide employers toward options that can reduce their costs and improve their employees’ health.

Applying the latest in data science methods to multi-sourced health benefits data, the Springbuk Health Intelligence platform utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help employers of all sizes identify and predict employees at risk of certain diseases using a database of over 233 million unique claims.

At Springbuk, we imagine a world where every healthcare decision is backed and guided by data. This mission has led our purpose and direction, fueling every decision we make for our product, team, and partners. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen first-hand that our mission matters now more than ever. Powered by a team of data scientists and clinicians, we have leveraged our Health Intelligence platform to generate data-driven COVID-19 predictive insights for our customers supported by risk change analysis and other COVID-specific reports. These insights provide direction for companies interested in identifying members who would be at risk for more severe complications if they were to contract COVID-19 and recommendations to be proactive in protecting those individuals.

Additionally, our latest solution, Answers™, a curated search tool powered by machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP), equips benefit leaders with data-informed answers to their most pressing business questions in real-time. In October 2020, we released additional data queries in Answers to help clients understand the impact of COVID-19 on their population, including the average and total paid amount for those diagnosed with COVID-19 and frequency for COVID-19 antibody, antigen, and molecular testing.

We understand that no one could have adequately prepared for COVID-19, but we can capitalize on current trends to inform and plan for what’s to come. Our team of health data scientists have been combing through our aggregate platform data of over 3,500 employers and anticipate that as we reach our “new normal,” the early onset of demand shifts will introduce new trends in care consumption. However, the key to understanding the overall healthcare utilization trend is to recognize it is not a single trend. The Downstream Impact of COVID-19 outlines our data science analysis of multiple microtrends that inform the broader trend to come. Additionally, this publication outlines mitigation strategies and provides a framework to guide employers to conduct an analysis of microtrends within their specific population.

Nov. News Letter __ Springbuk Case Study

November

October 2020

Happify Health

Happify Health and the American Heart Association Work Together to Improve Cardiovascular Health

According to the CDC, cardiovascular disease is one of the most expensive chronic conditions for payers and employers, costing an estimated $193.7 billion in direct medical cost and $123.5 billion in lost productivity. In addition, about 22% of people with heart disease struggle with depression1. To help people with heart disease manage both the physical and mental health aspects of their condition, the American Heart Association and Happify Health worked together to create Happify Heart & Mind.

The idea to work together came as a natural extension to both organizations’ increasing focus on the links between mental health and chronic conditions, particularly cardiovascular disease. For Happify Health, the opportunity to tap into the depth of knowledge and expertise brought by the Heart Association was a “no-brainer”. For the Heart Association, the opportunity to learn more about taking its science and creating more engaging experiences was equally attractive. The Heart Association also acknowledged that Happify Health’s existing commitment and use of science-based interventions was a plus.

Happify Heart & Mind is a 10-track program that teaches people with high blood pressure and high cholesterol strategies to reduce stress, incorporate more heart-healthy foods into their diet, and integrate more movement into their days. It incorporates the Heart Association’s science-based health content and includes an exclusive new track developed by the Association for the program.

An initial 6-week feasibility study showed promising results. 1,725 study participants with high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol and who used Happify as directed reported:

A 21% improvement in the prevalence of anxiety
A 22% improvement in symptoms of depression

Just launched at the end of June, Happify Health and the AHA are in discussions with several organizations to implement Happify Heart & Mind.

For more information, listen to a webinar hosted by Pat Dunn from the AHA’s Center for Health Technology & Innovation: Health Tech Webinar Series: A Case for Innovation – Happify Heart & Mind

Kaia

Kaia Health recently deployed Kaia Pain Management, a smartphone-based approach to managing chronic MSK conditions, at a multi-hospital health system in south Florida. The client, an alliance of more than 700 independent physicians and medical facilities across dozens of regional locations, has approximately 3,000 total employees and is a self-insured employer. Kaia and the client jointly created and promoted a three-month marketing strategy using the client’s benefits communications and deployed Kaia Pain Management in March 2019. The program remained active for employees to enroll from March 2019 through June 2019, and existing users could continue to use the program through March 2020.

From March through June 2019, 125 users (4.3%) of a total eligible population of approximately 3,000 enrolled in the Kaia program . The population of active Kaia users completed an average of 5.1 Kaia sessions per week during the three months following program introduction, and users suffering from severe nonspecific pain (as defined by a starting pain level of 4 or greater) saw a 50% pain level decrease. Improvement in sleep quality was also shown.

Kaia’s engagement and clinical outcomes also result in cost savings for the client, measured using medical claims data. Active Kaia app users experienced a 62% incremental reduction in medical claims costs as compared to non-users. This result was driven by a 39% reduction in the number of MSK medical claims and a 38% reduction in costs per claim. Net of Kaia fees, Kaia users showed a 22% lower claims cost during the year of Kaia use, representing a 1.6x ROI for the client.

Results are consistent with those Kaia has shown and forecasts in the market -- 1.5x to 3.0x ROI. If you have any questions about this case study or would like to learn more, please contact us.

Hello Heart

Hello Heart reduces cardiovascular medical claims by 34% and produces strong ROI within 1 year.

The introduction of Hello Heart saved a large, self-insured employer $486 per Hello Heart participant per year on cardiovascular medical claims, compared to members not enrolled in Hello Heart during the same time period.

October

September

September 2020

Maven

You may know Boston Scientific for its innovative medical solutions and products designed to transform lives. But transforming millions of lives starts with taking care of and improving the lives of their more than 36,000 employees. Boston Scientific has long led the way in designing innovative benefits programs to lower costs and improve the wellbeing of their employees, which is why they turned to Maven. In evaluating policies with their employees, they recognized they were missing critical—and costly—moments when women and families need support, including fertility, family planning, and new parents’ return-to-work transitions.

“We needed a solution that would engage our employees at every stage of their journey, fill gaps in care, support all families, and be able to really impact outcomes and lower our costs,” says Holly Duvernay, Benefits Principal and Wellness Coordinator at Boston Scientific. “We found that in Maven.”

At the beginning of 2020, Boston Scientific teamed up with Maven to provide clinical programs personalized for employees and their domestic partners through early parenting, including Maternity, Surrogacy, Adoption, Pregnancy Loss, Egg Freezing, Fertility, and Breast Milk Shipping.

The results? In just six months, Maven has helped dramatically improve Boston Scientific’s return-to-work rate: 90% of employees who had a child returned to work on time. Member-Provider interactions have been high in Maven’s virtual clinic, with Boston Scientific’s employees booking appointments with 22 types of doctors and specialists—pointing to the importance of holistic and on-demand care. And Boston Scientific’s employees are pleased: members have rated their Maven appointments 4.98 out of 5.

“Maven is the best thing that has happened to me as a new mom,” shares one Boston Scientific employee and Maven member. “The providers really listen to me to understand my specific situation and provide next steps that are in my best interest.”

98point6

August 2020

Modern Health

Ovia Health

Traditional health plan maternity care management strategies were designed to meet the needs of an older generation that relied on telephone calls and information received via mail. However, with millennials becoming the largest and most powerful healthcare-consuming generation in the United States, these care management strategies have become largely ineffective in mitigating rising maternity costs and engaging members.

Find out 5 ways digital health will help you meet your critical business objectives by clicking here.

Bind

Built for how real people live and real businesses thrive

Even before the 2020 global pandemic, attracting and retaining talent was a challenge within the retail industry, afflicted with a 60% turnover rate. One of the reasons retail workers are dissatisfied? Benefits that don’t feel like a benefit.

The management team of a large regional retail company, with more than 100 stores across 12 states, knew they needed to do something different to retain their staff. How, though, would they offer a health benefit that employees loved without breaking the bank? How could they balance what’s best for the business with what’s best for employees?

After some market research, they discovered Bind, an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand health plan designed around instant answers, cost certainty, a $0 deductible, no coinsurance, comparison shopping, flexibility, clear savings and a broad provider network. Intrigued by the possibilities, they partnered with Bind.

Now, employees had the choice between two options: A consumer directed health plan paired with a health savings account (CDHP-HSA), or Bind. For one employee, the innovative health plan was a game-changer. “I love not having a deductible,” they said. “Trips to the doctor are set prices I know in advance.”

Within the first year Bind was introduced, the company experienced significant savings. Bind-processed claims— adjusted for demographics, high-cost claimants and other factors—were 49% lower than CDHP-HSA claims. In the second year, claims under the Bind plan were 54% less than CDHP-HSA participants. The client saved more than $5,000 per employee.

“I love not having a deductible. Trips to the doctor are set prices I know in advance.” ~ Employee using Bind

The savings were a win-win—for both the retailer and employees. On the Bind plan, employees paid significantly less out-of-pocket than CDHP-HSA-enrolled employees. With Bind, out-of-pocket costs for members were one-third of those on the other plan—an annual difference of $533 out-of-pocket vs. $1,667 out-of-pocket on average. With satisfied employees and proven financial benefits to the company and its employees, the client eliminated the CDHP-HSA plan in 2020, making Bind the exclusive offering.

Employees benefit with Bind

On average, employees pay one-third out-of-pocket costs vs. those in the CDHP-HSA plan.

Employers save with Bind

The retailer achieved an annual savings of more than $5,000 per employee.

Employees NPS is high

Employees gave Bind a Net Promoter Score® of 40, compared to national competitors’ scores of ~15.

Bind took health insurance apart. Now it works.

The Bind employer-sponsored health plan solution is available to self-insured employers with 350+ eligible employees and compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

*Paid claims per employee per month (PEPM) are adjusted for seasonality, maturity, demographic risk, and high cost claimants in order to normalize for plan performance delivering an apples-to-apples comparison based on: (1) seasonality: current-year claims PEPM reflects a partial plan year: July 2019–December 2019); (2) maturity: prior-year claims PEPM reflects the first plan year with the Bind offering: July 2018–June 2019; (3) demographic risk: a demographic risk adjustment was applied to normalize for risk-profiles differences between the CDHP-HSA and Bind plans; (4) shock claims: every claim PEPM shown applies a $150,000 cap to high claimants in order to smooth the impact of shock claims under each plan. For a full explanation of the methodology and how it was applied, visit https://www.yourbind.com/case-study-methodology.

August

July 2020

Big Health

Big Health’s Sleepio Yields 28% Lower Healthcare Costs

A Health Economic Evaluation of Sleepio at a Fortune 500 Company

A Fortune 500 insurance company launched Sleepio, Big Health’s sleep improvement solution, for three important reasons. First, Sleepio is clinically proven with over 20 peer-reviewed papers demonstrating its efficacy in addressing poor sleep and mental health. Second, Sleepio is relevant to the entire population—good sleepers and poor sleepers alike have access to full behavioral help, not simply sleep hygiene. The third and final reason being that Sleepio is stigma-free, engaging, and instantly accessible—the product offers fun and interactive sessions with a virtual sleep expert, The Prof, and is available whenever, wherever, or however, the need arises.

After launching Sleepio, the company saw impressive employee engagement which led to meaningful health outcomes. More specifically, 26% of employees completed the sleep test and received personalized help, 11% of employees participated in the full therapeutic program and on average employees remained engaged with Sleepio for 6 months. While engagement is foundational to a successful mental health solution, what is most important is that the product actually works. For this client, users gained an additional 5 hours of sleep per week. Plus, more than 50% of users saw a decrease in poor sleep and mental health symptoms, and more than 65% of users experienced an increase in productivity due to improved sleep.

As a result of these health and productivity outcomes, the Fortune 500 company requested that we run a health economic study on Sleepio to assess its cost-effectiveness. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the impact of a digital sleep improvement program on healthcare costs and utilization within an employer population. We are excited to share the key findings.

The study was conducted in collaboration with IBM Watson Health and compared two groups of employees—a group of Sleepio users and a matched control group—and analyzed their respective healthcare costs over an 18-month follow-up period. The results demonstrated 28% lower total healthcare costs in the cohort of Sleepio users, as compared to the matched control group.

The study assessed baseline healthcare costs for 1,102 employees (551 Sleepio users and 551 controls) during an initial 12-month timeframe, before Sleepio was accessed, and then compared annualized healthcare costs after an 18 month follow-up period. At follow-up, the Fortune 500 company spent on average $1,677 less, or 28% lower annualized per-employee costs for those using Sleepio compared to the control group. The results were even more striking in specific healthcare categories: for example, Sleepio users had 93% lower inpatient medical expenditures and 79% lower number of days in acute admissions, vs. their non-Sleepio using peers.

These results come at a time when supporting employee mental health and having a keen eye to ROI has never been more important. Early data shows that COVID-19 is increasing not only people’s inability to get good sleep, but the costs associated with it. This study provides compelling evidence that Sleepio offers a cost and quality win-win for employers and their employees.

Read the press release or the full report.

July

June

June 2020

Wellthy

The pandemic has had an unparalleled impact on the dynamics of the modern workforce. Companies are not only juggling the weight of a battered economy and a global health crisis, but also facing the added responsibility of keeping employees and their families safe, healthy, and supported. Here at Wellthy, we've been focused on addressing the shifting needs of both our employer partners, and the families we work with.

From the onset of COVID-19, vulnerable and aging populations have been top-of-mind. Our team has been helping families get prepared, supporting throughout quarantines and positive test results, and guiding through recovery. All the while, we’re continuing to provide dedicated assistance for families with ongoing healthcare challenges in a system strained on all fronts.

Staying close with our employer partners has allowed us to adapt our solution to meet their unique needs. We’ve been able to offer ad-hoc support for urgent situations, flexible contracting periods, and for an EHIR 1 member responding to the crisis, Wellthy scaled from a small pilot to a full-rollout in a matter of days.

We’ve also introduced a new offering to fill a gap in the return-to-work puzzle: comprehensive childcare navigation. With all that’s going on, sourcing a nanny or finding a childcare program is no easy task. So, our team is doing what we do best: finding the best-fit care, providing world-class customer service, and delivering a family-first approach to getting parents the support they need.

In this complicated world, Wellthy is striving to make navigating care as simple as possible. We can’t predict what happens next, but we’ll continue to anticipate challenges for employers and working families alike, and get them the support they need.

RxSS

Global 500 Case Study: A Fast Track to Pharmacy Solution Engagement and ROI

Background

A global enterprise software employer looked for innovative tools to drive benefits utilization and curb healthcare costs for 38,000 U.S. employees. Their overriding requirement: Make it easy. Rx Savings Solutions (RxSS) was a natural fit.

Opportunity

RxSS conducted an Opportunity Assessment by running the company’s pharmacy claims through clinical savings algorithms. Eleven months of de-identified data were analyzed, revealing substantial savings potential for both the members and plan. Less than 5% of the population needed to change behavior for the company to realize ROI. With compelling data in hand, they decided to move forward with implementation.

Implementation

RxSS worked closely with this client to make implementation run smoothly. Once data feeds were established, all the client had to do was facilitate data transfers with its PBM and benefits platform. RxSS handled everything else.

Launch and Engagement

A strategic “soft launch” began ahead of open enrollment. Kick-off communications opened with an internal memo to all eligible employees to establish trust and credibility in RxSS.

Over the next 5 weeks, employees received co-branded weekly emails that introduced the program and explained how savings are found and communicated. The dual engagement effort produced 15% registration in the first 5 weeks.

Because the client provided contact information for 90+% of employees and implemented RxSS’s prescribed marketing plan, they established a solid foundation for regular, targeted engagement: the proactive savings notifications sent to every member with an opportunity—and a simple click-path to behavior change.

Beating Projections

The client’s culture of transparency, extensive member contact info, and desire to partner with RxSS helped them exceed target savings goals and ROI in Year 1. One in 3 engaged members are switching to lower-cost suggestions, saving themselves and the client $226 every fill.

Today

· Members get real relief from high prescription costs

· They can utilize the pharmacy benefit with greater clarity and convenience

· The client has a major healthcare cost-center under control

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