Author: Laura Cave

In this episode, our guest is industry veteran, speaker, and trendspotter, Carol Harnett. Carol was the National Disability and Life Practice Leader at The Hartford and has been a trusted consultant and advisor for multiple organizations and industry leaders. Today she’s the President of the Council for Disability Awareness (CDA). In this wide-ranging interview, we dig into the latest CDA research to uncover how COVID-19 has impacted today’s working Americans and how benefits should evolve to address those needs. Here are the highlights from our conversation. 

How to manage change in a risk averse industry

Change is necessary for growth, but it can be really tough for people to navigate! Insurance is a fiscally conservative industry (for good reasons), so it’s especially challenging for the insurance industry to embrace new strategies and  innovation. But given how much has changed in the last year, It’s vital for everyone from carriers to employers to evolve benefit offerings to meet employees’ changing needs. 

So how do you make change happen in a slow-moving, risk-averse industry? 

As a forward-thinking optimist, Carol was always excited about change. However, she learned early in her career that it was important to temper her message in order to meet people where they were. Often people aren’t prepared to hear a radical new strategy, but rather than give up, Carol learned how to build a bridge between what her listeners already understood and the new opportunities on the horizon. People can often handle a stretch but not a leap.

“Change is one thing we can count on to happen in life, but it’s also the thing that so many people are afraid to do…I can think of a number of times in my career when I took what felt like a heavy risk but I thought, hey, this is what you’re hired for. If you stop doing what you think is important for the company and the audiences and customers they serve then you’re not doing your job.” 

How COVID-19 will affect employee benefits in 2021 and beyond

The CDA has been doing research and reporting on the effects of COVID-19 since April 2020. A few trends point toward a dramatic increase in healthcare, disability, and life insurance utilization in the years ahead. 

First, the data showed a huge increase in the need for mental healthcare. According to data sourced by the federal government’s Household Pulse Survey, 40% of workers reported experiencing anxiety and depression, compared to 10% prior to the pandemic. An article the CDA published in partnership with MDGuidelines is available here.  

Second, many people reported postponing healthcare, including preventive screenings. Delayed care means that some people aren’t getting care they need, which could require costly interventions down the road. Fewer preventive screenings are leading to a situation where cancer diagnoses, for example, appear to be down, but it may be that cancer simply isn’t being caught and will show up later in more advanced phases. 

Lastly, research shows that 10% of people who’ve had COVID-19, even if they were asymptomatic, are experiencing long term health problems tied to the disease. We don’t know yet how big of an impact this will have in the short-, medium-, and long-term on health, disability, and life insurance benefits. A summary of their research findings can be found here. 

Listen to the full episode to hear more from Carol. 

Carol’s resources

Carol often finds herself reading whitepapers and academic research to keep a pulse on factors that will impact the benefits space before it hits the news or shows up in books. She mentioned this study in the episode, and (as an independent herself), she advises readers to look past the partisan frame to glean the lessons revealed in the data. As far as her bookshelf, Carol points to Blue Ocean Strategy as a title that had a big impact and still resonates with her. 

You can check out Carol’s work with the Council for Disability Awareness on their website at https://disabilitycanhappen.org. They publish research articles here first.  Note, this episode is for informational and educational purposes only. Carol Harnett and the Council for Disability Awareness are not endorsed, affiliated with, nor compensated by Greenhouse Life Insurance Company.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. And to get in touch with Brella, you can email us at sales@joinbrella.com. We’d love to hear from you.

by Laura Cave, Director of Marketing at Brella | March 15, 2021

In this episode, our guest Amit Bansal, Partner at Digitalis Ventures and an investor in Brella, shares his view of the health benefits ecosystem right now—including the trends, opportunities, and challenges that will matter for benefits advisors and administrators in 2021 and beyond. 

The Future of Health Benefits in 2021

Health benefits are profoundly impacted by the models that govern how healthcare is delivered, how accessible it is to your employees, and what it costs. After spending years in the health industry from GE Healthcare to working for a healthcare startup that delivers care in rural India, Amit developed a passion for businesses that make healthcare more accessible, improving health outcomes, containing costs, and tailoring healthcare to specific sub-populations, particularly those that have been historically underserved. Today as a Partner at Digitalis Ventures, Amit and his team see several trends, or structural shifts, that are shaping the needs and opportunities on the horizon. Here are a few highlights from our conversation.

Digital health is here to stay.

Healthcare has been adopting digital technology for the past decade in some basic ways, such as electronic health records, online directories, and mobile apps that simplify some healthcare services. Financial services, insurance, and benefits providers have done the same. But, according to Amit, we’re now beginning to get beyond basic digitization to imagine tech-enabled healthcare services, insurance products, financial tools, and other benefits that were not previously possible. These types of businesses are exciting to Amit and his team because they have potential for non-linear growth in the next few years. They also love these companies’ potential to drive social good for communities that haven’t historically had access to the healthcare they need. 

COVID-19 was a tipping point for home-based care.

While telehealth was around for years prior, the service has seen massive growth since the pandemic quarantined families at home for most of 2020. The disruption in our normal routines allowed people to consider alternatives to traditional in-office care, such as talking to a doctor on the phone. Amit believes while we may see more patients return to the doctors’ office, telehealth will be a fixture moving forward. New solutions that bring healthcare into the home rather than bringing the patient to the doctor’s office also have huge potential.

Personalized care for specific sub-populations

In a past episode, we spoke with Dick Mucci about how quickly employees’ needs are evolving. It’s more important than ever for employers to ensure that their benefits are still aligned and delivering value to their team. 

Amit and his team are particularly interested in companies that deliver healthcare and benefits that are more thoughtfully designed with a specific population in mind. Can we deliver healthcare in a way that’s ideal for men, and can we design a healthcare experience specifically for women? Can we build solutions that specifically address the needs of local BIPOC communities? 

Listen to the full episode for more of Amit’s health benefits 2021 outlook, including a list of new benefits every employer and broker should know about. 

Amit’s resources

When we asked him for a resource that had a big impact on him, Amit mentioned Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke. Drawn from her experiences as a professional poker player, Annie explores how beliefs and biases color our decision-making and outlines a path to smarter decision-making practices in life and work.  

You can check out Amit’s work at Digitalis on their website at https://digitalisventures.com. Note, this episode is for informational and educational purposes only. Amit Bansal and Digitalis Ventures are not compensated, affiliated with, nor compensated by Greenhouse Life Insurance Company.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to follow or subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. And to get in touch with Brella, you can email us at sales@joinbrella.com. We’d love to hear from you.

by Laura Cave, Director of Marketing at Brella | March 8, 2021

It’s no secret that employees often struggle to understand their health benefits and the choices available to them. After years of pioneering new solutions with Accolade, Haven, and now Rightway Healthcare, Paula Bush is more convinced than ever that benefits navigation support and patient advocacy are the keys to making health benefits work better for employees and their employers. 

Why benefits navigation?

After starting her career in a patient-facing role at a physician’s office, Paula migrated over to the payer side, where she worked in member services. The longer she managed member services operations where the goal was volume and efficiency, the more she felt she was drifting away from serving the member in a personalized way.

Eventually, Paula realized that there wasn’t a space where consumers could turn for advice from an advocate who had solely their best interest in mind.

“When you want to buy a house, you get a realtor. If you’re gonna get financial support, you get a financial advisor. Why in healthcare do you have to become an expert when you or a loved one is going through something and you’re at a point in time where you’re least likely to be able to absorb information and figure out all the logistics of navigating where to go and what to do? You need a go-to person who is an expert in that space to help guide you through the process.”

Pioneering patient advocacy solutions

With this consumer frustration in mind, Paula jumped at the chance to join the founding team at Accolade in 2008 to build a benefits navigation solution. “It was a risk, but the minute we introduced the model and started seeing the value that it was providing to the members that we served, I knew I was in the right place.” The team experimented and learned a lot as they carved out a whole new benefit amidst all the complexity of the healthcare industry.

Today at Rightway Healthcare, Paula and her team are designing patient advocacy solutions with a consumer-centric approach. Healthcare is personal, so Rightway’s patient advocates take into account the member’s health situation as well as all the resources that are available to them in order to bring forward solutions and options that can be knit together into a plan to get the care they need. 

What does the consumer really need?

When it comes to building new solutions, “Don’t build what you think people need. Understand what people need and then build the technology to meet those needs,” Paula says.  

Technology is ultimately a tool that allows Paula and her team at Rightway to create a personalized approach to patient solutions. They’ve learned from the industry not only what consumers want and need but also what employers need. Employers appreciate an easy-to-integrate solution that doesn’t blow up their benefit ecosystem. So Rightway developed a cost-effective solution that can easily wrap around an employer’s existing benefits program.

Today at Rightway, they do predictive analytics that drives “next-best actions” based on the individual’s needs. They have successfully increased the healthcare utilization of the consumers who need their support most. They also help identify high-quality and cost-effective providers, going beyond reviews to bring in outcomes data and other factors to identify the physicians who are delivering real value that balances health outcomes and cost.

To hear more about what Paula and her team are up to at Rightway Healthcare, including a new PBM solution, listen to the full episode.

Paula’s Resources

While there are many books that have helped Paula grow in her career along the way, her current read is called The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham. It’s about avoiding those dumb mistakes that sabotage growth, profit, and business success. 

To learn more about Rightway Healthcare you can visit their website at https://rightwayhealthcare.com/. Note, this episode is for informational and educational purposes only. Paula Bush is an advisor to Brella, but she and Rightway Healthcare have no other affiliation with Brella or Greenhouse Life Insurance Company.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. And to get in touch with Brella, you can email us at sales@joinbrella.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Eden Health is on a mission to make your employees healthier with enhanced primary care that fills the gaps left by traditional insurance and provider networks. In this episode, Eden Health’s VP of Sales, Joe Neil, joins us to share how their technologists, insurance experts, and providers are managing to deliver better health for employees and a better healthcare benefit that helps employers retain talent.

The gaps left by traditional primary care

After spending nearly a decade in the insurance business, Joe craved an opportunity to work with a tech supported solution that would help employees understand and get more value out of their health insurance. When he stumbled across the founding team at Eden Health, he jumped on board to help them scale their exciting new primary care solution. We started by asking Joe about the problems they’re looking to solve.

“49% of Americans have a stressful experience when it comes to the healthcare and insurance space,” Joe said. Whether that’s selecting their health insurance plan or finding a provider for preventive or acute medical care, consumers are struggling. 

It starts with getting access to a provider. But even when employees get access to a traditional primary care doctor, visits are often one-off transactions rather than an ongoing conversation about your care plan. If you need to go see a specialist, you’re on your own to figure out which specialist you can see and how your health plan will cover it. 

Eden Health’s Primary Care Solution

“Our vision is to make sure that every American can have a relationship with a trusted health provider.”

Eden Health’s enhanced primary care includes direct primary care, insurance navigation, and behavioral health, including talk therapy. Beyond that, they do care coordination to help members get care they may need from a specialist. Eden Health’s care teams act as advocates for the member’s health and they watch out for the member’s wallet, too, helping them save money where they can. 

They also work hard to make primary care more convenient. Members engage over Eden Health’s mobile app where they can speak with a provider on their care team. They can also come to a brick and mortar location in NY, NJ, and Chicago or visit a pop up location at a job site or at their office. However, since March of 2020, two thirds of care has been delivered virtually through their app so that members can get care without leaving home. 

Why better primary care matters for employers

By guiding employees through the healthcare system, Eden Health helps reduce the cost of repeat visits and duplicative testing and imaging services. Consistent preventive care can also help catch health issues earlier, resulting in less costly interventions and less time away from work.

Employers who implement Eden Health’s enhanced primary care see an average of 66% employee engagement—a much better participation rate than employers typically see with other ancillary benefits. 

Adapting to COVID-19

COVID-19 created a unique challenge for the traditional healthcare system because suddenly more people than ever needed regular COVID tests to go to work or travel. Eden Health was able to respond to this demand quickly by setting up convenient testing locations on job sites. They’re also prepared to help distribute the COVID vaccine.

To hear more about what Eden Health has in store for 2021, listen to the full episode.

Joe’s Resources

One book that has stood the test of time for Joe is The Maverick and His Machine by Kevin Maney. The book tells the story of Tomas Watson Sr. and the founding of IBM.  While the IBM salesman is a bit “old school,” Joe takes inspiration from the way they scaled their company with a focus on excellence and conviction around their products.    

To learn more about Eden Health you can visit their website at http://edenhealth.com. Note, this episode is for informational and educational purposes only. Joe Neil and Eden Health are not compensated, affiliated with, nor endorsed by Greenhouse Life Insurance Company.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. And to get in touch with Brella, you can email us at sales@joinbrella.com. We’d love to hear from you.

In this episode, our guest Alex Cyriac, Founder and CEO of Lively, shares how their modern health savings accounts help families prepare financially today for tomorrow’s healthcare needs. 

Why health savings matters

Alex never planned to found a company. He spent years early in his career in payment processing followed by a stint at Justworks in the health benefits space. During that time, he discovered that his parents were struggling under the weight of healthcare costs even though they had coverage through Medicare. With a growing family of his own, Alex realized that a nest egg of health savings is an important asset to grow in preparation for health issues and medical expenses that inevitably happen later in life. 

Lively’s consumer-first health savings accounts

The Lively team takes a consumer-first approach in everything they do. At first, that meant just removing the friction in the process of getting started, both for the employer and employees opening a health savings account. Their onboarding experience is so easy that only 3% of Lively HSAs are not funded by the employee, while 20% of accounts go unfunded with other HSA providers. 

Next, they turned to features that Cyriac and his team are really excited about. Today, you can link your health insurance to your Lively health savings account so you can see the full picture of your health-related finances in one place. They also offer debit cards and investment opportunities so you can easily access your savings and watch it grow. And since knowledge is power, they’ve produced educational content and engaged with their account-holders to help them make smart financial and healthcare decisions along the way. As a result, Lively’s NPS scores soared to 73 while the rest of the industry’s scores languish in the low teens.  

Supporting the employer’s strategy

81% of Lively’s employer clients contribute to employee HSA’s, which is higher than the industry average. Lively also facilitates company matching of employee contributions, which some employers utilize as an incentive to encourage employees to save for future healthcare costs. Together these efforts contribute to Lively’s track record of having above average employee engagement in their savings accounts.

Adapting to COVID-19

Over the course of 2020, Lively saw many of their employer clients hold steady with their health plan strategies and HSA offerings. However, with more layoffs happening, they saw an uptick in individuals signing up for accounts independent of an employer. The service is 100% free and you’re able to transfer funds over from your previous employer’s HSA provider. Currently, they are partnering with employers to think about what’s the right strategy going forward.

“Our goal is to make sure that our employers have the most information available to them to make the right decisions for their employees.”

To hear more about what Lively has in store for 2021, listen to the full episode.

Alex’s resources

Alex recommends Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham’s essays for wisdom on a wide range of entrepreneurship and business management topics. 

You can check out Lively’s HSA plans on their website at http://livelyme.com. Note, this episode is for informational and educational purposes only. Alex Cyriac and Lively are not compensated, affiliated with, nor compensated by Greenhouse Life Insurance Company.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to subscribe. Leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. To get in touch with Brella, you can email us at sales@joinbrella.com. We’d love to hear from you.