I am very excited about this new partnership that we’ve entered this month, and I wanted to share why we are so excited!
First, strategically, here is why it makes sense. Previously with many of our products, an advisor could go direct to the provider for the same or lower cost; completely defeating the purpose of myHSA also offering the solution. This time, we are more strategically aligned, and have come up with a model that is mutually beneficial.
So, unless an advisor’s client wants a fully insured plan through a carrier that also offers Dialogue, they cannot access the product. With myHSA, we can offer access to a market with smaller group sizes who only have a spending account. This is unique for us, Dialogue, and our advisor partners.
Next - this is what I am most excited about - is the integrated health platform. The ability to offer multi benefit lines in one entry point is key. Yes, you can get free services in some places or buy certain stand-alone products from others, but having access to all programs and services for employees is highly valuable. Let's call a spade a spade: employees do not understand their benefit plans. So, if you have a separate provider for virtual healthcare, EFAP, CBT, and other mental health services, the employee is forced to first understand each benefit, but also navigate each offering. This system is proven to be ineffective. For certain benefits, this may be for a certain amount of time but offering all of these in one app makes sense to me. Using my personal experience as an example, I used primary care last week and it was a seamless experience on another platform to interact with a Doctor. Then, I found myself stressed and somewhat anxious in life and was personally looking for more information. I knew I did not need to see a specialist right away, so I was looking online and I found some literature that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may help. I was excited (I know…weird) thinking “we have CBT available somewhere…” The first place I went to was the telemedicine app, thinking I may have access.....nothing. Honestly, I may have it with our EFAP but I did not get around to logging in and looking. Seeing as I own part of the company, I should Know where certain benefits are, but my point is that I stopped looking after first try. My laziness and experience are probably common. I knew to try to get help, but honestly it would be worse for the average employee because they have no idea each type of benefits that they have or where to access them.
This is why I think the integrated health platform is key. It is one front door to access a wide range of services that, to be honest, employees do not need to know the intricacies of. I do think we need to combine many of the services to be successful. How I envision this is that you access the app and present a problem you are trying to solve. Whatever it is, say you are feeling anxious like I was. You can speak to a medical professional to assess the severity and depending on the severity, you can branch into different products and services. Keeping in mind, the employee doesn't care who or where they get help from, they are just anxious. If they are at a high severity level of need, they can talk to a Doctor right away and the Doctor sees prescribing drugs as an intervention, or maybe they book with mental health professional within one day. If the employee has a low severity level of need, maybe they use CBT modules. On the back end, the practitioners can share and communicate and as a team to find the most effective solution. One of the key differentiators of Dialogue is the speed at which employees can get help, especially for mental health issues, as by the time an employee reaches out for mental health support, they are well past the point of being able to wait. With Dialogue, employees can receive support in under one hour and it is 100% virtual, this gets people the help that they need as fast as possible. Another great part about Dialogue, is that all practitioners on the platform have access to the notes from when employees are seeking help. When they are referred to another practitioner in the app, employees do not have to repeat their needs over and over. Employees can even use Dialogue when they need information from a trusted source, even if they are not sick or needing immediate care.
I have been thinking about this concept for a longtime, and we had talked to a few providers, but Dialogue was only one functioning at a level we were happy with. Once the wellness module was added, we were sold. A key feature, in my opinion, is the ability to offer services as an all-in-one package for the employee's sake. You need to have the different services and branches available so they employee has all treatment modalities at their fingertips. I cannot wait to use it for my team and myself!
Steve McEwan
COO & Co-Founder
myHSA
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