by Cole Hollander
There are many issues employees face in the workplace, and the one they certainly should not have to, is the complexity of healthcare systems offered by their employers. When the process to find, understand, and utilize the care provided is more stressful and time-consuming than it would be worth for the employee, we run into the problem of a decrease in self-care and health among the group members. If an employee decides to jump through the hoops necessary to care for themselves, we find there will inevitably be lapses in the communication between the different providers they must use. These gaps in coverage and care can cause misdiagnoses or incorrect prescription services, leading to great health concerns for the employee.
Fortunately, Eden Health didn’t need a microscope to spot this problem and was able to build a solution that would solve the mysteries facing employees. The direct-to-employer virtual primary care platform that Eden Health created focuses on cutting out middlemen and giving employees an easy way to get the care they need. It is important to note in the beginning that Eden Health has a rating of 4.5 stars on the Apple App store, with many user reviews proclaiming that the app has been life-changing. Employees who have received care through Eden Health have noted its time and money-saving abilities, the two issues that have dominated making healthcare a headache. When Eden Health is implemented in a new group, on average over 62% of the group utilizes the product in the first year, which leads to huge increases in preventive care use and decreases in healthcare costs. Even more importantly, Eden Health patients don’t just come for a one-off visit but stick with their Eden Health providers for the long haul.
When patients need referrals, they are often forced to leave their network or their traditional primary clinicians, unfortunately leaving some employees lost in their healthcare system. Eden Health recognized this and integrated Care Navigators into their platform who help to manage referrals for employees and are available to answer questions and create a personalized experience for the employee. Maintaining a healthy body, mind, and wallet is difficult, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an employee who doesn’t want a Care Navigator to hold their hand in guidance occasionally.
Eden Health’s mobile app makes it easy for employees to log in to the app and make same-day appointments at nearby Eden Health medical offices or get a response to an inquiry within fifteen minutes. An employee can ask a medical question, put on the song Free Bird, and get a response before the guitar solo is finished. In the past, if an employee had a simple medical question, they’d have to schedule an appointment with their provider weeks in advance before they could receive an answer. By the time an employee is able to speak with the medical provider, the entire situation that troubled the employee is likely to have changed, and now they have wasted time and money. Not only that, but in the fast-paced world that we live in, the convenience and peace of mind of the ability to “shoot a text” to a medical professional and receive a timely response brings an unparalleled level of comfort to the medical world which has formerly been an unfamiliar feeling for employees.
The old-school way of providing medical care to employees meant that each provider an employee used was disconnected and siloed. Information a therapist learned about an employee wasn’t shared with their primary physician, and the insurance experts consulted had no idea what was going on at either of those offices. This inefficiency compounded the head-scratching nature of healthcare to employees, so Eden Health decided to step in. On top of all of the issues Eden Health can solve with their mobile platform, they have mastered the Collaborative Care model, which provides each employee their own team of medical and mental health providers, physical therapists, and care navigators, who all exist under the same roof. This model allows for the employees’ care to be approached from multiple angles. When the employee’s primary care physician and their mental health clinician both pick up on a medical issue troubling the employee, they can work together with the employee’s Healthcare Navigator, to ensure that the employee’s health will increase quickly without a major increase in costs.
Eden Health recognizes that not only is every employee within a group different, but every group they work with is different. After the contracts are signed, Eden Health focuses on creating a relationship with the group, getting to know the specific wants and needs, and respecting the uniqueness of the group. The employee group sitting behind desks and the employee group working in the field need to be cared for in different ways. In the past, every employee in a group would be offered a singular plan when enrollment season rolled around. Sometimes this plan contained more than the employee needed and they were therefore losing out on money that could have been spent elsewhere. Oppositely, the health of an employee might decline if they didn’t feel as though they’d be able to have access to the care they needed. Adding a new solution can be a stress-inducing process and isn’t as simple as just asking what the employees want. In an effort to alleviate more of the stress involved, Eden Health will work with your HR department to utilize systems and software already in place that employees are more comfortable with, allowing a smooth yet customizable transition.
Predicting the future is difficult but preparing for it is possible. Eden Health wants to give employees and their families a way to do that without making them feel like they need to see a fortune teller. Healthcare should be accessible, employees should understand what their insurance actually covers, and it should all be at the fingertips of the employee. This is what Eden Health offers, it’s not complicated, because it doesn’t have to be.
We are proud to feature Eden Health on The Granite List.