Anthem has partnered with Alegeus, a consumer-directed healthcare company, to offer a benefits information and navigation platform to affiliated health plans.
The platform, which will be branded under Anthem and filled with the healthcare insurance company’s resources, provides engagement tools that help employees optimize healthcare spending and maximize healthcare savings.
“Anthem recognized that this is the way to really get a handle on healthcare costs: how to spend more wisely, how to save better,” says John Young, senior vice president of consumerism and strategy at Alegeus. “[We’re targeting] the stuff that plagues normal people on household finances.”
The platform consolidates benefit descriptions, balances of medical accounts and explanation of benefits, among other aspects to
She compares the experience to Amazon, where employees can direct questions to one call center for various products.
“Now, because all of this information is tied together, we can start personalizing the member engagement,” she says.
See also:
The platform is capable of analyzing how employees are saving and spending their money, which in turn dictates how Anthem can reach out and
It also holds employees’ information even after an employer might switch plans from a PPO with a FSA to a high deductible health plan with an HSA, for example.
The platform’s infrastructure also allows employers to add
“A lot of this is to make their lives easier: the employer, the HR person,” Lawton says. “It’s end to end, everything is within Anthem. They don’t have to manage multiple vendors or funding sites.”
The tool is “indispensable” for helping employees balance saving and spending, adds Young. “Together we’re going to help a lot of Americans stretch their healthcare dollars and get ahead and hopefully create more and more savvy healthcare consumers.”
It will be rolled out in 14 states and then through national accounts over the next 18 months, Lawton says.
