Global Retail Chain Takes a Fresh Approach to Team Care
A CareHive Case Study
A recent news article reported that only 12% of Americans were comfortable navigating the complexities of the US healthcare system. Many doctors themselves responded that even 12% was a gross exaggeration! As consumers of healthcare we all know this reality, and the questions we all face when we, or a loved one in our homes, needs care and guidance.
Should I go to the hospital ER?
Won’t Urgent Care be expensive?
Google says I may have WHAT?!?
Do I need a specialist? If so, who?
What are out of network costs?
It’s late, can it wait until morning?
Can I just take Advil or Tylenol?
Wouldn’t it be helpful to have an accessible healthcare partner that can assess, triage, treat, and guide patients 24/7/365? And if escalation is necessary, keep patients and their families in their networks to ensure cost effectiveness, while delivering excellent care? All while providing follow-up to make certain problems are resolved? Welcome to CareHive.
For companies and their employees, navigating their healthcare brings equally mixed results. Employees are unsure of which care lane to take for illnesses, injuries, and middle-of-the-night emergencies.
Choose the wrong path, and the cost can be shocking, both for the patient, and the self-insured employer taking on financial risk. In fact, Emergency room visits average a whopping $2,350 per episode, which is more than 20x the cost of a virtual or telemedicine visit. Even primary care and urgent care visits are 2–3x more expensive than virtual care.
The typical mix of urgent care episodes is so inefficient, we made a chart about it. With an average weighted cost of $551 per episode, companies are taking it on the chin.
At the same time, some people aren’t sure if telemedicine and virtual care can solve their problems. It sounds simple, but… will it work? Many don’t realize that digital medicine is not only a better option that works like magic, but it does so consistently.
of CareHive encounters are resolved via virtual visit, and hospital ER visits are reduced to 2%
CareHive is a full-service urgent, chronic care and basic primary care platform. CareHive leverages video first for acute care, with seamless escalation to mobile labs and in-home clinical services. For chronic care, CareHive uses asynchronous modalities for more provider-patient touchpoints, better data, and improved outcomes. CareHive is not a telemedicine company, it is tech-enabled connected care. And our 92 NPS over 5 years is proof that our 5-star-rated providers know how to make it work.
Did you know?
Average Healthcare NPS scores range from 9 to 27
(Accenture Loyalty Insights Report, 2016; Retently Benchmarks NPS by Industry, 2020)
In our employer partnerships, over 80% of healthcare cases are resolved by video call, and 98% of cases that start with CareHive achieve full resolution on the CareHive platform via video, lab visit, or house call. We appropriately guide members through their health issues, using the lightest dose of care at the right moments, to get them feeling better without pushing them to high-cost options.
More than managing urgent and after-hours care, CareHive also has a proven chronic care platform to assist in long-term management. Using data-driven communication modalities and actions, we ensure care continuity and an ongoing patient-clinician connection.
Members are guided to the right in-network care where patient escalation and follow-ups are required. They are directed within employers’ value-based systems with both quality and cost-effectiveness in mind.
This 5-star experience isn’t just a delight for patients, it is transformative for CHROs and CFOs because of the significant savings on their healthcare costs. Using CareHive as a means for your company’s members and families to access safe, effective care where and when they need it will actually drive meaningful dollars back to EBITDA.
Leading Global Retail Chain, Multiple Market Results, Jan 2019 – Dec 2020
The Power of an Integrated Virtual-First Strategy
In the first twelve months of our contract with a leading retail chain — serving both corporate and store employees — CareHive reduced costly ER use by double digits. Our hybrid model of virtual care, house calls and on-site clinic support intercepted acute episodes before they escalated to a doctor’s office, urgent care, or ER. We saved this employer significantly on their healthcare costs (5.3:1 ROI), and because this organization self-funds their healthcare, all savings went directly to the bottom line.
We have continued to refine the program, responding to data, aiming to improve the convenience, health, and wellbeing of employees while further removing cost.
At program launch, employees had been given a choice of in-person or virtual starting places, with different costs depending on the visit they chose. Data showed that when they chose virtual visits as their first step, they were more likely to resolve their concerns faster and seldom needed to escalate to in-person. Since the cost of the in-person options to both employee and employer was greater, this was a significant finding.
Working with the employer, we developed a streamlined approach which we call Simple Care. Every encounter now begins with a virtual visit. If the patient’s concern cannot be immediately managed, then it escalates to in-person, at no additional cost to the employer or employee. We have so much confidence in CareHive’s ability to deliver best-in-class virtual care that we are willing and eager to assume that risk.
Employees themselves, some of whom may have questioned the efficacy of virtual visits, learned that they could get great care quickly, conveniently, and without travel. Since we began to offer Simple Care, the number of all encounters that were “virtual-first” increased steadily from 40% to over 95%.
CareHive: A Remedy for the Common “Telemedicine”
Most gratifying, and further feeding the cost savings, employees are promoting CareHive to one another. The quality of care they get, and our commitment to stay with them until they get the care they need doesn’t just generate delight, it turns patients into advocates. Looking at data we’ve collected through this period from this retailer’s employees, we’re seeing a steady increase not only in successful visits, but also in positive reviews and in unique patients. We’re reaching more of the employee base because we’re succeeding with each visit.
Offering Virtual Care Isn’t Enough. People Have to Use It
Typically, 5-7% of employees use conventional telemedicine benefits when offered. This means that around 95% of employees are heading to the ER, Urgent Care or a family physician to resolve their concerns. CareHive’s best-in-class experience is drives utilization at 21% and growing, 3X the highest of those benchmarks.
Quality Healthcare, Not Just Cost Savings
CareHive was founded and is led by evidence-based physicians. We take pride in how the care we deliver yields excellent clinical quality, as measured by many common benchmarks. We reduce antibiotic over-prescriptions by more than 50%, and in one of the most important value-based-care metrics, we minimize Emergency Department escalations. Only 2% of CareHive encounters end up in the ER.
Virtual Visit Doesn’t Work If It Just Leads to More Visits
Our research suggests people who don’t use conventional telemedicine are actually acting rationally. They choose not to adopt virtual visits because of three common, and often justified, fears. We designed the CareHive experience to overcome the following fears:
Fear of Starting Over
Conventional telemedicine often ends in a referral to in-person services, yet doesn’t generate even basic records to support that. If virtual care is not getting the result, CareHive escalates to clinic, mobile lab or house-call with full continuity.
Fear of Paying Again
When that first visit doesn’t pan out, you end up paying for a second visit. This is especially bad for people with high-deductible plans. When CareHive care requires in-person intervention, there is no additional cost.
Fear of Bad Outcome
When the concern is particularly extreme or a child is involved, it’s hard to believe that someone on a video call can really “get it.” Because we can always switch to clinic or house call, patients remain in control.
CareHive addresses all of these in an open, upfront manner with patients at the center of the solution.
CareHive: A Remedy for The Risks of Self-Funded Healthcare
CareHive is a unique hybrid, providing telehealth virtual medicine, mobile labs and house calls in select markets; utilizing data-driven clinical navigation with award-winning guides and providers steering the care path. We also manage long-term care with proven outcomes and greater patient convenience. We use technology and data to drive clinical support, navigating patients to the most effective choices for chronic, specialty, and acute care. We optimize outcomes, patient satisfaction, and cost effectiveness to help employers’ bottom line.
What Employees Are Saying
The Net Promoter Score for CareHive from employees is 92/100. Here’s some of what we’ve heard from this employer’s team members:
We are so thankful for this service. Excellent medical treatment without sitting in a waiting room around other sick people for hours.
Wonderful experience! I will be recommending CareHive to everyone I know!!
It was so great to just to rest at home with my boys. No driving, dealing with car seats, waiting, more waiting, etc. I highly recommend!
CareHive Impact for this Employer,
By the Numbers
5,434 employees, corporate staff, hourly retail workers and dependents
ROI: Each $1 spend on CareHive care was offset by an average of $5.30 in savings
85% of episodes successfully resolved via triage and clinician video visit
Significant reduction in cost of care per episode, average plan savings of $12.96 PMPM over two years
300% increase in CareHive utilization and growing, fueling increasing savings
31% decrease in Emergency Room use
92 NPS and 5-star satisfaction
