Issue 017
Digital health research from Brian Dolan
Welcome back to E&O Wednesdays, the enrollment-focused digital health newsletter from Exits & Outcomes — for paying subscribers only. This every-other-Wednesday issue digs into digital health companies that sell to self-insured employers as well as others that rely on enrollment-based distribution for their digital health programs.
E&O Wednesdays
Two quick notes on a few things going on in enrollment-based digital health:
- UnitedHealth Group shared a few topline numbers from its first study of Level2, its homegrown diabetes reversal and/or management program. The insurance company called them out in its annual corporate citizenship report, which came out last month. “Level2 Outcomes: 90 percent of patients with an HbA1c greater than 8 saw an improvement. [And] 37 percent of patients who reported medication de-escalation were able to fully stop medications… *Level2 population assessment by OptumLabs of over 5,500 Level2 members reported March 2021. 598 patients experienced medication de-escalation.” Almost exactly a year ago, UnitedHealth shared earlier outcomes data based on an analysis of 790 Level2 participants.
- The state of Tennessee’s benefits team put out an RFI for “Digital Therapy Programs” a few weeks ago: “We seek to better understand what is available beyond more traditional chronic condition care and prefer to offer programs that continue the participant’s relationship with their health care providers, when clinically appropriate. The State is interested in receiving information from companies with experience scaling programs for large member populations for large employers.” Here’s the RFI.
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Big employer digital health stack: Disney
Digital health companies love to boast how many Fortune 500 customers they have. This recurring feature of E&O Wednesdays digs into a different Fortune 500’s digital health stack. So far, in past Wednesdays issues, I’ve written about the digital health benefits stacks of 16 big companies: Walmart, Activision Blizzard, JP Morgan Chase, The Home Depot, Boeing, 3M, Chevron, BorgWarner, Bank of America, UnitedHealth Group, Costco, eBay, McKesson, Ford, Dell, and AT&T.
This week, I dug into the digital health benefits that Disney offers its full-time employees. Here’s what I found:
Fidelity NetBenefits: Disney’s benefits platform portal
Disney doesn’t work with any of the digital-native benefits navigation companies but instead works with Fidelity, which offers a benefits portal under its NetBenefits brand.
The companies refer to Disney’s benefits as “D Life.”
Disney offers full-time employees a range of PPO and HMO plans from Cigna as well as a few regional HMO plans from Allegiance (central Florida residents only) and Kaiser Permanente (California and Washington state residents only). Most of Disney’s digital health benefits are available to those employees on a Cigna plan, but I’ll mention which goes with which plan below.
On-site health coaching: Cigna and Evernorth-powered
Back in 2008, Disney forged a partnership with WebMD to power a health coaching benefit for its employees. These days Cigna runs the health coaching service, which is on-site at Disney workplaces. Cigna recently started referring to them as being Evernorth-powered. As far as I can tell, these coaching programs are not digital, but rather in-person or telephonic. Figured it was worth mentioning considering it covers so many issues that other big employers typically cover via a digital offering in 2021:
“Disney Health Pursuits: Receive confidential support from a coach, powered by Evernorth, to help you improve eating and exercise habits, decrease stress, give up smoking or lose weight. Provides support for asthma, depression, diabetes, heart disease and many other conditions.”
Cigna’s MDLIVE for virtual care
Disney makes clear that employees should ask their health plan or care provider how to go about accessing virtual care, but it uses copy that mirrors what Cigna-owned MDLIVE typically uses in these documents:
“Connect with a board-certified doctor via confidential video or phone chat 24/7/365 to get the care you need including most prescriptions (when appropriate) for a range of minor conditions such as cold and flu, ear infections, pink eye, sore throat, rashes and more. For most Disney medical plan options, virtual care is covered at no cost to you.”
Omada Weight Loss Program
Despite offering similar on-site coaching, Disney also covers Cigna’s longtime partner Omada. Here’s how it positions Omada’s prevention program to employees:
“Get free, personalized online program to give those at-risk for Type 2 diabetes or heart disease tools and support to change behavior and promote weight loss. You must be enrolled in a Cigna or Central Fl medical option and meet certain eligibility guidelines to participate.”
Talkspace is a newer Cigna EAP option
Cigna members who work at Disney have access to Cigna’s EAP services along with a newer option from Talkspace:
“For a way to connect with a counselor virtually, try Talkspace.”
“Cigna is partnering with Talkspace to bring you convenient, personal, and professional online messaging therapy via your Employee Assistance Program. With Talkspace, you can regularly send text, audio, and video messages to a dedicated licensed therapist anytime, anywhere. Talkspace is confidential and secure.”
Another available EAP-related offering is LifeCare, which runs many courses and programs for Disney employees related to stress, including ones for caregivers.
Headspace for free, sponsored by Disney
Employees also have free access to Headspace:
“Get Headspace for free, sponsored by Disney.
- 1000+ hours of mindfulness and sleep content
- Mini exercises for busy schedules
- Proven to reduce stress in just 10 days”
Headspace has also gone out of its way to make it easier for Disney employees (and newer Hulu employees) who already paid for Headspace on their own to join the Disney plan and get refunded.
Mindfulness: Ten Percent Happier seminar
While it seems to be covering many of the big names, Disney doesn’t pay for the cost of meditation app Ten Percent Happier for its employees. However, it does offer a seminar led by one of its founders:
“Prioritizing self-care is more important than ever before. The Disney Learning & Development team, in partnership with D Life | My Benefits, invites you to attend a new Mindfulness Series with Dan Harris, exclusive to our employees.”
KP suggests (but doesn’t cover) Calm and myStrength
Disney employees on a Kaiser HMO plan are pointed to mental health apps Calm and myStrength as good options, but Kaiser makes clear they are not covered or subsidized.
Rewards program: Just get screened
Disney has a simple wellness rewards program for 2021 that pays employees $300 (into their HSA) for getting at least one preventive health screening or exam completed before the end of the year. Couples are entitled to $600 if they both do it.
Exercise: Grokker and ESPN Wellness
Here’s how Disney pitches Grokker:
“Virtual activity-based social platform for exercise, mindfulness, nutrition, and educational resources.”
The company offers a full suite of incentivized, gamified corporate wellness challenges but it also has a library of thousands of fitness videos. Disney’s own ESPN has its own fitness group called ESPN Wellness. That team runs programs for Disney employees via Outlook (yes, the email software) alerts:
“Everybody Moves is a virtual program that encourages and reminds employees to do intermittent 2-3 minutes movement breaks during the workday by providing an alert and content through Outlook.”
Well, that’s a wrap on Disney’s stack.
Some of these stacks are easier to figure out than others (so no promises), but let me know which company’s digital health benefits you’d like to learn more about by hitting reply to this email. And if you happen to work at a Fortune 500 company (and I know that’s a lot of you), then please send me your benefits information.
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