Issue 061
Welcome back to E&O’s Selling to Employers, the enrollment-focused digital health newsletter from Exits & Outcomes — for paying subscribers only. This newsletter digs into digital health companies that sell to self-insured employers, fully insured plans, and other payers. It’s digital health as an employee benefit.
E&O: Employers
This edition of E&O: Employers includes a breakdown of a big company’s digital health-related benefits. If you’d like a quick summary of what E&O found in its analysis of the first 50+ BigCo benefits it dug into, check out this searchable, sortable database right here. Here are two quick notes before we dig into Spring Health’s next business unit and Coca-Cola’s employee benefits:
- Omada Health hired Allan Kells as its new VP of Investor Relations, a position that private companies don’t usually have in their Org Chart. Kells led investor relations at Cerner for 21 years. (Cerner went public in the ’80s.) E&O reported that Omada was hiring a VP of Investor Relations back in November.
- Curiously, Omada Health isn’t on Pitchbook’s shortlist of likely health tech IPOs in 2024. A recent report from the firm listed a few digital health companies that sell to employers as likely IPO candidates this year: Noom, Spring Health, Hinge Health, Headspace, and Quantum Health. Pitchbook’s report last week on health tech unicorns is worth a read here.
Was this forwarded to you? Increasingly, E&O is a covered benefit from many forward-looking digital health-focused employers. Why not yours? Consider a Business or Enterprise subscription today. Click this link to become a paying subscriber (there are personal plans available too).
Scoop… Spring Health’s next move: Selling its Compass EHR to behavioral health providers
Behavioral health provider Spring Health created some intrigue last year when it teased plans for a new line of business and announced plans to hire a new General Manager level exec to lead the mystery business.
Here’s the post that Spring Health’s CEO and co-founder April Koh published on Linkedin seven months ago:
“We are hiring a General Manager to lead the next frontier of Spring Health — to take a brand new product from zero to one and scale it as the next big opportunity for the company.”
Soon after, the company posted a job description for a “GM, New Venture” that continued to keep the specifics about the new business line purposefully vague.
Perhaps because recruitment has been slow (seven months!) or maybe it was just a mistake, but Spring Health posted a new version of the job description a week ago that revealed the company’s plans. Within a few days, the post reverted back to the secretive, blinded version with all of the details removed again.
Luckily, I had already written this up for this newsletter.
Spring Health seems poised to begin selling its internally developed EHR, Compass, and its other provider-facing software to other healthcare providers and health systems. If you’ve read E&O’s Spring Health Report then you probably already recognize that one of the fascinating aspects of this move is that this is why Spring Health was founded originally — to sell software to providers. (I’ll get into more below, but — as the name — indicates Compass is clinical decision support software as well as an EHR.)
Nailed it: I speculated about this mystery job post in the big Spring Health Report that I wrote back in August. Here’s what I wrote at the time (haha):
“Well, I’m curious. Is this a return to a clinical decision support tool that Spring will sell to health systems? (Probably not.) A direct-to-consumer version of Spring? (More likely, in my opinion.)”
From the since-deleted job description of the General Manager, Compass Commercial:
“Reporting to the Chief Product Officer, you will drive the innovation roadmap and market success of Spring Health’s suite of behavioral health provider platforms, including the Compass electronic health record.”
Spring wrote that the GM will aim to deliver “market-leading provider satisfaction, efficiency, quality, and profitable growth for Spring Health’s provider-facing solutions.”
One signal that this endeavor is a big deal internally: The JD also described this as “a new, flagship product for the behavioral health practice space.”
Spring first announced that it had developed its own EHR for its network of providers back in November 2022. I would guess that launch announcement includes some hints about how Spring will position Compass and its other software tools once it starts marketing them to external providers. Here are a few excerpts from that press release back in November 2022:
“Unlike standard, transaction-based electronic health records that focus on billing for a single appointment, Compass enables real-time collaboration among mental health providers and Spring Health Care Navigators to track a patient’s outcomes over time. Through a fully integrated suite of core features like scheduling, billing, and clinical documentation, the platform creates a frictionless experience for providers.
The ’20/20 problem’ plagues the mental health industry. Twenty percent of mental health care professionals’ total working hours are spent doing administrative tasks, while fewer than 20% of mental health professionals routinely use outcome measures in clinical behavioral health practices.”
Since Spring Health is on just about everybody’s shortlist to IPO this year — remember, the company posted a job for a VP of Investor Relations in November — adding a new flagship product with a new go-to-market is also probably intended to help Wall Street imagine how much growth Spring Health still has ahead of it.
Are there any examples of digital health companies that scaled up by successfully selling digital health as a benefit to employers bolting on a new business unit focused on selling software to providers? I can’t think of any. What do you think about Spring Health’s latest move?
The Coca-Cola Company’s digital health benefits
Digital health companies love to boast how many Fortune 500 customers they have, but they aren’t always able to share which big companies offer their programs. That’s where E&O comes in. This recurring feature of E&O Wednesdays digs into a Fortune 500’s (or similarly-sized employer’s) digital health stack.
In past issues, I’ve written about the digital health benefits stacks of dozens of big companies. This searchable, sortable database over at the E&O site sums up the benefits stacks of more than 40 BigCos.
Or, click any of the BigCo names below to read the newsletter that featured a full write-up for each:
- Walmart,
- Activision Blizzard,
- JP Morgan Chase,
- The Home Depot,
- Boeing,
- 3M,
- Chevron,
- BorgWarner,
- Bank of America,
- UnitedHealth Group,
- Costco,
- eBay,
- McKesson,
- Ford,
- Dell,
- AT&T,
- Disney,
- Novartis,
- Red Bull,
- VMware,
- T-Mobile/Sprint,
- Adobe,
- Phillips 66,
- Cox Enterprises,
- Wells Fargo,
- PayPal,
- Facebook,
- Sony Pictures,
- General Mills,
- General Electric,
- Comcast,
- News Corp,
- Vanguard,
- Nokia,
- HII,
- Fidelity,
- AbbVie,
- Dow Inc.,
- R.R. Donnelley & Sons,
- Target,
- Chipotle,
- W. W. Grainger,
- Tesla,
- Hitachi,
- Western Digital,
- AmerisourceBergen,
- Analog Devices,
- Citi,
- Xerox,
- Autodesk,
- ExxonMobil,
- Amazon,
- Oracle,
- T-Mobile (revisited),
- General Mills (revisited),
- Kimberly-Clark,
- IBM,
- MassMutual,
- BorgWarner (revisited),
- Ford (revisited),
- Koch Industries,
- Wal-Mart (revisited)
- DuPont, and
- UnitedHealth Group (revisited).
For this issue, I dug into The Coca-Cola Company’s benefits. Back in early 2021 for the sixth edition of this newsletter, I mentioned that a big bottling company for Coca-Cola was working with Virta Health to try to enroll its employees in that company’s “diabetes reversal” program:
“Speaking of enrollment activity, diabetes reversal company, Virta Health, launched a campaign in October 2020 to enroll workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Southwest US. (That’s a fascinating subset of digital health enrollment campaigns: Ones that have to convince employees to stop consuming their company’s main product!)”
The benefits below are the ones available to people working at The Coca-Cola Company — not a regional bottler — but the sentiment above is still relevant for some of these programs. Coke has an unusual mix of digital health programs on offer to employees. Haven’t seen this lineup before:
Coke offers Spring Health’s services as its EAP
“Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Our EAP, offered through Spring Health, offers you and your eligible dependents 24/7 telephone access to confidential, professional assistance with advice and referrals, counseling, legal, and financial services.”
Coke offers Aetna’s Transform Oncology program to employees with cancer
While Aetna’s Transform Diabetes program is better known, the insurance co also has one focused on cancer.
“If you are diagnosed with cancer, the Aetna Transform Oncology Program is here to help you and your family go through this journey, providing personalized and expert support. Through this program, you will have access to:
- Genetic testing, screening and counseling to help your doctors find the right treatment
- Clinical trials based on your diagnosis
- Site of care reviews to ensure you are getting treatment at the best location
- A personal health navigator who will work with the entire family
This program also provides targeted prevention support if you (or an eligible dependent) have a family history of cancer and are at a higher risk for developing certain cancers during your lifetime.”
Coke offers Brightline to its employees for pediatric behavioral health
“Brightline Connect+ — School pressure, stress, anxiety, cyberbullies and self-esteem issues can take a toll on an entire family. Brightline is a pediatric behavioral health provider that offers dependents under the age of 18 and their caregivers personalized support and coaching to help them get back on track.”
Cleo for fertility, preconception, parenting advice
“Cleo is available to all Coca-Cola employees who are considering starting a family, currently expecting or have a baby under the age of 1. Cleo Considering offers prospective parents personalized guidance for preconception and fertility. Find support for family planning, clinical intervention, adoption, emotional support and more. Cleo Baby supports expecting and new parents in planning for and navigating milestones from conception to a baby’s first birthday. Cleo Guides support members through prenatal support, lactation consultations, securing childcare, work transition and return to work, and beyond.”
Coke also offers Progyny for fertility and family building services
“Progyny is a leading fertility benefit provider, providing comprehensive fertility and family building coverage for all paths to parenthood. Progyny’s benefit includes comprehensive coverage for fertility treatments such as IVF, IUI, fertility preservation and more.”
Coke offers Verily-owned Onduo for diabetes support (added in 2022)
“Onduo is a virtual care program that delivers a personalized journey to better health at no cost to you. Whether you’re looking to eat healthier, lose weight or become more active, Onduo is here to help. When you register with Onduo, you’ll get:
- A welcome kit that includes smart devices. You may receive a blood glucose meter and unlimited test strips or a digital scale that syncs with your app.
- Personalized care from the comfort of your home. You can meet with an expert endocrinologist or registered dietitian right from your smartphone.
- Valuable insights. Connect the dots and see how your food, activity and medications impact your blood glucose or weight.”
Coke offers SimpleTherapy for digital MSK
“SimpleTherapy is a digital program that guides you to back and joint pain relief using targeted exercise therapy sessions personalized to you and your condition. The program helps you manage pain across 18 body parts, and includes unlimited coaching support plus a care pack filled with everything you need to recover from home.”
Coke offers access to sleep diagnostics and treatment via Nox Health’s SleepCharge
“SleepCharge: If you’re enrolled in an Aetna medical plan, you and your covered adult dependents can enroll in the SleepCharge program, provided by Nox Health. The program uses telehealth to evaluate, diagnose, discuss, and treat sleep disorders and disruptors. Please note: The cost of the program is subject to your medical plan deductible, coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximum.”
Digital health benefits that Coke may no longer offer?
As mentioned in some of the descriptions above, Coke seems to mostly work with Aetna to administer its health benefits to employees. Back in 2022, the company offered other benefits (some via Aetna) including Teladoc for virtual visits, AbleTo for behavioral health, Virgin Pulse for fitness and wellness programs, Whil for mindfulness, and 2nd.MD for second opinions. As far as I can tell, Coke is not marketing any of these services to employees in 2024, but some of them may still be available to employees. For example, I couldn’t find any mention of a virtual visits provider in Coke’s enrollment materials, however, the company likely has that available from Aetna.
ICYMI: 87 Prices for Digital Health Programs in the E&O Pricing Database
ICYMI: I added 18 more prices to the E&O Digital Health Pricing Database, which now includes prices for 87 digital health programs. Prices vary for different channels and years, so some programs have more than one entry. E&O subscribers can click here to check out pricing info for programs from Big Health, Spring Health, Omada Health, Onduo, Hello Heart, Virta Health, Teladoc/Livongo, Hinge Health, Sword Health, Lyra Health, Headspace Health, Fern Health, Wondr Health, Kaia Health and more! If this was forwarded to you and you’d like to become a paying subscriber — click here.
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