Issue 041
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: Employers
Two quick notes before we get onto this week’s digital health benefits stack…
- On Friday I sent out the first E&O Reader Survey. And, wow, so many helpful responses so far. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond. Since this newsletter reaches a slightly different audience, I figured I’d include a link to the survey here too. (It should take five minutes or less to complete.) Help shape future offerings from E&O and get more from your subscription: Take the reader survey if you haven’t already.
- This edition of E&O Wednesdays includes the 43rd BigCo digital health employee benefits stack analysis. If you would like a quick summary of what E&O found in its analysis of the previous 40+ BigCo stacks, check out this searchable, sortable database right 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).
Big employer digital benefits stack: Tesla
Digital health companies love to boast how many Fortune 500 customers they have. This recurring feature of E&O Wednesdays digs into a couple of Fortune 500s’ (or similarly-sized employers’) digital health stacks.
So far, in past Wednesdays 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
- and W. W. Grainger.
This week I dug into the benefits stack of Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla. Here are the digital health benefits that Tesla offers its employees along with the language the employer uses to describe them:
First off, you should know that Tesla relies on Mercer to help it curate its benefits stack.
Also, importantly: In 2022 Tesla made a big move and swapped out its main health insurance partner. It dropped UnitedHealth and chose Aetna as its replacement. That switch seems to be the reason for a few of the changes I noticed between 2021 and 2022. Tesla also offers plans from Kaiser Permanente as an option for its employees in California.
OK, here we go:
Lyra Health for behavioral health and other EAP services
The benefit that Tesla has kept at the top of its stack of health benefits for the past few years is Lyra, which is pitches as two related but separate offerings.
“Employee Assistance Program — Lyra Confidential Counseling Lyra provides confidential therapy when you need it, at no cost to you. Whether you are feeling stressed, anxious, depressed or are dealing with any number of life’s emotional challenges, Lyra can guide you through it.
- Find personalized recommendations for top therapists just for you
- Meet with a therapist in-person, via live video or tap into self-care apps on-the-go…
- Pay nothing — sessions are covered for you, and your eligible dependents
Learn how to communicate better, improve your relationships and build your skill set for taking on life’s challenges…”
Tesla also offers employees Lyra’s legal and financial planning services, which is branded Lyra Work-Life:
“Tesla provides legal consultations and financial planning services in partnership with Lyra to you and your family members.”
New: Included Health for LGBTQ+ care concierge services
I believe this one is new for 2022. (If not, it was well-hidden last year.) Tesla offers employees a care concierge service from Included Health, the company formed via the merger of Grand Rounds and Doctor on Demand, that is specifically tailored to LGBTQ+ employees and their families. The re-brand of the merged company actually came courtesy of another smaller company named Included Health that Grand Rounds had also acquired around the same time. This was the original Included’s focus pre-acquisition too.
“LGBTQ+ Care Concierge Service — Included Health Included Health is a comprehensive care navigation platform for the LGBTQ+ community specializing in connecting individuals and their loved ones with quality, affirming care. This dedicated care concierge service can:
- Answer your health care questions
- Help you find an in-network doctor or therapist
- Guide you through your available options — specific to your Tesla plans and coverage
- Connect you to a community of LGBTQ+ individuals and loved ones for additional support Included Health is available to all employees.”
New: Kindbody for fertility benefits
Thanks to its new health insurance partner Aetna, Tesla now offers Kindbody’s services to its employees:
“All members have access to:
- A dedicated navigation team
- Organizations and resources to help navigate donor, surrogacy and adoption services
- Kindbody’s virtual wellness/holistic health services at a discounted rate
- White-glove guidance for care path
- Live & virtual events
- A personalized patient portal”
Real Appeal for weight loss coaching
If you had any doubt that Real Appeal is a distinct company from its owner UnitedHealth Group, consider that when Tesla switched from United to Aetna it still offered the program to its employees. Now it’s listed as “Aetna’s” Real Appeal weight loss program:
“Aetna Real Appeal Weight Loss Program If you are enrolled in an Aetna medical plan, you have access to Real Appeal. Real Appeal connects you and your family members with a Transformation Coach, helps you track your activities and progress and gives you access to useful recipes and workouts. This online weight loss program is available at no additional cost.”
Tesla employees on a Kaiser plan have access to a similar program from KP:
“Kaiser Permanente Balance Weight Loss Program Balance is designed to help you get to a healthier weight with a personalized action plan. This online resource has videos, goal-tracking tools and recipes to support you and your family in building new healthy habits by balancing nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle.”
Quit for Life for smoking cessation
Another UHG-owned program, Optum’s Quit for Life is still available to Tesla employees who switched from United to an Aetna plan.
“Quit For Life is a free program to help you and your family members stop using tobacco products. The program includes a personalized plan, access to a tobacco cessation coach, nicotine replacement therapy and ongoing support from an online community of peers.”
Rethink for child development and behavioral counseling
“If your child has a learning, social or behavioral challenge or a developmental disability, this program can help. Rethink gives you access to live teleconsultation with behavior experts, hundreds of easy-to-follow videos and materials to support you with understanding, teaching and communicating with your child.”
Virtual visits are mentioned (but no clear way to access them is suggested)
Tesla doesn’t go out of its way to promote virtual visits or any particular way to access them. It only shows that they are a less expensive way to receive care in non-emergency situations.
“Virtual Visits Connect with a physician or health care specialist via phone or video chat for non-emergency issues like allergies, headaches, sore throats and more”
No additional care navigation services
Despite care navigation services mentioned above for fertility and LGBTQ+, Tesla does not work with a care navigation vendor for its wider employee population. It points them to Aetna’s in-house Health Advocate offering and Kaiser’s member services hotline instead.
That’s a wrap on Tesla’s benefits stack. Which BigCo should E&O dig into next? Hit reply if you have a suggestion.
Links to E&O’s reports, databases, newsletters
Click below for dedicated pages for each of those categories:
- Read through the long-form E&O research reports here.
- Search and sort the E&O databases here.
- Skim more than 200 past issues of E&O newsletters here.
