Equity Healthcare, a health services company owned by private equity giant Blackstone Group, is changing the way employees under its umbrella receive advice.
Rather than cold calling larger groups of ailing employees, the company, in a revamp of the employee wellness and care management programs supplied to its clients, will target them specifically,reports The Wall Street Journal.
Here are three things to know about the issue.
- Equity Healthcare, which helps shape the health benefits for approximately 280,000 people, will reduce the number of phone calls meant to encourage workers to implement productive health efforts such as losing weight, quitting smoking or taking their medicine, according to the article. The company will now use a close study of health insurance data to focus outreach efforts on employees most likely to respond to health advice and most in need of help. This includes, for example, people with chronic conditions who visited the emergency room.
- Equity Healthcare also will usher in a new concierge-style customer service setup to help employees resolve insurance issues, reports The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, the company is strengthening its wide range of free programs for weight loss, smoking cessation and other health goals.
- The company's decision to revamp employee wellness and care management programs comes three years after Andreas Mang, Equity Healthcare's COO, began listening to recordings of nurses who worked for insurers offering patients health advice. He told The Wall Street Journal the phone calls were often unsuccessful.
For more on this story, read Anna Wilde Mathews' full report in The Wall Street Journal.
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