SAN FRANCISCO—A California company has introduced a value-based insurance design product for fully insured small and midsize employers that provides financial incentives to encourage employees to access preventive care and manage chronic conditions.The program, developed by San Francisco-based SeeChange Health Insurance Co., provides up to $1,000 deposited into a health incentive account that plan members can tap to reduce their out-of-pocket medical costs if they take three steps: see their doctor for a checkup, take a basic lab test and complete a health-risk questionnaire.
If the screening process determines that the plan member has a chronic condition, the insurer will deposit another $200 in their health incentive account to help cover maintenance costs, provided they meet a further set of conditions based on treatment guidelines established by such organizations as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Other perks
The plan also offers other wellness-oriented perks such as admission to state parks to encourage outdoor activity, and access to a physician house-call service to deter use of hospital emergency rooms.
The insurer also is in talks with Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc. to create personal computer, iPhone and iPad applications to monitor blood pressure and infant care.
The product, available only to employers in California with two to 300 employees, is among the first VBID products to be offered to the fully insured group health market. The primary objective of a VBID is to remove the financial barriers to purchasing “high-value” drugs or services with the hope of raising compliance and avoiding more expensive future medical costs, such as hospitalization.
Plans to expand
Though VBIDs have been widely adopted by large, self-insured employers, access to fully insured employershas been limited for a variety of reasons. Among other things, health insurers have blamed the need to seek regulatory approval, restrictive community rating laws, and the fact that small and midsize employers often shop their health coverage annually, either inviting adverse selection or not allowing sufficient time for the benefit changes to positively affect plan members’ health.
Having gone statewide Aug. 1 after launching the product on a limited basis in Fresno, Calif., SeeChange plans to expand nationally once it receives regulatory approval for its product in the 24 other states where it has insurance licenses, according to SeeChange CEO Martin Watson.
Editor’s Note: SeeChange Health’s application to the Texas Department of Insurance is pending at this time.
