Consult A Doctor, an innovator of cloud-based telemedicine services and delivery platforms solutions for all major healthcare stakeholders, today announced that Employee Benefit Design (EBD), LLC, a large independent firm and innovative leader in employee benefits and benefits communication solutions in Springfield, Missouri, successfully negotiated agreements with Missouri’s major commercial insurance carriers to make Consult A Doctor 24/7 a free telemedicine benefit for employers. Some of those carriers include United, Coventry, Aetna, Cigna and Anthem BlueCross BlueShield.
With telemedicine’s expanded reach and growth in popularity, health insurers across the nation are finding that it is an essential offering to add to their benefit packages. As demonstrated by EBD’s success in Missouri, Consult A Doctor’s telemedicine solutions can offer tremendous benefits to businesses by providing:
– competitive differentiator for health plans, employers and insurance brokers
– an attractive consumer offering that enables 24/7 access to the largest national network of U.S. board certified physicians from anywhere via phone, secure email, video and mobile app
– cost savings for businesses that adopt Consult A Doctor’s telemedicine solutions
– improved access to care for employees and/or health plan members which leads to a reduced duration of illness and less unnecessary time out of work
State Insurers Collaborate With Employee Benefit Design to Offset Costs of Consult A Doctor For Employers
Miami, March 15, 2012 — As telemedicine continues to expand its reach and grow in popularity, health insurers are finding that it is an essential offering to add to their benefit packages. Employee Benefit Design (EBD), LLC, a large independent firm and innovative leader in employee benefits and benefits communication solutions in Springfield, Missouri, is a testament to the tremendous business benefits of telemedicine. After securing several new employer benefit contracts by offering Consult A Doctor 24/7, a telemedicine service that provides patients 24/7 access to the largest national network of U.S. board certified physicians from anywhere via phone, secure email, video and mobile app, EBD was also able to demonstrate the value of Consult A Doctor 24/7 to Missouri’s major commercial insurance carriers, negotiating agreements with each to make Consult A Doctor 24/7 a free benefit for employers.
“After offering Consult A Doctor’s telemedicine solution to our own employees at EBD, we not only saw immediate cost savings but our employees instantly realized improved access to care, resulting in reduced duration of illness and less unnecessary time out of work. Following this experience at EBD, it became clear that we needed to start including Consult A Doctor in our healthcare solution offerings,” said Dan Ruggeri, Missouri partner for EBD. “Adding the Consult A Doctor service to our benefit packages gives us a significant competitive edge—with one major government employer going so far as to specifically reference telemedicine service in its RFP. Seeing the substantial savings due to lower medical costs that our firm and our clients were realizing, it seemed like there was a strong case to be made for health plans to incentive adoption of this service. Today, the major plans in our state provide a credit for the cost of the Consult A Doctor service from the employers’ monthly premiums, and the demand for our services—featuring this now free benefit—has taken off.”
In addition to securing this agreement with major carriers like United, Coventry, Aetna, Cigna and Anthem BlueCross BlueShield, Ruggeri also won new contracts for several major employers in the region, including a large local government customer that ultimately signed with EBD because of the Consult A Doctor service benefit. EBD expects to see continued competitive differentiation and sales success by featuring the Consult A Doctor telemedicine service offering.
“We have been talking about the demonstrated ability of our telemedicine service to lower costs for employers, insurers and brokers for some time now and it is extremely gratifying to see that understanding catch on across the country,” said Wolf Shlagman, founder and CEO, Consult A Doctor. “Dan Ruggeri and EBD are shining examples of the cost savings and business opportunities that Consult A Doctor’s telemedicine innovations can bring to any community. The fact that the major health plans in Missouri are making this a free benefit is another exciting milestone in the rapid spread and adoption of telemedicine across the U.S.”
The Consult A Doctor service has not only demonstrated its value for large employers, it has also proven essential for small businesses. EBD itself has derived significant business from the service in the form of reduced medical costs—and even more importantly—increased productivity.
“As a self-employed individual with a $2,500 deductible, going to the doctor for even minor illnesses becomes a costly and timely inconvenience,” said Ruggeri. “Those three hours that I would typically spend shuttling myself to and from my primary care physician to fill a prescription or get basic treatment for a sinus infection is three hours of lost production time. Additionally, Consult A Doctor 24/7 also helps keep my family healthy as it helps me keep my children away from unnecessary germ exposure, whether it be in the doctor’s office or the emergency room. I just simply call, video, or email Consult A Doctor and within minutes, I get the care I need.”
Consult A Doctor 24/7, the market’s first mature direct-to-consumer telemedicine service, was developed by Consult A Doctor, an innovator of cloud-based telemedicine services and delivery platforms solutions for all major healthcare stakeholders. Powered by TeleCare 3.0, a cloud-based platform that meets the highest standards for security and HIPPA compliance, the Consult A Doctor 24/7 service has been fundamental in accelerating the company’s efforts to transforming access and affordability in healthcare. Having perfected this platform with over 200,000 consultations over the past five years, Consult A Doctor now provides customized versions of its telemedicine platform to meet the specific needs of all the major constituents in healthcare, including practices, hospitals, clinics, health plans and employers.
About Consult A Doctor
Consult A Doctor is the leading innovator of cloud-based telemedicine services and technology platform solutions empowering organizations to lower healthcare costs, provide revolutionary access and improve outcomes. With years of experience delivering direct-to-employer and consumer telemedicine services that offer convenient 24/7 access to doctor consultations by phone, email and video, Consult a Doctor has saved employers millions of dollars in unnecessary healthcare costs, and added millions of dollars of productivity to the bottom line by helping keep employees at work and healthy. Its telemedicine network of U.S. board certified physicians in all 50 states has made it possible to give on-demand care, anytime, anywhere with access to medically-equivalent care in the lowest cost setting. Consult A Doctor is further transforming the economic equation of care by partnering with payers, providers and other organizations to deploy its telemedicine platform solution that grants its members and patients unmatched access to quality care, offers a new revenue source for providers, and lowers costs for health plans, employers and groups. For more information about Consult A Doctor, please visit www.consultadr.com, email telecare@consultadr.com or call 888-688-DOCT (3628).
Employee Benefit Design, LLC
Employee Benefit Design, L.L.C, is a locally owned, community-based, independent firm specializing in employee benefits and benefits communication solutions. Many insurance companies recognize us as a “preferred” agency. All of our fulltime staff is licensed and completes ongoing continuing education requirements. Several of our employees hold professional designations and serve on producer advisory boards and committees for insurance companies. This allows us to give input directly to the insurance companies for the benefit of our clients. With several professional designations being held, a considerable number of combined years of experience in the industry, and outstanding employees, Employee Benefit Design, L.L.C, is truly an organization that strives to “earn and keep your business.” Employee Benefit Design is a proud member of United Benefit Advisors (UBA). UBA is an alliance of independent benefit advisory firms throughout the country.
