Employers Increasing Virtual, Behavioral Health Coverage Amid Pandemic

[Music] hello i'm matty gavidia today in the mgh life sciences medical world news american journal managed care is pleased to welcome ellen kelsey president and ceo of the business group on health you just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your work sure thanks so much for having me yes i am president and ceo of business group on health and we are a non-profit representing the largest employers in the world fortune 100 500 employers on a variety of health and well-being related challenges so we work with them

and on their behalf and alongside industry stakeholders to discuss and address and hopefully make progress in advance on some of the more challenging health and well-being related issues that are are present in the american and global workforce today can you speak on business group on health 2021 large employers health care strategy and plan design services me too it's a piece of work that we're very proud of we have been launching this and fielding it every year now for a number of years

and it is an insight into the perspectives of those large employers on health and well-being strategies their perspective on the changing landscape of health care within the united states but then also foreshadowing some of their strategies for the upcoming year and beyond this year's survey was fielded in may and june and it represents the perspectives of over 122 large employers that represent over 9 million

covered lives and just to build off on that were there any trends you were especially interested in learning more on there were a number of trends we at the beginning of each year before we field the survey we forecast what we anticipate the trends to be for the upcoming year and when we fielded the survey we were interested in seeing if those trends were validated if they were underscored or certainly in light of the pandemic this year if new trends and and strategies really emerge to the forefront and what

we found in the survey was really nothing but an underscoring of the trends that we anticipated at the outset of the year namely in a few areas first certainly around mental health and emotional well-being we know that is an issue that our members and many employers around the world have been keenly focused on for a number of years second to that issue was certainly the expansion of virtual and digital health solutions we were also focused on the pandemic itself and the impact the pandemic had on

employer strategies new offerings as well as what the pandemic meant in terms of their overall plan costs and then lastly one trend that we were very interested in observing through these survey findings was what impact does the pandemic have on employers efforts to move towards delivery system and payment transformation that has certainly been an effort and a focus area for many of our employers and certainly for us organizationally for a number of years and we wanted to see

what impact the pandemic had on both employers desires to move forward in that area but then also their partners ability whether that be providers health systems or health plans to continue moving forward in that focus area as well so many key findings and trends that we were tracking prior to the survey and survey certainly gave us some good robust data and some nuanced perspectives on those issues as well as something you just referred to increased funding of virtual care as well as behavioral health is a major

takeaway from the survey can you first speak on why greater need for these services are warranted and how they can benefit overall healthcare costs sure i'll start first with virtual we have seen certainly in healthcare a massive amount of innovation for many many years now and an explosion of new startups and new solutions coming to market many employers have been implementing these solutions for a number of reasons first they do address cares or or gaps

in their current ecosystem of solutions that they offer to their employees and then certainly they meet the need from a consumer perspective consumers like the ease and convenience of these solutions and from a care delivery perspective they're more apt to seek care in a virtual environment in many instances sometimes going to the actual doctor going to an office is prohibitive from a work schedule perspective or for other reasons and so when you can make services

available at a much more convenient uh forum and different modality employees are more apt to pursue care that way certainly with the pandemic we have seen because of shutdowns and stay-at-home orders many people simply could not see their physician in person even if they wanted to so these virtual solutions have really emerged to be out of necessity a very um optimal way to deliver care in a time when care could not be delivered in person uh

it would have been many many years ago that if your doctor's office was closed you just simply didn't talk to the doctor see the doctor until they open the office again in the pandemic environment many physicians have deployed telehealth and virtual models and so their comfort and receptivity has increased and certainly as i said before we know that consumers prefer it in many ways we also see that virtual solutions are sometimes more effective in many ways such as for musculoskeletal treatments many people used to go see surgeons when

they had back and spine issues and we know that most of many musculoskeletal issues can be effectively addressed at least in the early stages via physical therapy and that in some instances physical therapy can be delivered effectively through a virtual solution so there are some conditions like that for which virtual is a really viable alternative and it is a much more cost-effective alternative to seeing an in-person physician or a surgeon for some of those services when it comes to mental and emotional

health we know that those have been issues for a long time coming in society there has been a lot of stigma associated with individuals seeking out care for those solutions so employers have been long on the path to do what they can to both break down the cultural and stigma issues associated with mental health but then also to make solutions available to their employees that are more accessible um and perhaps a little less intimidating quite honestly so if an employee can access therapy or coaching and

counseling via an app via video versus going into a counselor or therapist office they might be more willing to do that and then certainly with again the pandemic there are very many people you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who has not felt some period of stress isolatio isolation or anxiety in this pandemic environment so the number of people who are accessing services for mental and emotional well-being have certainly grown exponentially in in the past many

months as well making again those virtual services even more desirable for more people within the population