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March 3, 2020
Onboarding can be a challenging time, as new groups begin to learn about their new health benefits. We want to help make things easier for small group employers and their staff—and arm you with the knowledge you need to anticipate and answer their most frequent questions. Here we go:
Q: What’s the best way for small-group employees to start participating in their new Asuris health plan?
A: We care about employers’ businesses, and that begins with caring about their employees. So, our metallic plans make it easy to earn generous rewards through our Incentive Wellness Program. Your clients’ employees can follow just three simple steps to start earning rewards:
- Visit asuris.com for a wealth of information about using their benefits and setting up a member account.
- Go to Asuris Motivate from the Member Dashboard and complete a health assessment, a brief online survey and questionnaire about their health and lifestyle.
Have a biometric screening–either from an in-network doctor or a participating Patient Service Center, or through a home test kit–within the first three months of their effective date. Employees who complete these three steps earn a $100 gift card on Asuris Motivate. And, more important: For each of those employees, employers will get a discount of 3% off their premiums.
Q: How can new employees see whether their current doctor or specialist is in our provider network?
A: Convenient access to high-quality health care is of the utmost importance, so we proudly offer a large provider network. Still, we always recommend that everyone check their doctors’ network status. That’s easy to do by signing in on asuris.com and using the Find a Doctor tool.
Because many new employees will be searching for a new provider, we’ve also made that easy with Find a Doctor. They can search for provider name, hospital or clinic name, medical condition, or provider specialty.
Q: What’s the best way for employees to learn about all their benefits?
A: If they’ve registered for a member account online at asuris.com, they can view information and learn about their benefits any time. Their Member Dashboard contains quick links to their benefits and coverage summary for medical and pharmacy services, as well as dental and vision coverage, if applicable. Each coverage summary includes the status of their deductible amount and year-to-date spending applicable toward their out-of-pocket maximum. The Member Dashboard also provides information about claims status, links to Find a Doctor and cost estimator tools, telehealth resources and more.
Q: How can employees save money on medications?
A: Our partner MedSavvy® offers a prescription drug efficacy and cost-comparison tool that allows employees to research both prescription and over-the-counter medications, learn about their efficacy, and compare them with other available options. If there’s a more effective medication for treating a condition than the one prescribed, they’ll know it.
But equally important, MedSavvy enables users to compare the costs of brand-name medications with generic alternatives and choose based on their needs. Every day, MedSavvy provides real savings and confidence.
A recent case study with a large employer demonstrates how: In a campaign focused on high cholesterol medication, use of MedSavvy resulted in about 11% of employees switching to a lower-cost option. The average cost per claim also dropped from $36.66 to $15.44. That's real savings that both employees and employers can get behind. If saving money on out-of-pocket expenses is what your employers are after, MedSavvy will help them do it.
Q: Recently there’s been a lot of media attention around telehealth. What is telehealth and why should employees use it?
A: Telehealth, or virtual doctor visits, is the delivery of preventive and diagnostic services over the phone, via text messaging, email, chat or video conferencing. Research shows that telehealth saves employees an average of $100 per visit over an in-person office, urgent care or emergency room visit (that’s $75 on medical bills, and $25 on time, travel and mileage).
It also enables employees to receive many forms of care more conveniently than in person. It’s a great option for busy employees who have a hard time making it to the doctor's office.
More than a nurse advice line, telehealth lets employees have a confidential appointment with a doctor, get a diagnosis and treatment instructions, and have a prescription sent to their local pharmacy, if needed.
Reinforce your consultative value to your groups by ensuring they have this information at their fingertips. Answering some of their most common questions before they’re asked positions you as the trusted advisor they need.