SEATTLE, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare costs are
rising year over year, and this year with the pandemic, uncertainty
about costs is higher than ever for employers. To address
employers' needs, Accolade (Nasdaq: ACCD), providers of
personalized, technology-enabled solutions that help people better
understand, navigate and utilize the healthcare system and their
workplace benefits, turned to Aon plc, a global professional
services firm, to undertake an independent study on the impact of
Accolade's personalized advocacy model on employer healthcare
claims costs.
The results show employers utilizing Accolade's services had
higher healthcare claims costs before implementing Accolade, and
significantly reduced costs after Accolade – with savings beginning
in the first year. Employers that partnered with Accolade
experienced trend and claims cost reductions that include:
- In 2019 implementations, a healthcare trend of zero percent
(flat) in their first year, compared to a precisely matched market
control of 8.3 percent trend.
- The claims costs for these employers dropped from $590 Per Employee Per Year (PEPY) above the
market control, to $432 PEPY below
market control in the first year.
- Customers implementing Accolade in 2018 saw an annualized
healthcare cost trend of 2.0 percent compared to 6.1 percent from
the market control over a two-year period.
- In this two-year cohort, employers saw a 5.0 percentage point
reduction in claims trend in the first year after implementing
Accolade, and a 3.2 percentage point reduction in year-two
trend.
"This study is important today because it highlights the
healthcare cost challenges facing U.S. employers, and demonstrates
how each Accolade customer studied here was able to reduce claims
starting in year one," said Todor
Penev, Aon senior vice president, Fellow of the Society of
Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. "We
applied our rigorous Cost Efficiency Measurement (CEM) methodology
to analyze Accolade claims costs against the experience of hundreds
of employer plan sponsors in the market. The results show that
these employers achieved claims costs reductions and significantly
lowered trend after implementing Accolade."
Aon's team of actuaries analyzed medical service utilization and
spend of six Accolade employer customers – ranging in size from
2,000 to 70,000 members – and across major clinical categories. Aon
calculated claims reduction for each customer over one or two
years, place of service, conditions, comorbidities, catastrophic
claims and age bands. The complete study is available for review on
the Accolade website.
"The report shows that Accolade's personal advocacy model, in
conjunction with intelligent technology, is a significant driver in
lowering the healthcare cost trend for employers," said
Carolyn Young, Accolade executive
vice president and chief actuary. "Aon's findings also underscore
the importance of whole population care – regardless of age,
demographics and condition levels."
Inside Accolade Healthcare Cost Trend Reduction
To
achieve significant claims cost savings, Accolade personalized
advocacy model blends empathetic Health Assistants, clinical
expertise, and intelligent technology to serve the whole population
and support people in obtaining the right care at the right
time. Accolade provides highly personalized healthcare
support, improving health outcomes and employee experience while
reducing costs for individuals and their employers.
In line with Accolade's whole person, whole population clinical
model, the Aon study demonstrated lower costs in every major
clinical category with Accolade compared to the control
population. Accolade was associated with cost-savings across
the top 15 healthcare conditions, from Mental Health to
Hypertension/Cardiovascular and Musculoskeletal. Savings were
generated across risk groups from healthy members with no medical
conditions to members with complex medical needs (those with four
or more conditions).
"We recognize challenges ahead including vaccine distribution,
workplace safety and how our members will seek non-COVID-related
care in the new year," said Rob
Cavanaugh, President of Accolade. "Employers can expect up
to 10 percent healthcare cost trend increases in
20211 due to the pandemic. The Aon study's
promising findings validate again how Accolade's personalized
advocacy model can help employers of all sizes manage this
complexity and achieve significant savings on one of their largest
line items."
Aon Study Webinar
Accolade and Aon will present an
overview of the study, methodology and findings in a webinar
February 9 at 11:00 a.m. PST. To attend the webinar and learn
more about the findings, please register here.
About Accolade
Accolade provides personalized health
and benefits solutions designed to empower every person to live
their healthiest life. Using a blend of cloud-based technologies,
specialized support from Accolade Health Assistants® and
Clinicians, and integrated data and programs across mobile, online
and phone, Accolade navigates people through the healthcare system
with trust, empathy and ease. Employers offer Accolade to employees
and their families as the single place to turn for all health,
healthcare, and benefits questions or concerns, increasing their
engagement in benefits and connecting them to high-quality
providers and care. By empowering members to make better decisions
about their health, Accolade can support members in lowering the
cost and complexity of healthcare while achieving consumer
satisfaction ratings over 90 percent. For more information, visit
Accolade on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and
at www.accolade.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These
forward-looking statements include statements regarding our future
growth and our financial outlook. Forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially
inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking
statements. Actual results may differ materially from the results
predicted, and reported results should not be considered as an
indication of future performance. In some cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such
as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "might," "likely," "plan," "potential,"
"predict," "project," "seek," "should," "target," "will," "would,"
or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms.
Important risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual
results and financial condition to differ materially from those
indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others,
the following: (i) changes in laws and regulations applicable to
our business model; (ii) changes in market or industry conditions,
regulatory environment and receptivity to our technology and
services; (iii) results of litigation or a security incident; (iv)
the loss of one or more key customers or partners; (v) the impact
of COVID-19 on our business and results of operation; and (vi)
changes to our abilities to recruit and retain qualified team
members. For a detailed discussion of the risk factors that could
affect our actual results, please refer to the risk factors
identified in our SEC reports, including, but not limited to our
prospectuses filed with the SEC on July 1,
2020 and October 19, 2020,
respectively, and our Quarterly Reports filed on Form 10-Q.
All information provided in this release and in the attachments is
as of the date hereof, and we undertake no duty to update or revise
this information unless required by law.
(1 Health Research Institute, Medical cost trend:
Behind the numbers 2021, Medical cost trend in the midst of the
COVID-19 pandemic, June 2020,
pwc.com/us/medicalcosttrends)
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SOURCE Accolade