The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida - Other School Department Based Activities
Celebrating 10 Years Of Wellness
Health Advocate
Risk & Benefits Management – Health Advocate™, Inc.
About Health Advocate™, a subsidiary of West Corporation
Health Advocate, a subsidiary of West Corporation, is the nation’s leading independent healthcare advocacy and assistance company. With over 10,000 client relationships covering over 45 million lives, Health Advocate helps millions of Americans personally navigate the often complex healthcare system.
The School District of Palm Beach County offers a seamless integration of Advocacy and Employee Assistance Program (EAP) + Work/Life services to employees, spouses/domestic partners, dependent children, parents, and parents-in-law at no additional cost to you. The District offers the Advocacy programs through Health Advocate which is headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, and the EAP + Work/Life through a division of Health Advocate, located in Jacksonville, Florida.
Executive Summary for the Programs
Advocacy, EAP + Work/Life are key benefits in the overall offering to the employees and families of the School District.
One of the goals that we embarked on in the last year was to look for new ways to infuse communications throughout the year to continue to promote the programs. The overall interactions in 2015 increased to 12,273, where we saw 12,245 in 2014.
Employee assistance and Work/Life benefits continue to be the strongest driver to the program in 2015. Claims Assistance and Specialty Care Locators tie as the second largest call driver and Benefits Education is fourth, to round out the top 4 top call drivers throughout the year.
Health Advocate continues to partner in health and wellness fairs, Wellness Champion meetings, EAP + Work/Life Advisory Committee meetings, ongoing communications and webinars, new employee orientations and ongoing onsite training sessions. During this last year, Health Advocate added an increased focus on the Advocacy benefit by speaking about it during Wellness Champion meetings and partnering with the Risk and Benefits team to create additional custom communications (stuffer during open enrollment, home mailing, custom flyers and custom case studies), created and presented a three part series on “Caring for the Caregiver”, provided special outreach on “Stay Healthy – Heart Awareness” and “Identity Theft”, promoted video counseling, and provided a new EAP Orientation Video.
Health Advocate continues to be a very strong benefit for the District and their families.
The Health Advocacy Benefit
Employees have access to Health Advocate’s Health Advocacy service, a unique benefit that gives each member (which includes the employee, employee’s spouse/ domestic partner, their covered dependents, their parents or parents-in-law) access to a dedicated Personal Health Advocate. These are typically registered nurses, supported by medical directors and benefits and claims experts. Personal Health Advocates work one-on-one with members to resolve a variety of time-consuming healthcare and insurance-related issues. Here are some examples of why you might call:
- To educate the member on their benefits and ask general benefit questions
- To correct billing errors
- To receive assistance with questions regarding Medicare
- Questions about and/ or assistance with medical or dental bills
- To locate elder care resources for you or your family
- To receive an explanation of conditions or treatments
- To receive assistance with Rx questions
The Employee Assistance + Work/Life Program Benefit
The EAP + Work/Life program offers access to a Licensed Professional Counselor for short-term assistance with personal, family and work-related problems. A work/life specialist can help find a range of support resources. The program’s comprehensive website offers articles and workshops on topics from wellness and career development to assistance with financial, legal, and identity theft issues. In a crisis, emergency help is available 24/7.
Talk to a Licensed Professional Counselor to learn coping skills for:
- Personal, work, and family issues (i.e. stress and depression)
- Drug and alcohol abuse
- Referrals for in-depth, long-term help, if needed
Call the work/life specialist to find support services for:
- Eldercare, childcare
- Legal, financial issues
- Parenting, adoption
Other features include:
- 24-hour Helpline for stress, financial concerns, balancing work/family life, and/or any issues that could or are impacting employee health and productivity
- Unlimited risk management consultations to principals and employee relations
- On-site crisis response
- EAP impact reports
- Training and EAP outreach/promotions
- Online services with thousands of resources:
----Articles
----Assessments
----Online training
----Webinars
Spotlight – What Employees Are Saying
The coach was extremely helpful, informative and very positive. I shared my Health Advocate experience with fellow staff. Thank you for this service. (January 29, 2015)
A nice way to balance things out. (February 23, 2015)
This is my first experience using Health Advocate services. My bill was lowered to an affordable amount! Thank you very much!! Wish I had used you sooner!!! (February 26, 2015)
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Thank you to my advocate for all that you have done for me. Very patient, very informative and very kind. (March 03, 2015) |
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Thank you for responding so diligently to my concern. 🙂 (March 24, 2015) |
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Thank you for your prompt and friendly help!! (March 24, 2015) |
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Health Advocate provided great information to help make life changes to fit my personal needs. (April 18, 2015) |
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I love Health Advocate because they know exactly the right questions to ask and how to get me what I need in my fight to get the services I need to conquer my health issues. I am extremely grateful! Thank You! (April 18, 2015) |
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I had a good experience with Health Advocate. (April 20, 2015) |
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Angelique was more helpful than I imagined! She is helping me with finding good providers and saving me money on prescriptions. (May 30, 2015) |
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Health Advocate is perfect and well qualified. (May 30, 2015) |
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The Health Advocates are dedicated and professional! Please continue this valuable service! (June 20, 2015) |
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Thank you for all of your help. (June 21, 2015) |
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Health Advocate is a great benefit for employees! (July 06, 2015) |
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Health Advocate is always helpful. I'm not put on hold and transferred to multiple parties. Thank you! (July 21, 2015) |
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My advocate was very helpful and patient as we worked through the process and helping in understanding my request. (August 18, 2015) |
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I appreciate the update. And, once again, thank you for your assistance and advocacy! (November 01, 2015) |
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Thank you for your note. Thank you for communicating with my contacts and your general advocation! I look forward to your updates as you help our plan continue to take action. (November 20, 2015) |
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Thank you so much for your help. My husband and I appreciate the diligence you put into our inquiry. Your detailed response was extremely helpful and we're quite impressed by this service. (December 01, 2015) |
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I'm glad Health Advocate is available to us. (December 02, 2015) |
Spotlight – Advocacy Utilization
Health Advocate provided assistance with 2,611 interactions across the last year! 42% of the calls were driven by claims assistance needs. The 2nd and 3rd call drivers were Specialty Care Locator (18%) and Benefits Education (9%).
| Top 3 Advocacy Categories |
Claims Assistance 599 total interactions
Claim Triage 170 interactions
Educate Member 161 interactions
Provider – Resolve Posting Billing 116 interactions
Dental 83 interactions
Medical Necessity/ Cosmetic 61 interactions
Benefit Maximum 5 interactions
Resolve Incorrect Bene App-Other 2 interactions
Timely Filing 1interactions
Specialty Care Locator 561 total interactions
Locate Specialists 536 interactions
Home Care Services 19 interactions
Equipment or Supplies 6 interactions
Benefits Education 221 total interactions
General Information 65 interactions
Other 45 interactions
Wellness Program/ Incentives 39 interactions
Coverage Levels 31 interactions
Medical 30 interactions
Health Advocate Service 3 interactions
Authorization/ Predetermination Process 3 interactions
Vision 2 interactions
Claim Submission/ Reimbursement 1 interaction
STD/ LTD/ FMLA/ LOA 1 interaction
Dental 1 interaction
Spotlight – EAP + Work/ Life Utilization
Health Advocate provided over 6,600 hours of service in 2015 for the District employees and their families. Employees continue to use the online classes as the highest driver for utilization. Health Advocate continues to make a significant impact through more than 4,700 employees accessing onsite support, training and personal growth!
The top 3 reasons for utilizing the EAP were Emotional, Worklife and Family. Relationship and Occupational round out the top 5. Of the cases that were handled with the counselors, 75% were handled by the EAP team. The additional cases were coordinated with various other resources (i.e. legal assistance, outpatient mental health, additional financial resources, community resources, etc.).
Top 5 training sessions:
- Customer Service in Schools
- Developing a Customer Focused Attitude
- Mind Your Own Business: Rumors & Confidentiality
- Time Management
- Business Etiquette
| Questions? |
Health Advocate is happy to be able to serve the employees and families of The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida. If you have any questions about the Advocacy or the EAP + Work/Life benefit, please call (855) 424-8400.
For more information, please click on www.healthadvocate.com and type in “The School District of Palm Beach County.”