Elevating Whole Health, Advancing Health Beyond Healthcare

Increasing Access Through Our Digital Care Solutions

Elevance Health is moving beyond traditional healthcare models to provide members with a full spectrum of care including leading-edge digital and virtual experiences. Our digitally-enabled care enhances the whole health of our members by reaching and treating them early and often with seamless, personalized care.

The Sydney Health Platform: Opening the Digital Door to Better Health

The Sydney Health member engagement platform serves as a digital front door to an array of tools and experiences designed to meet each member’s medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision healthcare needs, while also providing easy access to benefit and claim information. Our platform boasts 16 million registered users, engaging with information and services from their phones, computers, or other connected devices.

The Sydney Health platform offers person-centered options such as:

• One-click access to services, wellness resources, and benefits information, with interactive chat to get answers quickly.
• The Personalized Match feature which helps members find an in-plan provider who meets their needs and preferences.
• The My Health Dashboard which allows members to search wellness programs, plan health goals, and sync a fitness tracker.

For example, when a member opens the Sydney Health app to find a provider or obtain a digital copy of their insurance card, they may be greeted with information relevant to their personal healthcare. This could include:

• A reminder that they are overdue for a medication refill.
• An alert about a doctor that might best fit their current needs.
• An article about the importance of a colonoscopy after age 45.

The convenience of the Sydney Health app leads to better member engagement and outcomes, while helping manage the cost of care via virtual care, recommendations, referrals, and direct management.

Virtual Primary Care Evolves into a Healthcare Staple

Virtual primary care allows more equitable access to healthcare and is especially important for members who live far from provider services or have a schedule outside of provider hours. Virtual healthcare providers can help manage a diverse set of healthcare needs including:

• Common urgent care concerns such as allergies, minor illnesses, and rashes
• Nutritional consultations
• Mental health services
• Physical/occupational therapy sessions

Our ability to offer virtual primary care became even more essential during the COVID-19 crisis as members sought the safety and convenience of accessing at-home care. We met this unprecedented demand with the Sydney Health plan management platform, which allows members to access virtual primary care via phone, computer, or another connected device. Our members have embraced these options, making over 1.5 million virtual care visits since 2021.

As the pandemic ebbs, our member interest in virtual care remains strong with 13% of all primary and wellness care visits being virtual and more than 71,000 primary care and urgent care visits per month made through our digital channels.

To ensure our virtual care is even more accessible and cost effective, many of our healthcare plans offer members access to a virtual care team through our medical text-chat service. This team can provide members with preventive care, condition management, and respond to urgent care concerns, all at no or low cost.

Survey Finds Americans Are Overwhelmingly Satisfied with Digital Healthcare

Elevance Health commissioned a Harris Poll of over 5,000 adults on their attitudes towards virtual primary care. Among people who had used virtual primary care, nearly 80% reported that it allowed them to take charge of their health, with nearly three-quarters agreeing that the healthcare system is improved by virtual healthcare.

• 71% said that they would use a mobile texting app to chat with a primary care provider.
• Convenience and accessibility are among the top traits that attract respondents to digital methods like virtual primary care.

An Innovative Pilot Program for Families with Young Children

Amerigroup Texas, an Elevance Health affiliated health plan, recently launched a virtual healthcare pilot program targeted to families with children ages 2–4 who regularly visit the ER due to recurring illnesses such as ear infections, sore throats, and upper respiratory infections.

The program uses innovative technology to provide families with a kit including an exam camera and other equipment allowing them to conduct heart, throat, lung, abdomen, ear, skin, temperature and other exams at home, any time of the day or week. Combined with expert virtual guidance, these tools are helping families avoid stressful visits to the ER and urgent care facilities .

This program has delivered 59% more accurate diagnoses than traditional telehealth solutions, and has successfully resolved 98% of incidents without the need for in-person follow-up appointments.

Hundreds of Texas families have already enrolled in the program and Amerigroup is reaching out to additional families who could benefit from its innovative approach.

Total Health Connections: Streamlining the Healthcare Experience

The healthcare system can be complex. Doctors, hospitals, and health plan associates may not have easy access to the complete picture of a person’s health. Similarly, consumers can be challenged when navigating between multiple benefit programs, administrators, and care providers. At a time of greater connectivity in everyday life, people expect the same streamlined experience from their healthcare system.

Elevance Health’s Total Health Connections meets this expectation by offering guided, personalized healthcare that seamlessly integrates each member’s benefits, allowing them the convenience of scheduling appointments, paying claims, and connecting with care providers in real-time. This highly-connected experience frees consumers to focus on their health, instead of managing a complicated healthcare system.

Data-Driven Personalized Care

The Total Health Connection is a whole health experience, offering members curated recommendations through a simple, intuitive, and personalized experience. Our clinical advocates support each member’s individual health needs with real-time data analytics that proactively identify health risks and support the member in managing physical, behavioral, and social issues by connecting them to high-performing providers.

Our first-generation clinical advocacy solution began as a pilot in 2018 for two clients with approximately 250,000 members. Since then, Total Health Connections clinical advocacy has grown to serve over 4 million members.