Phoebe Putney
A Case Study

Building Employee Benefits With Health and Wellness

Phoebe Putney Health System faced the same problems with its 3,500+ workforce as other employers.

  • The costs of benefits kept rising.
  • Many employees had multiple health conditions.

The HR team wanted to do more than just address health problems once they arose. They wanted to focus further upstream where they could encourage healthier behaviors and cost-conscious decisions

Their vision? Put a theory of unified benefits into practice, so that benefits worked together with wellness incentives built into every plan.

The goal? Better health and engagement for employees.

How Partnership Made the Vision Real

  • The Partnership: Standard Insurance Company (The Standard)* worked with multiple partners to implement Phoebe Putney’s vision of wellness in every benefit.
  • The Solution: OneDigital designed the program. The Standard built customized group insurance products for that program. Hodges-Mace managed enrollment.
  • The Result: A unique partnership brings Phoebe Putney’s vision to life.

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* Phoebe Putney's partnership is with Standard Insurance Company of Portland, Oregon, which is licensed in all states except New York.

Josh Roland

The Standard's not the only carrier that I go and pitch ideas to, but The Standard is the only carrier that has said, ‘yeah, I'm interested in that. I'll commit resources to that. I'll go out on a limb for that.’

Josh Roland, CLMS, Georgia Principal, Ancillary Benefits Practice Leader, OneDigital Health and Benefits


THE RIGHT PARTNERS

Collaboration was key to making Phoebe Putney’s vision a reality. So the health network turned to two trusted benefits consulting firms, OneDigital and Hodges-Mace. The Standard completed the team. From experience, the firms knew they could count on us to develop creative, flexible products.

Vision
Vision
Phoebe Putney
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Hospital staff

Phoebe Putney Health System

Phoebe Putney envisioned benefits that worked together with wellness incentives built into every plan. The not-for-profit medical network that serves 500,000+ residents in Atlanta, Georgia and the surrounding area. Phoebe Putney’s 4,500+ doctors, nurses, professional staff and volunteers offer a better way to health and wellness for people across the 35-county region.

Design
Design
OneDigital
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Designers

OneDigital Health and Benefits

OneDigital designed a program with flexible, incentivized benefits. The nation’s largest provider of benefits for employers of all sizes, OneDigital delivers market-leading benefits solutions, including strategic advisory services, analytics, compliance support, technical innovations and HR capital management tools.

Build
Build
The Standard
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Portland

The Standard

The Standard built customized group products for the program. A leading national carrier headquartered in Portland, Oregon, The Standard provides benefits to more than 6.6 million employees. A holistic approach sets us apart, including our innovative Workplace PossibilitiesSM program.

Deliver
Deliver
Hodges-Mace, LLC
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Atlanta

Hodges-Mace, LLC

Hodges-Mace created and carried out an enhanced enrollment strategy. The firm is a leading provider of employee benefits communication and custom enrollment services to large U.S. employers with headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

The Solution

Phoebe Putney’s medical plan already had incentives for wellness. To unify the whole benefits program, we helped create other group insurance products that could also drive healthier behavior.

  • OneDigital designed a program with flexible, incentivized benefits.
  • The Standard built customized group insurance products for the program.
  • Hodges-Mace created and carried out an enhanced enrollment strategy.

The Standard made accountability a part of every plan. As employees used their benefits, their wellness choices would directly affect their costs and benefits.

 

New Product That Gets Results

Hospital Indemnity+ Raises the Bar

The Standard worked with Phoebe Putney to create Hospital Indemnity Plus. Listening to our client led to a new product tailored to meet the goal of encouraging employees to seek care within its system. HI+ also appealed to employees. Their incentive? A bonus benefit payout built right into the new product.

9%

Enrollment for Hospital Indemnity Insurance

Industry average: 9%1
Phoebe average: 9%2

22%

Enrollment for Hospital Indemnity Plus

Increased more than 2x its original number.
Increased from 9% to 22%.

Based on 2017 mid-year rollout

Learn About Hospital Indemnity Plus

Built-In Accountability

How Built-In Accountability Works*

The Standard built a separate wellness-compliant rate structure to reward employees who participate in Phoebe Putney’s wellness program.

Employees participate by:

  • Meeting a number of fitness goals
  • Completing regular health check-ins and screenings
  • Attending optional cooking classes

60%

income replacement for a wellness program participant

50%

income replacement for a non-participant

 

*Up to $5,000 weekly benefits, or as specified in the policy. This example is for a Short Term Disability policy. Please note that a wellness component is part of all benefits that Phoebe Putney offers.

A Better Enrollment Experience

The Delivery

The final step in this endeavor? Delivery. But delivering a new vision for benefits demanded a new vision for enrollment. No more overloading employees with information once a year. Instead, we worked with Phoebe Putney and Hodges-Mace on ongoing communications.

We’re trickling out the information year-round and doing different things to ensure engagement so people really get into thinking, ‘How do these benefits impact me, my family and my finances?, said Kevin McNamara, voluntary practice leader at The Standard.

Another key to success? Making benefits education personal. Using feedback from Hodges-Mace and Phoebe Putney, we refined our Decision Support Tool to create messaging that spoke directly to different types of employees.

The Standard also simplified communications to help people find and grasp information quickly. The result? Greater retention, higher enrollment rates — and employees with more awareness of how benefits can make life better.

Consultant

Embedded Workplace Possibilities Consultant

How did we help Phoebe Putney focus on preventing claims? In early 2018, we “embedded” a Workplace PossibilitiesSM Consultant at Phoebe Putney’s worksite. This disability expert provides proactive, onsite support that helps employees stay at work or return sooner.

Learn More About Workplace Possibilities

The Result 

Wellness Incentives Built Into Every Plan

The Standard devised a separate rate structure to reward employees who participate in Phoebe Putney’s wellness program. The result? Employees who comply can support their employer and earn richer benefits at lower costs.

90%

of employees enroll in the benefits plan2

6 pts

increase in employee retention rates2

 

Will Peterson

The willingness of a carrier to stand up and say, ‘we may be in the business of disability and life, but we're willing to bring you a program that’s going to identify a person further upstream and prevent them from ever becoming a disability claim or a life claim.’ That's a unique aspect about The Standard that I've always had such an appreciation for.

Will Peterson, AVP, Human Resources at Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc.


Case Study Close-Ups

Enrollment closeup

Revamping Enrollment

Discover how rethinking enrollment led to higher participation and greater retention for Phoebe Putney.

Enrollment Close-Up
HI Plus

Hospital Indemnity+

Learn the details of how we helped create a new group insurance product that improved benefits for Phoebe Putney Health System employees while also driving business for their employer.

Hospital Indemnity+ Close-Up

Partner With The Standard

Let’s talk about how we can tailor a solution for you and your employees.

Contact a Local Insurance Benefits Office

Legal

1 Voluntary Participation Rates: Spotlight Report, Eastbridge Consulting Group, November 2017

2 Phoebe Putney Health System internal data, 2017

These products and coverages have exclusions, limitations, reductions of benefits and terms under which they may be continued in force or terminated. Please contact The Standard for additional information, including costs and complete details of coverage.

The Standard is a marketing name for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. and subsidiaries. Insurance products are offered by Standard Insurance Company of Portland, Oregon in all states except New York. Product features and availability vary by state and are solely the responsibility of Standard Insurance Company.

© 2019 StanCorp Financial Group, Inc.