Transforming Virtual Primary Care for Better Patient Relationships

Marathon Health’s new virtual primary care model, takes employer-sponsored virtual care offerings to a whole new level, giving companies a more meaningful way to deliver online healthcare to their employees.

Going beyond simply offering convenience for virtual point-of-care services, such as sick and urgent care visits with a telehealth doctor, Marathon Health Anywhere focuses on building deeper relationships between engaged employee-participants and their healthcare providers.

With collaborative virtual care teams of physicians, nurse practitioners, health coaches, behavioral health counselors, and concierge care coordinators to help employees navigate their primary care needs, but also understand their health risks and manage chronic conditions, companies realize better health outcomes and increase savings.

During our recent webinar, “Transforming Virtual Care for Better Patient Relationships,” Marathon Health Chief Marketing Officer Shelly Towns and Executive Vice President of Growth and Strategy Michael Gonzales discuss the benefits of this unique virtual primary care solution, its dedicated care teams, and remote monitoring tools designed to provide high-quality, virtual primary care to all employees.

“Virtual care has kind of become the new mobile app. Everyone has one, but most of them don’t get used,” Towns says. “Even those that get used, they rarely make a real impact. If we’re really going to transform healthcare, it can’t be lip service. We’ve got to see people get healthier, and it needs to cost less.”

While the pandemic accelerated the influx of employer-sponsored virtual care services, few offer follow-up care or help patients navigate a complicated healthcare system beyond that initial urgent visit.

“Patients tell us they’ve had these virtual experiences, but they feel very transactional right now,” Gonzales says. “It’s sort of like Uber for docs. I call one day and it’s one doctor, I call the next day, and it’s another doctor.”

Marathon Health Anywhere flips that type of healthcare delivery model on its head, focusing instead on the patient, the patient experience, and a dedicated patient-provider relationship, rather than the transaction, Gonzales says.

Relationship-based virtual primary care for employees is here! Watch our video to learn more.

With so many points of service for healthcare today, Gonzales says many people need help navigating a fragmented healthcare system. That’s what Marathon Health’s been doing since 2005, with a multidisciplinary care team to collaborate on employees’ long-term health needs. The strategy behind Anywhere follows a similar approach.

“How can we take what’s worked really well on-site, but deliver it in a meaningful way that improves the patient experience virtually?” Gonzales asks.

At Marathon Health, virtual care teams — comprised of the best physicians, NPs, RNs, mental health providers, engagement specialists, and care coordinators from all over the U.S. — focus on keeping healthy patients healthy, coaching others to eliminate risk factors to become healthy, and helping those with chronic conditions learn to manage symptoms and improve their overall quality of life.

“It’s tailoring virtual care to those patients, but also making sure we don’t treat a patient as their condition but treat a patient holistically,” Gonzales says. “We want to get patients and members with the right provider at the right time with high quality, low cost-of-care providers close by.”

Gonzales says offering concierge care coordinators truly sets Marathon Health’s virtual primary care model apart. The care team provides members with white-glove treatment and advocates for them as they navigate their healthcare needs.

Marathon Health Anywhere gives employees and their families the power of choice to access high-quality healthcare where and when they need it, Towns says. It also helps HR leaders serve their employers and employees better.

“Employers more than ever want to take care of their people,” Towns says. “But, these HR leaders say, ‘Man, I don’t want to say yes to a benefit that doesn’t benefit everyone.’ For the first time, we’re giving these leaders a chance to say ‘yes’ to everyone.”

Recognizing that not everyone has the same healthcare needs, Anywhere pricing is based on a low monthly fee for basic virtual care options, and a per-participant fee for members who engage with services like ongoing primary care, behavioral health, or remote monitoring. Participants might engage in remote monitoring of their diabetes or high blood pressure, and the care team monitors and analyzes the data to help them reach better outcomes.

“It’s an engagement model,” Gonzales says. “If you use it, we charge a fee. If you don’t, then we don’t charge a fee.”

Nearly half of the webinar participants said they currently offer virtual health to their employees, but half also said it needs improvement. And 80% of webinar participants said behavioral health services rank at the top of their healthcare needs over the next three years, with remote patient monitoring at 47% and concierge care coordination at 40%.

Towns says Marathon Health Anywhere offers a win-win for employers and their employees.

“Obviously the engagement will breed better health, and better savings,” she says. “It’s the Marathon Way.”

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