More Care for Every Dollar: The ROI of HELPcare

Seven years ago yesterday I had coffee with my high school classmate, Dr. Dave Strobel. He told me about a clinic where he was working that was owned by the pipe trades unions.

Members and their families could get office visits and lab tests without paying anything out of pocket. Dave had an hour with each patient and saw about seven patients a day.

I remember thinking: Wouldn’t it be great if we had something like that in Austin?

And why should you have to belong to a particular union or work for a large employer to get that kind of care?

Those questions led us to launch HELPcare Clinic. Today, we serve 2,600 members and work with 20 employers.

We’ve seen how much people appreciate unhurried visits, timely appointments and knowing they won’t get a surprise bill for included services. But we also wanted to answer a question for employers: How much care are employees and their families receiving for the dollars invested?

That’s why we developed our white paper, The ROI of HELPcare.

In this week's episode of Take Charge with HELPcare, my co-host, Dan Hinmon, interviews me about what we found and what it could mean for your team.

We added up what our 20 employer clients paid, then compared the services their members received with low-end and high-end estimates of what those services would cost in hospital-affiliated primary care.

For every dollar employers spent, employees and their families received an estimated $1.85 to $2.67 in health care services, on average.

Let me be clear about what that means. It doesn’t mean employers received that amount back in cash or saved that much on insurance claims. It measures the estimated value of care received compared with the membership and service dollars spent.

That distinction matters. So does something the numbers alone can’t fully capture: Employees are getting care.

A health insurance card doesn’t necessarily make people comfortable scheduling an appointment. With a large deductible, they may wonder what the visit will cost, what the labs will cost and whether they should just wait.

When included care costs them $0 out of pocket, that hesitation changes. They can seek help when they’re sick and make time for conversations about improving their health.

HELPcare membership can be the foundation of an employer’s health plan, paired with insurance for hospitalization, surgery and other major needs. It also gives smaller employers who can't afford an insurance plan a way to offer a meaningful primary care benefit.

The next step is to make the numbers specific to your organization.

At HELPcare.health/ROI, you can request the white paper and explore a customized HELPcare Impact Estimate. We can start with your employee count, then talk through your situation in a 20-minute conversation.

Before putting more money toward your next insurance renewal, consider what it could mean to put some of those dollars toward care your employees can actually use.

Watch our conversation above, or listen on Spotify, and then let’s explore how HELPcare could help your team get more care for every dollar.

Share this:

Lee Aase

Lee Aase is the founder of HELPcare LLC, which provides comprehensive membership, marketing and management services for provider-owned HELPcare Clinics, as well as metabolic health education and coaching for people interested in restoring health and reversing disease through lifestyle changes. Lee and his wife Lisa live in Austin, MN and have six married children and 21 grandchildren.