ABACUS GROUP Partners with HEALTH OPTIONS WORLDWIDE to Offer Wellness Tool to Agents for Distribution to Employers and their Employees

KNOXVILLE, TN – January 15, 2014 – The Abacus Group  (Abacus), a leader in voluntary worksite product development, and Health Options Worldwide (HOW), a leader in promoting behaviors that drive early clinical recognition of disease, have announced a partnership to provide the HOW wellness engagement tool, myHINT™, to agents who work with Abacus.  Agents will now have the option to incorporate the wellness engagement tool into their strategy for their clients who offer the Abacus Series of products.  

“Abacus agents will benefit from the introduction of myHINT™ as it positions them to demonstrate how worksite products can help to protect employees and their families,” says Hal Denton, SVP of Abacus.  “The myHINT™ program enhances the entire customer relationship and builds credibility for the Abacus agent. Some Abacus agents have already started using myHINT tools and have incorporated them into their strategy."

myHINT™ is an engagement tool that can maximize employee participation in worksite benefit programs. Virtual health coaches deploy physician recommendations and clinical guidelines that help to prevent those health risks from becoming a reality.  myHINT™ communicates with employees about the importance of protecting themselves and their families. Through their virtual health coaches, employees are given monthly reminders by both email and text. about the risks to their health, and the recommendations that can mitigate those risks. This continuous engagement can help to support an agent’s re-enrollment strategy, provide a medium to offer additional benefits, and also support client retention.    

Denton says that gaining access to employees has always been a challenge. “Many employees skip enrollment meetings, especially the folks who think they don't need disability insurance other benefits. With myHINT™ they now feel like there's a good reason for them to come."

He adds, “The myHINT™ tool not only helps agents obtain better employee access at re-enrollment, but also helps agents add products such as critical illness or accident insurance to their clients’ worksite program.  Agents now have the opportunity to deliver a global wellness program at no cost to employers that’s personalized to employees and their families.”

myHINT is available to all employees regardless of whether they elect worksite benefits, thereby increasing an agent’s access to their clients’ employees and supports the client commitment toward ideal conditions.  

David Goldstein, CEO of HOW, explains, "Unfortunately most people have no idea what health risks they may have, and do not consider that something bad-or potentially catastrophic- can happen to them. With myHINT™, we try to change that by quickly identifying someone’s health risks and then help to prevent them from happening.”

Le Phan, CEO of Strategic Benefit Solutions (SBS), uses myHINT™ as a tool to further support engagement strategies and states, “My firm positions myHINT™ as another component of our  integrated solution to help drive the employee engagement, and this new  tool has received positive response from both our broker partners and clients.  It has further positioned our ability to leverage ideal enrollment conditions and employee engagement.”

Phan adds that with ACA, there has been a pendulum shift in accountability to the end-user (employee), and that her  firm designs a strategy around the end-user with the goal to empower employees to be better benefit consumers.  

“myHINT™ is an invaluable engagement tool that supports our efforts in making employees aware of their health risks and the financial exposure associated with those risks,” says Phan. “We then educate employees on how voluntary benefits can help mitigate their risks by bridging gaps in their traditional health coverage, such as deductibles and co-pays, and by providing additional financial protection.  In today’s benefit climate knowledge is power, and the addition of myHINT to our engagement further supports employee empowerment, and health and financial literacy.”

Laura Carabello
lcarabello@cpronline.com
201.641.1911 x12