More than 400-percent Increase in Mobile Interactions Between Consumers and Accolade Health Assistants Drives New Accolade Connect Health and Benefits Solution

SEATTLE, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 1.5 million people using the Accolade Personalized Advocacy solution today, the company has a deep sense what consumers need, want and deserve in their healthcare and benefits experience. The result of a decade of benefits engagement and compassionate conversations led Accolade to develop and introduce Accolade Connect. This new Personalized Advocacy solution is the answer for employers looking to deliver a modern, simple and exceptional health and benefits experience for their employees. Accolade Connect brings all benefit programs in one place for employees, with support from Health Assistants and Clinicians via live mobile and online messaging. Apptio, the business management system of record for hybrid IT, is the first employer to bring Accolade Connect to its employees and family members. 

Accolade Connect is designed for employers of all sizes to bring their teams the simple and personalized consumer experiences they have come to expect from mobile shopping, entertainment and travel apps. At the same time, Accolade Connect eliminates disparate and inefficient processes for HR benefit leaders, instead delivering the insights and support they need to present award-winning benefits to their employees. Accolade Connect integrates quickly and easily into every employer benefits environment, connects all employer benefit programs and applications in one place for easy access and relevance, and connects plan members to personal Health Assistants through secure mobile and online messaging to support all health and benefits questions and needs.

"We are always looking for ways to help our people better manage their benefits and healthcare. Accolade Connect puts all of our benefits programs in one place for our teams and provides personal health assistants. We can't wait for our people to have this capability," said Britt Provost, Executive Vice President, People & Culture at Apptio."

Modernizing Healthcare and Benefits with Accolade Connect

• Integrated Benefits ? Accolade Connect simplifies the employee benefits experience by combining all employer benefits, programs, and messaging with trusted and compassionate Health Assistants in one environment online and on mobile.
• Personalized Experience ? With a people-plus-technology approach, Accolade Connect applies rich data and human relationships to get to know each member's complete health and life profile, and establishes personalized interactions for the greatest impact.
• Benefits Activation ? Accolade Connect applies a range of engagement and communications strategies that activate members to best use their benefits, while supporting HR benefit teams with utilization insights and analytics for more effective benefit strategy and plan design.
• Fastest Path to Advocacy ? Accolade Connect fits easily into an employer's existing benefits environment, with employers maintaining existing carrier strategies and services if preferred, on a platform designed to scale and grow as employer teams, strategies, point solutions and programs evolve and expand.

"The consumer healthcare and benefits experience can and should be as simple, personalized, and seamless as what we're accustomed to with our other mobile and online experiences," said Mike Hilton, Chief Product Officer at Accolade. "We've built a business around this premise, and Apptio is the latest innovative employer that recognizes their healthcare and benefits solution can be far simpler, more effective and can exceed employee expectations. Most employees aren't aware of or understand all of the benefits available from their employers, so we're proud to bring them one simple solution to that challenge: Just ask Accolade."

Personalized Advocacy and the Impact of Mobile
Accolade offers a portfolio of Personalized Advocacy solutions that combine compassionate advisors, clinical experts and intelligent technologies working together to dramatically change benefits utilization, satisfaction and health and financial outcomes. Across its solution portfolio ? featuring full population health solution Accolade Premier and now Accolade Connect ? member engagement is increasing due in large part to the option and convenience of mobile.

With nearly 10 years of member interactions and questions flowing to and from Accolade ? initially solely by phone ? Accolade data shows that while the questions haven't changed, the way people want to engage is changing rapidly. Since Accolade introduced its Accolade Mobile and Accolade Online applications with synchronized messaging in 2017, the company has seen the following remarkable trends across its business: 

• More than one-third of all member interactions are taking place through mobile and online messaging between members and their Accolade Health Assistants and Clinicians.
• Mobile is not just for millennials, as engagement occurs equally with members ages 18-39 and ages 40-59.
• Accolade members have exchanged more than 2.75 million messages with their Health Assistants and Clinicians in just over 18 months.
• Accolade has seen more than 400-percent growth in mobile interactions over the past 12 months, and 1,000-percent increased engagement during Open Enrollment.
• With one Accolade customer, members message their Health Assistants and clinical team more than call by phone, with other employers approaching the same trend.
• As it was in 2009, the top questions from members pertain to understanding benefits ? co-pays, in-network providers, deductibles and more ? showing that in ten years, benefits aren't simpler, but support options are more innovative and effective.

More information on Accolade Connect is online at www.accolade.com/connect. To request a demo or speak with an Accolade representative about modernizing your employee benefits strategy, please visit www.accolade.com/contact.

About Accolade
Accolade is a personalized health and benefits solution that can dramatically improve the experience, outcomes and cost of healthcare for employers, health plans and their members. With a unique blend of compassionate advisors, clinical experts and intelligent technologies, we engage individuals and families in their health, establish trust, and influence their decisions at every stage of care. Accolade connects the widest array of personal health data and programs to present a single point of entry to the most effective health and benefits resources, while coordinating with providers at every step. Accolade consistently achieves up to 60 and higher Net Promoter Scores, 98% consumer satisfaction ratings, and up to 15% employer cost savings. Accolade has been recognized as one of the nation's 25 most promising companies by Forbes, a fastest-growing private healthcare company by Inc. 5000, and is consistently rated a Top Workplace across the country. For more information, visit www.accolade.com.

SOURCE Accolade