Maggi Mickunas: Hello everyone and thank you for tuning in to today's podcast where we will discuss the Employee Assistance Program. I'm Maggie Mickunas from Health Advocate, your EAP provider. And I'm joined by one of our EAP clinical experts, Kate Bennett. We're excited to be here today to help inform you on what services Health Advocate provides all of you on a day to day basis.

These services include ways to save money on your bills, support with financial and legal concerns, along with several others. Kate is going to dig deep into your EAP services available and the best ways to access any resources that you may need support on in your day to day life. Most importantly though, Kate is going to share how we help support you within in-the-moment therapy and how to utilize this service.

Another important point for everyone to understand before we have Kate talk to us more about these available services is how we manage your personal information. We certainly understand that there can often be concerns about the privacy of your data and what does and does not get shared with your employer.

Health Advocate has a HIPAA-compliant platform and any member's personal health information is encrypted. No information on individual members is ever sent back to San Juan Regional Medical Center without a signed release of information from you as the employee. San Juan Regional Medical Center receives utilization reports from Health Advocate with aggregate data. So that data does not show or indicate any specific individual information. EAP is a HIPAA-protected service, and as such, we cannot release any of your information without a signed release of information from you. We wanted to make sure all of you were aware of this information before jumping into today's discussion. So, let's go ahead and get started. Hi, Kate.

Kate Bennett: Hi, Maggie. It's good to be here today. I'll just introduce myself a little bit. I'm Kate Bennett. I'm a clinical account manager with Health Advocate EAP. I've been with the company for 12 years, and I am also a licensed counselor. In my current position, I work mainly as a liaison between our client companies and our EAP clinical team. So, happy to be here.

Maggi Mickunas: Thank you for joining us. Can you explain what the Employee Assistance Program is and how it can be used to support San Juan Regional Medical Center's associates' well-being?

Kate Bennett: Certainly. Health Advocate EAP is a benefit offered to San Juan Regional Medical Center's employees. The benefit is free of charge and can assist employees with a variety of issues. EAP offers free mental health counseling sessions with a provider in the Health Advocate Provider Network. We also offer in-the-moment support with our master's level care managers to assist with daily problem-solving. There are free legal and financial consultations available with attorneys and financial advisors. We can also research available child care and elder care in a member's area. In addition, we can look into housing options and have a concierge service available to help with issues such as making travel plans.

Maggi Mickunas: And so with that, Kate, if a member wants to access one of our counselors for assistance with these services, what are the best ways they can be reached?

Kate Bennett: Sure. If a member's interested in accessing their free EAP counseling sessions, there's really three main ways they can arrange a referral. They can call in anytime, 24/7 and speak with a master's level care manager to complete an assessment prior to getting a referral. That call-in number is 866-799-2485. Members can also live chat with a master's level counselor off of the EAP website. The website and client code to access it are available on the San Juan Regional Medical Center's intranet. You can also call us anytime for help registering on the website. And the third way to access EAP sessions is to use the virtual counseling self service option from the EAP website by clicking the Begin Here button under Connect To Virtual Therapy on the homepage.

Maggi Mickunas: So with these several options, we're able to meet members where they're at and whichever way is most convenient for them. Now, how many EAP sessions do members have access to every year? Is there a cost? And can you tell us how members can take advantage of these services?

Kate Bennett: Certainly, there are six EAP sessions per rolling year per life event available to members and also to their spouses or domestic partners, their dependents between ages 7 and 26, their parents and their parents-in-law. If a member has any question about whether they're eligible for a new set of EAP sessions, we encourage them to call into EAP.

There's no cost for the six EAP sessions, and we do our best to locate providers in our network that also participate in the member's insurance network. That way, if the member wants to continue sessions past their three EAP sessions, the cost can be transferred to the member's insurance plan. And through insurance, members may have co-pays or deductibles specific to their plan.

Maggi Mickunas: So Kate, you mentioned a little earlier some of the main areas that Health Advocate can help members. Can you dig a little deeper here and share some examples as they relate to maybe mental health concerns, maybe some financial concerns members may have, or other concierge services that we offer at Health Advocate? 

Kate Bennett: We do offer many different services here and we can help with a wide range of issues. in terms of mental health, we assist members to connect with counselors or facilities or resources in regards to issues like depression, anxiety, grief and loss, anger management, family issues, parenting concerns, and substance abuse.

And we have many members that contact EAP for financial consultations with a financial advisor in regards to things like retirement planning, debt concerns, student loans and budgeting. We have a financial wellness center that's available on the website. The link provides a chance to complete a financial wellness checkup, as well as many articles on savings and investment and personal finance. Many members also utilize legal consultations for issues such as will creation, estate planning, criminal law, and landlord-tenant issues. We can also assist with locating child care, including summer camps and programs. Our concierge service can help to research travel options and plans and can provide members with links and information to utilize when booking their vacation.

And just to give a brief example of some of the ways we can help, we do work with a number of health providers as their EAP. And we had a recent case where an employee of a health provider was present at the death of a patient. And for them, that brought up a lot of issues related to the loss of their own parent. The member called into Health Advocate and we did an intake and assessment and were able to authorize EAP sessions for that issue of grief and loss. The member also still had ongoing estate issues from the loss of their parent. And so, Health Advocate was able to connect them with an attorney for a free consultation on this issue. We were also able to do some research into local grief support groups that might be of help to the member. So in that case, we were able to help along three different avenues in order to help that member feel a bit more on top of the issues in their life.

Maggi Mickunas: Thank you for sharing all those real life examples. It really helps to show members all the different areas that we can certainly support, as I mentioned earlier, all those day-to-day experiences that we're going through. One of the other services that we offer that I'd like to highlight is Medical Bill Saver. Can you explain how employees can find value from using this benefit?

Kate Bennett: So. Medical Bill Saver is a program where health advocate works with insurance plans and providers to reduce the amount a member owes on a medical bill. The member needs to have already been billed for services, and that bill should be at least $250. They should reach out to health advocate prior to paying the bill and prior to making any payments. And at that point, one of our advocates will advocate on behalf of the member to see if they can get that bill decreased.

Maggi Mickunas: And so Kate, all of this support is provided by our expert care managers. Can you share a little more more on their professional background to help listeners really understand who exactly is supporting members as they call in?

Kate Bennett: Our care managers are all master's level with a degree in counseling, social work, or another human services related field. Many of our care managers are also licensed. They come to us with a wide variety of professional experience and we try to utilize their knowledge and experience and expertise to the best help of our members. So if they have a concentration of knowledge or experience in one area, we will try to put them on a team in which they can utilize that and be of best use to our members.

Maggi Mickunas: Another way members can receive support that's important to highlight is through TAVA. Can you talk a little a bit more about our affiliation and the benefits for members to use this service? 

Kate Bennett: TAVA is one of our EAP counseling providers, one of our affiliates. TAVA provides virtual sessions only, so if members are open to using their EAP sessions virtually, TAVA could be a good option. To get a referral to TAVA, the member can either call in or chat in, or use the virtual therapy link from the EAP website.

If using the virtual link, the member will complete a brief assessment, just as they would with the care manager, and will then be able to see the counselors that TAVA recommends. Based on that member's presenting problem and preferences the member will be able to go ahead and schedule an appointment right then off of the TAVA platform. We do find that members are often able to schedule next day or even same-day appointments with TAVA. So, we've had great luck with it and members have really considered it to be very efficient and easy to use, and it's a good way to get an appointment quickly with a counselor.

Maggi Mickunas: Yes, exactly. As we started off today by highlighting the importance of making sure we're supporting all members with that in-the-moment therapy when needed the most, TAVA is certainly a convenient resource, so thank you for sharing all those details. You shared a lot of great information today, Kate. Lastly, where can members go to find all these great resources we talked about during our session?

Kate Bennett: So, the best place is going to be the EAP website. Our website has thousands of articles, trainings, webinars, self-assessments on a wide variety of topics. Members are encouraged to log onto the website and explore the information available. And if you have any additional questions, they can email us or chat in from the website itself.

Maggi Mickunas: Thank you so much, Kate, and to everyone who listened in on today's podcast. Myself, Kate, and the Health Advocate team greatly look forward to supporting you.