Virgin Pulse Launches New Benefits Navigation Solution

Company simplifies benefits management with acquisition of navigation provider, Yaro; extends Homebase for Health™ vision


PROVIDENCE, R.I., Jan. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virgin Pulse, the leading global provider of enterprise SaaS solutions that simplify health and wellbeing, today announced Virgin Pulse Navigate, a new benefits navigation solution designed to help employees and health plan members take advantage of their benefits by providing them with a single, personalized view of their benefits along with easy access to their digital health ID cards, health plan and benefit summaries, symptom checker, in-network provider search, real-time deductible and accumulator balances and medical claims history.

Virgin Pulse Navigate incorporates technology acquired from Yaro, a mobile-first digital navigation and health literacy platform, to help consumers better understand, find and pay for healthcare services according to their specific needs and preferences.  The company also announced a health plan-specific offering, Virgin Pulse Navigate for Health Plans, which includes AI-powered symptom checker and in-network provider search, making it easy for health plans to direct members to the care they need according to plan and member-specific information.  Virgin Pulse Navigate and Virgin Pulse Navigate for Health Plans are available immediately.

“Just seven months ago, we announced a bold plan to radically simplify the way our employers, health plans and health care consumers engage with their wellbeing, health and healthcare. With today’s acquisition of Yaro and the launch of Virgin Pulse Navigate, we are one step closer to delivering on the promise of our Homebase for Health™ strategy,” said David Osborne, CEO of Virgin Pulse. “It has become increasingly difficult for consumers to find the care they need, understand the true costs and know how to pay for it.  With Virgin Pulse Navigate, employees and health plan members alike now have an easier way to access the right information, at the right time, to make the best decisions about their health.”  

“With their industry-leading digital health, wellbeing and engagement capabilities and global installed base, Virgin Pulse's acquisition of Yaro accelerates our mission to make navigating the fragmented healthcare ecosystem easier and more affordable for every consumer,” said Jaime Moran, CEO of Yaro.

Yaro’s robust platform provides a flexible foundation on which Virgin Pulse will continue to build capabilities that make it easier for consumers to understand and access the benefits that are most relevant to them.  By providing seamless and up-to-date access to benefit summaries, health insurance ID cards, Health Savings Account (HSA) and deductible balances and claims histories – all in one place – Virgin Pulse Navigate reduces the complexity consumers often experience when it comes to finding and using their benefits. This real-time, consolidated insight into financial wellbeing helps consumers more reliably and cost-effectively plan for their health and healthcare needs.

About Homebase for Health™

The launch of Virgin Pulse Navigate accelerates Virgin Pulse’s Homebase for Health™ strategy by introducing benefits navigation and care guidance capabilities that empower consumers to interact more confidently and competently with their health and healthcare costs. 

Homebase for Health™ is Virgin Pulse’s response to the growing frustration employers and health plans are experiencing as they seek to engage consumers in improving their health and wellbeing. Too many point solutions, multiple fragmented systems, disparate data, lack of integrated tools and services, low benefits awareness, engagement and utilization, lack of healthcare literacy, difficulty analyzing and using data effectively, poor user experience and limited resources and support are consistently cited by employers and health plans as barriers to consumer engagement. 

Unveiled last year at the company’s annual Thrive Summit customer conference, Homebase for Health™ encapsulates Virgin Pulse’s strategy to provide a familiar, trusted and unified place where information, benefits and personalized recommendations are synchronized to make it easier for consumers to navigate and manage all aspects of their wellbeing, health and healthcare.  To further streamline the consumer experience and increase benefits utilization, Homebase for Health™ unlocks the value of third-party programs and tools by integrating them into the user experience through Virgin Pulse’s partner ecosystem, which currently includes more than 40 partners across 19 health and wellbeing topics.

Building on Virgin Pulse’s proven ability to engage consumers every day in improving their wellbeing, Homebase for Health™ aims to increase benefits awareness, engagement and utilization across the full wellbeing, health and healthcare continuum.

About Virgin Pulse
Founded in 2004, Virgin Pulse is the world’s largest, most comprehensive digital health and wellbeing SaaS company focused on driving real outcomes for employees, employers, health plans and their members. As the industry’s only digital health and wellbeing company to fuse high tech with high touch, Virgin Pulse engages users every day in building and sustaining healthy habits and lifestyles and managing chronic disease. The company’s health and wellbeing offerings include benefits navigation, claims analysis, as well as digital and live coaching and condition management to support more than six million Virgin Pulse members around the world across the entire wellbeing, health and health care lifecycle — from screening and assessment to activation, behavior change and the adoption of sustainable, healthy habits to closing gaps in care. To learn more, visit Virgin Pulse and follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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