Milwaukee-based health care startup Access HealthNet announced it has partnered with Waukesha-based commercial insurance and employee benefits agency Integrated Risk Solutions Inc., a division of Chicago-based Hub International Ltd.
Access HealthNet has developed a virtual marketplace that allows hospitals and medical providers to name a flat price for services that are delivered to employees of self-funded companies as “bundles” or episodes of care. It has become an attractive option as employers and employees, having experienced escalating costs for decades, seek greater transparency around how much they are paying for their health services.
The companies said the new partnership offers local employers a new option for controlling health care costs by making a direct connection between employers and local providers.
Hub International, the world’s sixth-largest brokerage, earlier this month acquired the assets of Integrated Risk Solutions, a commercial insurance and employee benefits firm serving the construction, manufacturing, transportation, hospitality, retail and public entity sectors.
“When providers are given the chance to offer value, many of them will and the savings to date have been impressive,” said Eric Haberichter, chief executive officer of Access HealthNet. “Employers are demanding change in the form of transparency, access to their data and value. Together we are providing more options and choices for quality care, at guaranteed prices.”
In 2018, Access teamed up with Wisconsin-based Trilogy Health Solutions on a workers’ compensation program called WC Bundled Payments, which allows self-funded employers and workers’ compensation insurance companies to access fixed-rate episodes of care for injured workers.
“A creative approach to medical cost savings is way overdue,” said Pete Aisbet, executive vice president of IRS and Hub International. “Employers are seeking cost effective ways to manage costs associated with health and benefit plans as well as workers’ compensation where medical inflation continues to rise with no fee schedule in Wisconsin. The bundled medical program offered by Access HealthNet and Trilogy Health Solutions provides employers significant cost savings opportunities while improving the experience employees have when accessing medical services.”
Access HealthNet is currently working to raise a $1.65 million debt round. Access, which was founded in 2014, has raised a total of $4.7 million in three previous equity rounds, backed by local investors John Torinus and Tom Schuster of Wisconsin Super Angel Fund, as well as Howard Frankenthal, president of Mequon-based food distributor Frankenthal International Ltd.
