At Maxwell Health, innovation in healthcare means 360 degrees of service wrapped up in a beautiful user experience. The new company is helping employers and employees make health insurance decisions from the first step of buying the best policy through picking providers to becoming healthier.
The company sells insurance and then sticks with the customer after the sale. When there is a problem with a claim or a question about providers, the customer talks to the same person. Maxwell also offers wellness programs.
The company launched in March in seven cities. The executive team is focusing on knowledge workers at companies with 70 or fewer employees.
“Our target customer is a company that wants to use benefits as a differentiator,” CEO Veer Gidwaney said. “A company that sees benefits as an investment in the team, that is our kind of company.”
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
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Some people on the Maxwell team are licensed insurance brokers, but there are also technologists and designers.
“We curate a set of plans for employers and run a private exchange,” Gidwaney said.
Gidwaney said Maxwell Health provide claims assistance, doctor recommendations, and prescription drug optimization. An on-call nurse service is also in the works.
The company’s first product was Daily Feats, a web service designed to encourage healthy behavior through social networks. Gidwaney said the Daily Feats work influenced the fitness and rewards component of Maxwell.
Gidwaney said that simply moving to high-deductible plans is not enough to change consumer behavior and reduce healthcare costs.
“If you just stop there, it’s a disservice to the customer, that’s why we put the concierge model in place,” he said. “If your company can help you stay out of the hospital or if your company can help you get an MRI from the cheapest provider in the network, that is how you save money.”
One of Maxwell’s clients is another healthcare startup: Medivo. The health app company offers employees a high-deductible health plan and a set contribution to a Health Reimbursement Account. Medivo hired Maxwell to improve the team’s overall health and help employees spend their HRA funds wisely.
Maxwell created a benefits package that included the concierge services and a fitness rewards program. All employees got a Jawbone UP and a goal of averaging 50,000 steps per week. As employees become healthier, they earned points to redeem for gift cards.
Medivo CEO Sundeep Bhan said he has been able to offer employees more health benefits at a lower cost.
The wellness program alone is not enough to make Maxwell stand out in the corporate fitness crowd. Also, Castlight Health has a huge early lead in helping employers and employees make the best use of healthcare dollars. However, insurance + wellness + concierge service is unique. That offering combined with a focus on smaller companies and early adopters of fitness technology definitely gives Maxwell Health an edge.
