Employee story: “My advocate went the extra mile to make sure I didn’t lose access to care”
When it comes to Sharecare’s comprehensive care solutions and platform-driven ecosystem, our workforce often serves as the testing ground for the products we deliver to our enterprise customers, which gives us a unique early perspective on how a product will perform, best practices for rollout, and many other learnings that can help improve our customers’ experiences.
Today, we’re sharing an LGBTQ+ health story from our workforce that recently reached our inbox and reminded us exactly how our compassionate frontline workers are helping to deliver on our company’s promise to make healthcare better for all. From feedback we received in February, we learned an advocate named Tamika went above and beyond to help an employee clear the necessary administrative hurdles to keep seeing their LGBTQ+ health provider, after switching to a new health plan.
Our advocates are ready to help members exactly when they need it and can support with anything related to managing care and benefits. Nothing is too big or small. One of our past employee spotlights, Lindsey Pakula, even shared that her advocate helps schedule her family’s healthcare appointments, which she’s usually too busy to do during business hours.
As told by a Sharecare employee of four years:
After being notified that Sharecare’s plan would be changing, I wasn’t sure how that would affect my access to one of the few hard-to-find care experts who I already had a thriving relationship with.
I live in a place where it’s difficult to find LGBTQ+ affirming healthcare providers. I’ve been seeing Rebecca for two years, after being referred by a friend to an internal medicine clinic that provides care exclusively to LGBTQ+ patients. Although it may seem a small benefit to some, the right provider makes a world of difference.
Because I didn’t have the time and energy to track down the details of my new plan, I was hoping my advocate could help me figure out if I’d still be able to see my provider, and if not, where to even get started. What I didn’t expect was for her to do everything she could to maintain my coverage – even when I was bad at following the email trail.
After receiving my EBMS health plan card, I reached out to my advocate Tamika on January 16, by messaging her on the app. She couldn’t find my provider in-network but took the initiative to contact EBMS and my provider’s office to explore options. Over the next few weeks, despite delays and long processing times, Tamika persistently followed up, even providing me with a list of alternative providers when we were unsure if I’d still be able to continue seeing Rebecca.
My advocate was so dedicated to my care that even though I was initially told my provider was not in our plan’s network, after EBMS completed its verification process, I was thrilled to learn on February 14 that my provider would officially be covered under my new plan. At every step of the way, Tamika conveyed that she understood how important this was for me and that she wanted to make sure that I was taken care of. When I thanked her at the conclusion of this lengthy ordeal (to which I was entirely absent), she ended our conversation with a reminder, as she usually does:
I am always here for you. If you need me for anything, don’t hesitate to reach out.
To be honest, there’s still a great deal of my health plan information that goes entirely over my head. But I rest easy knowing my advocate is smart, so that I don’t (always) have to be. She’s there to tackle the administrative battles on my behalf, freeing up my mental load to focus on the rest of my to-do list.
I’m so grateful for Tamika’s persistence in triangulating between me, my provider, and my new health plan. She kept things moving and helped me to keep my care at an LGBTQ+ clinic, rather than just sending me to another provider already in-network.
