Everyone working in healthcare understands the critical role data plays in improving the health and well-being of patients. The healthcare industry is increasingly relying on data to make sound decisions in a number of arenas:

Essentially, if you aren’t taking a data-driven approach to healthcare strategy, you’re being left behind.

The Six Things YourBenefits Analytics SolutionShould Do For You

Learn more about theArtemis Platform at:

artemishealth.com

Hospitals are using “z-codes” that factor social determinantsof health into patient treatment plans

Physicians are collecting data from wearable medical devicesto spot changes or trends in patient health

Self-insured employers are mining data on prescription drugsto find waste on their benefits plans

Health plans are looking to use census data to identify healthcoverage opportunities

Data is a key part of the healthcare ecosystem, and employee benefits professionals understand its value. Long gone are the days when data wasa “nice to have” part of employee benefits; it’s so ubiquitous now that it’s an expectation for C-suite and HR leaders alike. Benefits data is the di�erence between a well-managed plan and a wasted opportunity for better care and better costs.

Employers often have access to mountains of data from multiple sources.In fact, a recent research study revealed that the majority of HR teams are o�ering at least 7 di�erent benefits programs, including health insurance, retirement/401(k), pharmacy coverage, dental, vision, employee assistance programs, and various wellness/fitness o�erings as well. This influx of data feeds from disparate vendors makes it di�cult for employee benefits leaders to find insights, make connections, and take action to improve their e�ciency or o�erings.

A comprehensive benefits analytics solution is essential for HR benefit leaders and their advisors (benefits consultants and brokers). Benefit leaders want to make informed decisions about their benefits so that employees use and trust the benefits they get. They need access to all their benefits data in one place, and this is a core function of a benefits analytics solution. The changing benefits landscape makes it all the more important for benefits leaders tokeep pace with trends like holistic well-being, digital benefit programs, and consumerization of employee preferences from benefits.

At Artemis Health, we believe employee benefits professionals deserve an e�ortless user experience because they need to spend time making decisions, not navigating through complex software. They deserve “at your fingertips” content, reduced friction with data analytics, and the ability to meet their organization’s unique business needs.

In this ebook, we’ll share six characteristics that every benefits analytics solution should o�er to employers and advisors. We call it our “manifesto,” our line in the sand that shows the value analytics should o�er to benefits teams. We believe everyone who works to improve healthcare through employee benefits should look for these characteristics when partnering with a benefits analytics solution.

The majority of HRteams are o�eringat least 7 di�erentbenefits programs…and that means 7di�erent data feeds.

Think about the best pair of shoes you’ve ever owned. They likely o�ered just the right mix of style, comfort, price, and durability. You could wear them anywhere, and they lasted for years without causing blisters or falling apart. Maybe you were impressed that an inexpensive pair became your favorite, or maybe you splurged on a well-built shoe and were pleased it was worth the money. In other words, these shoes o�er you a value opportunity.

Value can be calculated with a simple equation:

#1: Value Opportunity

The healthcare industry faces this equation constantly. Healthcare must balance the quality piece of the puzzle with updated treatment protocols, physician quality ratings, regular screenings for common diseases, and new miracle drugs. On the other hand, healthcare is increasingly expensive for both payers and patients, and the system struggles to eliminate wasteful spending, identify ine�ciencies, and make sure all patients have the financial means to access care.

This same equation is a balancing act for self-insured employers, who take on the full weight of rising healthcare costs and improving employee health. They must find the right mix of attractive, comprehensive benefits for employees to help them retain talent. But they also must consider annual budgets for costs that are hard to predict (and often out of control).

Employers also realize that sometimes “you have to spend money to make money,” or in their case, spend money to achieve better healthcare. They partner with vendors like diabetes care management programs or musculoskeletal health programs to tackle common conditions, and that takes an investment on their part.

This is where a data analytics partnership can help employers find the “value equation.” A great benefits analytics solution will help you balance costs with quality, and find out if your e�orts are working to deliver value to your members. Investing in programs doesn’t have to be a gamble if you’re tracking the right metrics, making the business case with data, and monitoring engagement to show the value.

Maximum quality + minimum cost = value

Portico Benefit Services, an Artemis customer, was evaluating two new mental well-being programs to support their members. They dove into diagnoses to find out how many members would potentially benefit from these vendors, including the current costs for these conditions. This put them on the right track for understanding the potential impact of these programs.

Once they settled on these vendors, Portico worked with the vendor to personalize their programming for their members. They partnered to include online lessons and video modules that are more spiritual and faith-based in nature, which appeal to Portico members, most of whom are rostered members of the clergy. They even included a course on vocational well-being featuring ministers from the same faith community sharing ways to avoid burnout and grow as spiritual leaders.

Portico is seeing great initial results that show their spending is helping members get higher quality mental healthcare. The Artemis Platform allows them to benchmark engagement against other populations using these same vendors and finding their own employees are engaging for an average of 15 minutes longer with the video and online courses. Artemis is also helping track behavioral health claims, costs, and utilization over time to see how the vendor programs might lead to better well-being outcomes.

This is a great example of an employer utilizing benefits analytics to achieve a value opportunity.

Hide “No Value” Row

16 Items 3.4%

Diagnosis GroupsLevel 2 (CCS)

Sum Employer PaidAmount (Med)

Count EnrolledMembers

Count EnrolledMembers

Current Current Trend

Add FiltersAdd FiltersAdd Filters

Alcohol-related disorders

Adjustment disorders

Miscellaneous mental...

Substance-related dis...

Disorders usually diagn...

Attention deficit condu...

Suicide and intentional...

Mood disorders

Anxiety disorders

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

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6.7%

6.3%

-6.6%

8.9%

5.6%

-14.5%

-2.2%

-2.5%

-28.9%

Actual costs and numbers hidden for patient privacy.

Here’s an example from the Artemis Platform:

Benefits professionals are busy people. When we ask employers how many people work on their benefits team, we often hear, “Ha! It’s just me and an HR field rep at each worksite.” These teams serve thousands of employees, helping them enroll in benefits, make the right elections for their families, and find access to care through their programs.

Mining benefits data for reliable insights is no simple task, and even seasoned analysts are used to their e�orts taking hours. Employers who work with consultants and brokers often have a leg up, butthe amount of work involved makes it di�cult for consultants to o�er the same level of service to their entire book of business. Benefits leaders are expert multi-taskers, but they can’t be expected to manage vendors, support members, report to the C-suite, retain talent, stay ahead of compliance issues, AND spend hours or weeks finding insights in their healthcare data.

That’s where a robust benefits analytics solution really comes in handy. First, your data solution should gather all your reporting and data sources in one place. This can be a slow task for employers or brokers outside of a software solution. You’re looking at dozens of data sources, from medical and prescription drug claims to weight loss programs to health risk assessment surveys. A benefits analytics partnership should gather all these data in one place, make it quick and easy to search for answers, and o�er fast answersto those on-the-fly questions from the C-suite.

We recently spoke to Jason Parrott, formerly the leader of well-being and healthcare at Boeing about this.

“One of the misconceptions about analytics is

that it’s perceived that it requires an inordinate

amount of time. In reality, what we’ve learned

through Artemis is it shouldn’t have to take

3 to 4 weeks and 6 people to run reports.

Artemis’ uber-simple platform enables

anybody, and I mean anybody, to tap in and

get analytical reports that are meaningful,

useful, actionable, and timely.”

#2: Speed of Decision-Making

When asked howmany people are onyour benefits teams,we hear, “Ha! It’s justme and an HR fieldrep at each worksite.”

– Jason Parrott, SVP of Enterprise Growth and Partnerships at Vida Health

These out-of-the-box reports answer key questions like:

What percentage of my members are high cost claimants?

How much of my pharmacy spending is on specialty drugs?

Is there a category of overspending I can focus on?

How are my population’s risk scores trending?

Here’s an example from the Artemis Platform. Customers, whether they’re self-insured employers or consultants in the industry, appreciate the immediate overviews o�ered by Standard Stories.

Artemis o�ers these Standard Stories on a variety of hot topics for employers and their advisors, and they include easy filtering and customization options. While they o�er the fastest view of many benefits metrics, there are also quick ways to dive deeper with benefits data. Many benefits analytics tools allow users to build custom dashboards and reports. At Artemis, we call these “Custom Stories,” and they let the user select key metrics, add breakdowns and categories, and build charts and graphs that bring the data to life.

Here’s a quick peek at a Custom Story focused on low back pain being treated with opioid prescriptions.

An Artemis Story like this will take no more than an hour to build, and it gives benefits teams great insight into chronic conditions, potential health trends, population and member engagement, and more.

Benefits leaders have a diverse, ever-growing set of priorities that draw their focus. On any given day, they need to balance a number of tasks, just one of which is understanding their benefits data. While many rely on brokers and consultants to o�er analytics support and insights, this isn’t the case for everyone. It’s especially di�cult for mid-sized organizations to get dedicated analytics help.

What does this mean for employers? Benefits analytics solutions MUST be easy to use. Analytics has to be accessible to anyone, not just data scientists or seasoned consultants. Anyone on an employee benefits team should be able to log in, navigate the platform, ask questions, and understand the results.

Now, if you’ve ever used a traditional data warehouse, you might have struggled with the user interface. Many are built for use by data experts, not casual users, and it’s not easy to navigate through the software. Artemis Health was built precisely to fix this problem. When we set out to create our benefits data analytics platform, we wanted to mimic many of the easy ways benefits professionals already interact with technology.

#3: Ease of Use

Benefits analyticstools MUST be easyto use. Analytics hasto be accessible toanyone, not just datascientists or seasonedconsultants.

Treatment for Low Back Pain – Opioids

% Members Treated for Low BackPain with Opioids

Average Rx Claims/MemberTreated for Low Back Pain

Members with Imaging ClaimsTreated for Low Back Pain w/Opioids

Treated for Low Back Pain withOpioids by Member Type

Treated for Low Back Pain withOpioids by Medical Plan

Members Treated for Low BackPain with Rx by Age

5.4170% 433

0-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60+

73

100

129

164

150

710

342

FemaleMale

SpouseSubscriberDependent

710361

169

Here’s are a few examples:

These familiar, easy interactions ensure that anyone can use Artemis and get answers at their fingertips.

All the beautiful charts and helpful graphs in the world are no good if they don’t lead to change. It’s not easy to take action based on your benefits data, and there are few good reasons we often hear from employers.

#4: Actionable Insights

Our platform is comprised of a series of “apps,” like Explore, Stories,Cohorts, and more, which are familiar to anyone with a smartphone.

The search bar makes it easy to find the right metrics and breakdownsand suggests popular options.

The Visualize app lets users pick and choose from appropriate graphsand charts, right in the platform.

The platform has a “chat” icon in the bottom right corner that allowsusers to connect with the Artemis team if they have questions—theyget responses in 90 seconds or less.

The date selector enables a quick drag-and-drop to changethe analysis period.

“I can’t spend moreshort-term if I don’t know

it will lead to savings.”

“I don’t want todisrupt my employees’

access to care.”

“I have too much on my plateto implement a new solution.”

Sep Nov Mar May Jul Sep Nov 20202019 Mar May Jul Sep Nov 2021 Mar

Sep Nov Mar May Jul Sep Nov 20202019 Mar May Jul Sep Nov 2021 Mar

We get it, change is hard. It takes time, e�ort, and expertise. That’s why a benefits analytics solution should include a number of ways to make data actionable.

First, it should enable you to see and analyze your data with a holistic view. That means ALL your data in one place, including medical, Rx, wellness, compensation, HRA survey responses, vendor programs, 401(k), dental, vision, and much more. The more data you can compare and analyze in one complete picture, the better chance you have of understanding the impact of your actions.

Secondly, your data solution should come with enhancements, data models, and tools to help you feel confident in your actions. Here’s an example.

Let’s say your healthcare spending on mental health went up 8% last year, but you implemented a new mental wellness program that should have kept these costs from rising. Do you know why it didn’t work? Are you able to measure the impact of your actions? A great data partner will be able to answer these questions.

Artemis o�ers a number of ways to track prevalence, zero in on at-risk populations, and target new programs at the members who need them most. This is how using benefits analytics can help you take actions that will have the biggest impact.

We believe a greatbenefits analyticssolution should helpbenefits leaderstake action withtheir data.

Depression Prevalence by O�ce Location

Here’s a little blast from the past for you: this is what the Amazon home page looked like when it launched in 1995. Not exactly what we would consider great web design today, right? It’s unrecognizable, but that’s exactly what it should be. Compared to what we see today, Amazon has evolved continually over the years, changing their focus from just selling books, updating the user experience, and making sure the needs and desires of customers are reflected in their product.

#5: Innovation Partnership

The Artemis Platform also o�ers a number of data enhancements that help employers and their advisors make sound decisions with their data. A few of these include:

We believe a great benefits analytics solution should help benefits leaders take action with their data.

Actionable Overspending: a proprietary data model thatcalculates wasted spending to help increase the e�ciencyof your benefits programs.

Benchmarks: let users compare to a larger population,sub-companies, or the Artemis book of business

Episode Groupers: help track members as they completea cycle of care

Risk Scoring: measures overall population health and assistswith strategic and budget planning

1995

When thinking about data analytics tools, some employers hear “ease of use” and “out-of-the-box” reports and panic. They wonder if that means they’ll go through implementation, get trained on the software, then be left on their own to struggle with complex software. It’s a fair question, especially for mid-sized employers without a strong analytics team or consultant partnership.

Artemis doesn’t just leave customers on their own to utilize their data and make decisions. We’re focused on analytics support and white-glove customer service, which includes a number of levels based on customer needs. Our Analytic Advisors will help you build custom, in-depth analysis, while our supporting staff answers on-the-fly questions through an in-app chat tool with response times under 90 seconds. We believe this level of support is why our Net Promoter Score is 50 and our customer retention rate is over 98%. To date, customers have trusted us with the data for more than 10 million lives.

#6: Decision Support

The same value of continual evolution should be part of the benefits data analytics experience. As the industry shifts, changes, and evolves, so shouldthe tools benefits leaders use to make healthcare decisions.

Employers and advisors who use the Artemis Platform get to be part of our continual innovation. We know we’re not creating better benefits in a vacuum; we’re doing it alongside industry experts and benefits leaders. Our product and design teams utilize every opportunity to meet with customers and prospects, gather real-world feedback, test new features, conduct focus groups, and improve our tools.

We keep up with hot topics and trends, hire the best in our industry, and make meaningful improvements to everything from our behind-the-scenes data management tools to the way we integrate and refresh our customers’ data.

This innovation partnership is a two-way street, and we love when our customers engage with us to create better benefits and modern tools.We proactively approach customers to ask for feedback, test new functionality, and plan for growth. A good example of this is our approach to a recent product enhancement, Advanced Dynamic Cohorts. We worked side by side with several clients who helped us plan the functionality, beta test, and refine the o�ering so it truly met the needs of employers and their advisors.

We’re not creatingbetter benefits in avacuum; we’re doingit alongside industryexperts and benefitsleaders.

We know there are lots of levers that our customers could pull based on their data, and we really shine when it comes to determining which action could work or which are already working. Think of it as an analytics cycle.

At each stage of your e�orts to improve healthcare e�ciency and quality, Artemis is there to help you define your strategy, take action, measure the results, refine your tactics, and see what’s truly working. While the Artemis Platform is the primary tool for doing this, our collaborative team is a secondary toolset for our customers. We connect you and your advisor with an analytics expert on our team to ensure you’re getting the most value from your data.

We hope this “manifesto” helps you consider your benefit analytics options and evaluate potential partners. We truly believe a benefits analytics solution should o�er value opportunity, speed of decision-making, ease of use, actionable insights, innovative partnership, and decision support.

If you’d like to learn more about Artemis Health’s benefits analytics platform, please get in touch.

hello@artemishealth.comartemishealth.com

Artemis Health helps benefits professionals make great decisions using data,and that’s just the beginning of what we do. Get in touch to learn more.

v10-21 | © Artemis Health Inc.

Your benefit analyticssolution should o�er:

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3.

4.

5.

6.

Value Opportunity

Speed of Decision Making

Ease of Use

Actionable Insights

Innovative Partnership

Decision Support

Gather meaningful healthand benefits datafor your organization

Compare your datato benchmarks andidentify benefits trends

Present data-drivensolutions and KPIsbased in analysis ofyour organization

ASSEMBLE

ANALYZE

ADVISEImplement your strategy,driving utilization andemployee engagement

ACTION

Measure andevaluate yourKPIs ongoingand in real time

ASSESS

TheArtemis

Customer