General News
Published July 15, 2019
For all lines of business except FEP, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Supplement
We have expanded our behavioral health network to now include Talkspace. With Talkspace, your employee’s can easily connect to therapists and psychiatrists by video and text for about the same costs as an in-person visit.
Why does this matter?
Your employee’s now have access to over 5,000 licensed therapists by video and text messaging regardless of date, location, or time of day.
We believe behavioral health is critical to our member’s overall health and well-being. Research shows that addressing people’s behavioral health needs helps to maintain better health overall, with fewer emergency room visits and inpatient admissions.
In addition, supporting employee’s behavioral health needs leads to higher work productivity by helping to reduce the effects of absenteeism and presenteeism, which is working while sick.
Here’s how your employee’s can access Talkspace:
- They sign up for Talkspace at talkspace.com/premera.
- They will then be shown the 3 best matches for their needs, and they will choose their therapist.
- Once they select their therapist match, they can start messaging with their therapist right away.
- While a majority of Talkspace patients stay with their initial provider, switching to a new provider is simple and timely.
Will this cost your employee’s extra?
Talkspace is a behavioral health provider within all our networks for the individual and group markets. This means there is no buy-up requirement for employers. Talkspace is not included in the provider networks for FEP, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Supplement.
Virtual behavioral health therapy sessions will have the same member cost shares as equivalent face-to-face visits, as described in each member’s benefit plan. The exact cost of a session depends on the specific service and type of provider.
Actions you can take
We make it easy for you to share with your employee’s information about Talkspace with ready-to-use communications in the Employee Communications Center. To get to this valuable online library or ready-to-share communications, sign in to the secure employer website and follow the link to the Employee Communications Center.