"How Healthcare Point Solutions Are Helping Employers Earn Points With Their Employees"

If you’re a benefits director, HR professional, or a consultant helping clients create well-rounded healthcare packages, you may be interested in what’s out there. Here are a few of the innovative point solutions that leading U.S. employers are incorporating into their offerings.  

Mental health 

Up to one-third of U.S. employees say work is adversely impacting their mental health, with 80% feeling stressed and 62% reporting burnout or exhaustion.¹ Barriers such as a shortage of mental healthcare providers, high costs, stigma, and the difficulties people of color may encounter in finding culturally competent therapists can all potentially prevent people from taking steps to improve their mental health.

However, leading employers are realizing that they can help remove the barriers. Proactively prioritizing their employees’ mental health, they’re offering virtual mental health options, employee assistance programs (EAPs) that support emotional and behavioral well-being, and text-based therapy apps.²

Fertility support

As organizations consider new ways to support their employees, they’re more commonly offering fertility benefits. The average cost for one in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle is $12,000, which doesn’t include the cost of medications potentially as high as $3,000 per cycle.³ Due to this substantial expense, many health payers don’t include fertility services in their benefits offering—giving employers that do a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining top talent.⁴

Metabolic health

With growing demand for diabetes and obesity treatments, nearly all employers are covering GLP-1 medications, which have been a standard treatment for diabetes (99%), and more are expanding coverage to obesity (70%) and cardiac conditions (38%) in 2025.⁵ Employers are implementing strategies such as prior authorization and lifestyle programs to manage utilization, with centers of excellence playing a role in ensuring effective weight management support. 

Cancer support

The extraordinary pace of oncologic innovation through ongoing cancer research makes it very difficult for oncologists to keep up with rapidly evolving practices, especially if they’re managing many types of cancer every day. With benefits programs specifically focused on delivering support to their employees with cancer, organizations can help these employees achieve better outcomes while saving costs. These healthcare costs may be substantial considering that cancer remains a leading cost driver for the third  year in a row for employers.⁵

Offering remote cancer support in benefits packages can help employees and their local doctors access the latest cancer research and discoveries, even if they don’t live near a cancer center with specialists dedicated to discovering the most-innovative treatments. By bringing this knowledge to more people across geographic barriers, organizations can contribute to closing the cancer knowledge gap—helping their employees get on the right course of treatment early on for the best chance of a cure, while addressing health disparities and lowering costs throughout the country.

The potentially large impact of just one healthcare solution 

Healthcare point solutions can help employers save money on healthcare costs. The cost of healthcare is projected to grow at the highest rate in a decade, rising to nearly 8% in 2025. Employers anticipate increased medical services and chronic condition management needs due to worsening population health, with 80% citing cancer as a key cost driver.⁵ 

Though cancer affects only about 1% of the general population, it’s often responsible for 12% to 15% of a company’s overall healthcare costs.⁶ So even if your organization only has a few employees facing a cancer diagnosis, the impact of the costs of treatment can be staggering. To help employees navigate an unwanted cancer journey while feeling supported along the way, many employers choose to provide a cancer-focused benefit that helps ensure their employees receive the right treatment the first time, potentially reducing total costs of care.

How point solutions create benefits that everyone can benefit from

Employers have added resources to support specific conditions, as well as mental and behavioral health, through innovative programs that engage employees whether they’re at worksites or home. The healthcare system has turned to technology to deliver quality care and support more conveniently and personally to patients. Though virtual healthcare will never replace traditional health systems, it offers a primary healthcare model of single, coordinated, and trustworthy services. For employees facing cancer, a point solution like AccessHope’s support services can help optimize their treatment plan for better value, experiences, and outcomes—while reducing overall healthcare costs for your company.

Potential shift to platform solutions from point solutions

Many employers are shifting toward engagement platforms to combat point solution fatigue, with over half expected to offer these platforms by 2027, while some will rely on their health plans.5 These platforms help consolidate multiple programs and streamline communication for a more cohesive employee experience. This trend demonstrates the need for better navigation in the increasingly complex landscape of health benefits.