Roughly a year ago, we made an investment in Sherpaa Health. Sherpaa delivers a concierge medical and insurance advocacy platform to companies of 100-1,000 employees in size. Concierge medicine has become somewhat of a buzzword over the past few years, but one of the things that makes Sherpaa compelling and unique is that they bypass traditional payment models. There's been plenty of discussion regarding our bloated healthcare system in the USA, and it's generally accepted that much of the fat results from the way insurance functions in America. Sherpaa's answer to this plight is to say "the hell with it". They've never actually said those words, but what they have done is bypassed insurance, instead delivering care and support to employees on a direct basis, covered as a supplemental benefit by the employer. With two years of data, it turns out that, not only does it deliver a magical experience, but it saves companies a considerable amount of money, while improving overall care. Each year, Kaiser publishes their annual report on American healthcare. Over the past 15 years, employer premiums have increased an average of nearly 10% per year. To put some simple math around this, a 500-person organization will spend roughly $3-4 million per year on healthcare benefits. A 10% increase equals approximately $350,000, and the size of that increase rises each year with compounding. The data above is widely covered so probably won't surprise anyone, but here's where it gets interesting. Among the 85 corporations that Sherpaa counts as customers, the average premium change last year was -6.5%. That's a 16.5% swing based on the 15-year average. For that 500 person company, it means $545,000 in cost savings, while delivering a product that makes employees happier and healthier. Working with Sherpaa costs roughly 1/3 of that figure so it's a 3x ROI. Not surprisingly, for the first few years of Sherpaa's life until very recently, their churn remained at 0% (they never lost a customer), which is astonishing, even for the best products and services.
If you're a CFO or VP of HR considering ways to optimize your benefit spending and keep your employees feeling good, I encourage you to take a look at Sherpaa and consider giving them a try.