Amazon unveils new mental health benefit for U.S. employees and their families

Photo: Alistair Berg/Getty Images

Picking up where the former Haven initiative left off, Amazon today announced it is providing mental health benefits to all of its full-time employees, as well as to their family and household members.

Amazon has launched Resources for Living, a single starting point to access confidential in-person or virtual mental health counseling, with three sessions per person, per topic, available.

Amazon said it would fund up to 24 million counseling sessions a year for its U.S. employees. The services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and include access to free counseling sessions in-person or through phone, video or text.

Interactive self-care programs include self-assessments and a stress resource center. There is crisis and suicide-prevention support and access to a licensed mental health clinician. Access also includes a self-paced app that offers computerized cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness resources.

WHY THIS MATTERS

When Amazon was part of Haven, the trio of cofounders that also included Berkshire-Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase were expected to become a disruptive innovator in the healthcare industry, starting with their own employees. The move was seen as a way to dramatically lower costs while improving quality and patient engagement through Amazon-like digital innovations, even as Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet said there was no guarantee Haven would succeed in improving healthcare.

Not much happened within Haven other than a few pilot projects. About two years after its 2018 founding, Haven folded. But initiatives among the three separate companies were projected to continue.

Amazon's announcement of mental health benefits is among these moves. 

Today, JPMorgan Chase announced its own initiative in Morgan Health, a new business unit the company said is focused on improving the quality, efficiency, and equity of employer-sponsored healthcare. Nearly half of the U.S. population receives employer-sponsored health insurance. 

Morgan Health will focus initially on JPMorgan Chase employees and their families, but plans to be a model for other employers. It will partner with a range of healthcare experts, provider groups, health plans, employers and other organizations to broaden its impact. 

"We need to try to make the U.S. healthcare system work better," said Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase. "We have the best healthcare in the world in terms of doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, but we certainly do not have the best outcomes. Many of our problems have been around for a long time and are not aging well. There are ways we can make significant improvements, and we intend to take a disciplined approach to solving some of these issues in a meaningful way."

Another company that has emerged to tackle the self-insured employer market is Transcarent, which is creating what founder Glen Tullman calls a digital "overlay" to existing plans. Tullman is founder of Livongo Health. 

The COVID-19 pandemic did much to shine a light on what was lacking in healthcare. At the top of the list were racial inequities and the need for mental and behavioral health services. Telehealth stepped in to help fill the gap for mental and behavioral services that couldn't be met by in-person care. In all discussions on the future of telehealth is the argument for the need to continue virtual care for these services.

Telehealth has become a battleground for top competitors such as Amazon, which launched its virtual primary care service Amazon Care in March.

It was followed by Walmart's announcement earlier this month that it would acquire MeMD to provide virtual care nationwide for primary, urgent and behavioral healthcare.

Transcarent is also capitalizing on the demand for telehealth created by the COVID-19 pandemic by offering consumers healthcare services by chat app.

THE LARGER TREND

More than 26 million adults went untreated for mental health concerns in the U.S. in 2020, according to Amazon, citing Mental Health America statistics. And a recent survey by the American Psychological Association showed that 48% of parents have more stress in their personal lives now than before the COVID-19 pandemic started, Amazon said.

ON THE RECORD

"Easy and affordable access to mental healthcare has become increasingly important as we all continue to navigate different everyday challenges," said Beth Galetti, Amazon senior vice president of People eXperience and Technology. "Providing access to – and awareness around – mental healthcare is a critical responsibility for employers. This new offering will help us remove barriers and unnecessary stigma around getting help, to ensure our employees and their families feel safe and supported."

"It is critically important that employers like Amazon evaluate and expand their programs and put a more significant focus on the mental health and mental well-being of their employees, especially as we continue to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic and begin to re-enter the workplace," said Daniel H. Gillison Jr., CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "Employers bear a responsibility to ensure access to and provide adequate mental health services to their employees. It is good for their workers and it is good for business."

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com