ArcBest prides itself on fostering a family-like company culture and passionately believes investing in their employees’ health and well-being contributes to their success.
With over 100 years in business, the shipping and logistics company employs 15,000 workers across all 50 states. Nearly half drive trucks and many others work at the company’s headquarters in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
“We really focus on wellness and making sure our employees are healthy—both now and into retirement,” says Laura Wallace, Director, Total Health at ArcBest. “We want to ensure they have the best healthcare experience possible throughout their journey as an employee with us.”
With that goal in mind, ArcBest started looking for new approaches to connect employees with quality care. In 2017, they hired a vendor to review medical claims and provide a second opinion for employees who needed surgery. A few years later, ArcBest began searching for a solution to make costly surgical procedures more affordable while improving employee access to world-class providers and health centers.
The Search for Convenient, High-Quality Surgical Care
As they began vetting different vendors, network was a key concern for the benefits team. Laura says some of the solutions she vetted primarily offered coverage along the coasts, which was a deal breaker for ArcBest, which has employees in all 50 states.
“That’s the biggest challenge for somebody wanting to get a surgery done and convincing them that they should maybe go to a different place,” says Laura. “How far is that going to be? How is the recovery time going to be for me? What if I need to go back in? Those are the kind of things having a broader network is very helpful with.”
At EDH, we vet surgeons at the individual level to identify the best providers operating anywhere, not only at “brand-name” facilities. The vast majority of SurgeryPlus members–98%–are within driving distance of their surgeon.
Laura says it was also absolutely paramount to find a provider that aligned with ArcBest’s core values.
“We have a very strong culture, and it’s important that whoever we partner with has similar values and background, so they’ll treat our employees the same way we would,” Laura says.
SurgeryPlus members receive one-on-one care navigation via advocates who guide members at every step, from helping with scheduling, care coordination, and advocacy to booking hotel reservations and arranging transportation. ArcBest also provides financial support to pay for their travel to surgical sites, lodging, food and other related expenses.
From network size to member experience, EDH was a perfect fit for ArcBest, and in 2022, the company began offering SurgeryPlus to its workforce.
“Everything Has Gone Smoothly”
Laura says the implementation process with SurgeryPlus was effortless from start to finish.
“Working with the SurgeryPlus team, whether through the implementation process or our day-to-day interactions, has been great,” she says. “The communication is great, they’re really easy to work with, and everything has gone smoothly.”
As HR leaders certainly know, offering an employee benefit is only the beginning. The real challenge involves promoting the benefit and getting employees to engage with the services.
ArcBest leveraged an omnichannel approach, including sending employee emails and home mailers. Their implementation strategy included thoroughly training their benefits team on the ins and outs of the benefit, so they’re able to answer employee questions without needing to reach out to SurgeryPlus.
Laura says the company also launched a game during open enrollment called Benefit Fair Bingo to drive awareness about SurgeryPlus. To compete, participants were required to talk with each healthcare vendor at their benefits fair.
Ultimately, Laura says their benefits communication strategy continues to increase awareness and boost utilization, resulting in better outcomes and tangible cost savings.
SurgeryPlus Delivers Significant Savings, Employee Satisfaction
Since 2022, ArcBest has saved more than $1 million through SurgeryPlus. The company also saw 54% average savings per procedure when using the SurgeryPlus network of providers.
Laura says as employees increasingly leverage SurgeryPlus, they become advocates and promote the benefit to their families and coworkers. During their recent open enrollment, several ArcBest employees expressed their happiness with the benefit and said they were grateful to have access to no-cost surgical procedures.
In addition to the financial ROI and employees increasingly championing the benefit, Laura says the health outcomes and enhanced quality of life are what matter most to ArcBest.
“We obviously evaluate cost savings in any situation, but it’s not necessarily the priority here,” Laura says. “The priority is providing the best care for our employees.”
