Risky Benefits

Allstate Bexa - Risky Benefits - S5E2

• David Holloway-Boyd • Season 5 • Episode 2

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In this episode of Risky Benefits, the hosts introduce Elizabeth Fire and Timree from BEXA and Allstate, respectively. They discuss a new partnership aimed at improving healthcare for women, particularly focusing on early detection of breast cancer. The episode highlights the functionality of BEXA's handheld technology, which addresses gaps in care by providing pain-free, radiation-free breast exams. This is particularly important given the rising rates of breast cancer and the underutilization of mammograms. The conversation also covers the unique aspects of the BEXA service model, its implementation, and the logistics of bringing this solution to various workplaces, particularly those with centralized female employee populations. The episode concludes with a call to action for employers and listeners to explore BEXA's offerings and make use of the resources provided by Allstate.

To listen in and subscribe to more episodes, visit our website: fbmc.com/podcast.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

Hey, thank you for listening in to risky benefits, a podcast that informs you on all things benefits. We've got a saying around here. Benefits isn't your main business. It's ours. Um, to tell us about BEXA, and we are very excited today to hear about how BEXA and Allstate are working together to prioritize healthcare. for the women most often overlooked and underserved. So without further ado today, we will be learning and having a recap of BEXA and what they do and their new partnership with Allstate. So, let's go ahead and jump on into this. Normally, I'd like to start by just thanking both of you for coming on, and so it'd be helpful probably for the listeners, for us, to just learn a little bit more about you guys. Elizabeth, why don't we start with you, and then Timree, we can just get a recap from you, because I know we've met you in the past.

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

What is that?

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

going to be honest, Dr. Mo is a, is a tough guy to follow. So I'll do my best today, but my name is Elizabeth fire. I'm based in Kansas city, obviously had a very. Recent loss of the chief. So a little tough on that. But, I have been in the health care space now for gosh, probably close to 15 or 16 years. So I started off in the carrier space, worked my way up to the third party administrator space. So I had only ever worked for independent third party administrators. at my previous TPA, I had. A really cool opportunity to kind of support and empower women through a women's segment that we were doing. So there's not a lot of female sales reps out there in the health, like the healthcare world. And so I had this great opportunity to really kind of connect through that came this, opportunity with Bexa. And I thought, how could I best support and empower women then obviously revolutionizing the way that we see women's health today through, uh, through early detection. So I, uh, I just started at the beginning of the year. So I'm what, six weeks in and feel like I've, um, really kind of hit the ground running with such a great team. So I appreciate your time and thank you. Thanks for having me.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

awesome. Well, Elizabeth, thank you. And really excited to learn more. Tim, if you don't mind, maybe just a recap.

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

Sure, thanks for having me. Excited to be here, but I have been in the insurance industry for 25 years. I started in 2002, so from 2002 to 2022, I was on the broker side. solely focused on the public sector, and I did everything from account management to running a practice and all things in between. But I've been at Allstate for three years now, and I run the public sector here. So I'm responsible for the growth and retention of this market. And I work with our sales reps and brokers across the country, really on a strategic level to build solutions that I needed when I was on the broker side to be more successful, but. I also love to meet with brokers across the country and hear what challenges they're facing and the needs that their clients have so that I can build solutions through our products, figure out how to solve for. So, also we're going through an acquisition, which should be final in the next couple of weeks. So we're moving to the standard. And I think this is perfect timing. I couldn't be more excited that we're launching the VEXA partnership as we are moving to the standards. So, I know VEXA is going to be a great value add to their portfolio services that they bring their clients as well. So, excited for the discussion today.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

Awesome. Thank you. So let's start by giving the listeners a little bit of a recap of what BEXA is.

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

Absolutely. So in the challenge that we have today, with, I guess, early detection for breast cancer is that there's nothing that really kind of exists for early detection. What I mean by that is if you kind of look at the stats, it used to be 1 out of every 10 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. It's now, unfortunately, increased to where we're now at 1 in every 10 women. eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer. So for us, it's kind of this reality of we have, we had to do something different than what was in place today through mammography. Mammography does an amazing job for the women who are actually accessing that, for services today. So if you look at women who are over the age of 40, those who standardly receive mammograms, only 40 percent are adopting mammography, 60%. refuse to have services done with mammography today. So Bexa comes in and says we are in early detection for, breast cancer exams what that means is we're serving the gap in care. So we're servicing those 60 percent of women above the age of 40. We're also servicing all of those women that are under the age of 40. If you look today at the increase of breast cancer claims, there is a significant increase for women that are of the ages between 35 and 39. And again, if you kind of look at mammography, there's not a way to have that early detection to where we can prevent a lot of those stage 3 or stage 4 cancers that are starting to come out for women under the age of 40. So BEXA is a handheld technology, it has sensors that measure the elasticity of breast tissue. So we're looking for a mass and that mass is detected through a stiffness or hardness of breast tissue. There's no more of the inconvenience of having to leave your workplace or your home life in order to go to a hospital or an imaging center. There's also no more radiation, so we can service pregnant or breastfeeding moms. The other part to this too is that there's no more pain or discomfort. So if you can imagine about 28 pounds that's being compressed and your breast is now kind of squished in between two plates, that's what mammography is today. I'm included in one of these buckets that says, I had one done in my thirties, never again was I going to have one done. I hit my forties and sure enough, I stayed true to that commitment. As bad as it was of a decision on my end not to have a mammography done, I just, I didn't want to go through the, the uncomfort of, of that. So for those women. Again, those are the women who are refusing to have mammographies done for one of those, those buckets. You also have this increase in dense, breast tissue. mammography has a bit of a challenge when reading through dense breast tissue at times, because if you look at a mammography image, a mass shows white, whereas dense breast tissue also shows white. So, it's very hard to identify what is actually a mass, meaning a cyst. or breast cancer, so it could be a bi rate 5. can read through dense breast tissue. We can also read through implants, so there's no abrasiveness whenever it comes to implants and possibly rupturing those. Again, we're scanning over that breast tissue, so making it very easy. Most women who come and get this done, about 90 percent women who receive a BEXA breast exam will do a survey. We have a 98 percent NPS score and we also have a 95 percent adoption rate for women.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

Um, So I love, love, love that you guys are making it easy to do the right thing, from a BEXF perspective. And I, and I love even more that, you know, Allstate's partnering up to make sure that tools like this are getting used. Timree, how did you and Allstate get involved with BEXA If you don't mind. Maybe just kind of give us, you know, how'd you find out about them? How'd you get involved with them Um, You

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

initiatives was to bring mammograms to employees and. They're the perfect demographic. The, studies show that oftentimes they're the ones not getting their mammograms for whatever reason. Like Elizabeth mentioned, you know, the discomfort, not wanting to do it, the dread taking care of kids at school, at home, if they're in a rural area, having to go to a hospital to get one done. So. I tried to create a mammogram program where we would assist in coordinating those mammogram buses to go to the schools and all state would pay for substitute teachers so that there was no disruption at those locations when they would come out to get their mammogram. So we would work with local hospitals and health departments to try to make it all work. And it was extremely challenging, you know, making sure we could even get buses to most areas if the timing would line up with their wellness fares, or even if they. We're in school at the time. There's so many breaks and of course the summer. So, you know, it's just extremely difficult. And I love how this is coming back first full circle, because when I was in market, meeting with brokers in Texas, I met with Colin from your company, FBMC and he told me about Bexa and connected us immediately and. I don't think it was five minutes into the conversation that we knew we had to partner together. what I've been trying to do across the country perfectly aligns with their growth efforts. So, of course this started off with schools for me, but because BEX is so amazing at what they do, we now offer it for all clients that has a centralized population of female employees. So, we love it. Excited about the partnership. through our exclusive Allstate partnership, we are, offering a kind of a, to strengthen the experience of the member, a concierge hotline. And so this is a handheld experience to assist employees going through the process and then even beyond that. So, they can use this person as a, prior to the appointment for questions, scheduling what to expect or if this is right for them. And then after the exam, which I feel this is most important, help them navigate next steps. If they do find anything that was concerning, need to have any sort of followup or further diagnostic testing. this can be extremely a scary time for a woman, so I think it's a really great layer of service to embed in this program. They don't do anything clinical, so it's, but they do everything else. And the hotline is available all year long, so if anything comes up, they have questions or concerns, they're there to help. The other value add is an exam bank. So for every 16 exams that an employer pays for, all state will pay for one. So we bank those and help with some of the, to offset some of the employer costs. Thanks

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

the question that I was gonna ask is as I think about our listeners is essentially More around like What places of employment would really want to hear this message, right? And say, okay, I really need to look at this. Don't get me wrong. I don't see any reason why anybody wouldn't look at it. I, you know, if you're a place of employment and you have women who would be having these types of procedures and or could be having these types of procedures, fact that you wouldn't look at this is, why wouldn't you? but there are some populations that Just have a greater population of people who require these scans. maybe talk to us about those types of entities. What do you guys see?

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

So I'll, I'll follow along. Tim Marie public entity is by far kind of the best niche that we have. And a lot of times it's because you have these members that aren't able to leave their,, company in order to go have those breast exams done, right? There's also an uptick, unfortunately, in breast cancer claims. So public entity is just ideal for us. I think too, when we look at this, it's manufacturing, it's utilities, women owned businesses who are trying to do something. Different in the space today, right? Who really do want to revolutionize the way that we seek women's health today. those that have a 100 percent remote workforce or a really high population remote workforce now, it doesn't fit. The back to service model. My hope is that in a few years, we'll be able to truly kind of live out this mission of no woman left behind. But that the remote workforce is really kind of difficult for us. And let me explain why hire our own examiners. So they're all experienced stenographers with breast imaging as a focus. They then go through a pretty rigorous training for Bexa and how to actually utilize that device. And there's a lot that goes into that training. It's how much pressure are you using during the exam? How quick are you going through that? Right? Like, there's, there's just a lot of components to that. Those examiners then come on site to an employer's location. We typically set up several days and then we'll go through exams. All we need is a 10 by 12 room and then a power outlet. We set it almost like, A spa service, right? So you have your massage table with heat warmers. You have your spa music. We try to make it very, very comfortable for the female who's having that breast exam done. but there, if you can almost think of it like a biometric screening, it's that quick. So women are in and out within 30 minutes and they sign up through a QR code as far as the time that they want to come in. This is why we can't. Right now service those remote workforce is because we just don't have one off examiners that can hold a bunch of people within one space. So, again, we'll, as we continue to grow, we'll continue to expand our examiners to where eventually we really are making sure that every woman is, is receiving their back suppress exam or has the opportunity to. Yes.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

talking with Timoree and her staff, because I, I, like, years ago, I was buying a life insurance policy, right, and they sent a nurse to the house who took my blood in order to get that policy. Fast forward another time. I was looking at upgrading a life insurance policy. They sent me to a local blood draw place to have that done and it would be interesting like the carriers already have to get like blood draws in many circumstances, and they're filtering people to someone. It'd be interesting like. In partnership with you, if we could figure out, okay, how do we get one of those people licensed and trained to use this tool so that when we filter people there, we can do both things at one time.

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

Yes.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

And or how do we, you know, I don't know what that looks like, but I know that it happens because I know people are often having to get the blood draws when it's not like. Underwritten has a group policy and a lot of carriers that sell on an individual basis have to go through that process. But, meaning that those people exist and

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

Yes.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

a way for you guys to figure that out. I don't know. But, I understand what you're saying. Essentially, when you have people that are fully remote right now. This tool, it's hard to get that into that environment, but possibly what I'm saying is, is a way to look at it for the future, but understood. So if you're listening to this, you have a reasonable group of people within a, in a desired location, you're a target for using the BEXA platform, because essentially one of those trained people can come in and provide that service at your point of location. Am I understanding that correctly?

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

You got it. Absolutely.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

That's awesome. thanks for coming on. I definitely want people to know that this type of technology is out there, that, organizations like BEXA exist and organizations like Allstate are always looking for what's new and latest and greatest to try to people, survive for as many birthdays as they can, right? And take care of their families and their loved ones. So, love what you're doing and Yeah, thanks for coming on.

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

for having us.

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

you. Yes, absolutely. Appreciate the time.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

And I always reserve like we always reserve an additional question for all of our listeners and it's really for you. Is there anything else you'd like our listeners to know?

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

I can go first. I would say it's important to know that there's no implementation process with us, right? Like, we, we have a call with the client with the broker, and then we figure out logistics for them. And that's it. There is no implementation lift. All state obviously makes this very easy for their clients and working with us. And the exam fee is. Is it there's no additional fees that are implied with this. So, and there's no agreements that have to be made in place either. So we make this very easy with no agreement means that we can typically kind of bypass the procurement, like solutions that are out there, right? For public entities. So again, make it very easy and all seats just done a really great job with that.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

Very

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

Yeah, I would echo that. Just being out there and trying to figure out solutions in a very clunky fashion, Bexa comes in and makes it so easy. So, you know, early detection is everything. And I hope that the people listening will, reach out or talk to their employers and, see if they can make this happen for them.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

That's awesome. Well, thank you, ladies.

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

Thank

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

Thank you.

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

Absolutely.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

you so much for all of our listeners out there. If you have any questions about this program or about BEXA, elizabeth, is there a place you'd send people to learn more about BEXA?

elizabeth-vire_1_02-18-2025_152142:

I would go to mybexa. com. And then you could also go to my LinkedIn page and I'm happy to connect you with the appropriate sales rep. And then of course, to Timorese team as well.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

That's awesome. And, you know, obviously if you're, if you're listening to this and you want to look Timoree up as well on LinkedIn, or you can look up Kyla or myself, and, or you can look on our homepage at www. fbmc. com. Lots of options. You can find

timerie-podell_1_02-18-2025_162141:

Awesome way.

farris_1_02-18-2025_162142:

right.