How Cosmos Corp amplified its culture of care, and reduced its healthcare costs
The core ethos of Cosmos Corporation, a leading manufacturer of natural health, wellness, and care products based in St. Peters, MO, is to do its best by its people.
“When we take care of our employees, they take care of our customers,” says Stacie Harrell, Human Resources Director at Cosmos. “Our employees come first, it’s in our mission statement. We want them to be taken care of at work.”
But access to high-quality healthcare had become an issue for many people. “It was taking months for our employees to get an appointment with their doctor for routine annual visits. And I’m talking nine months, in some cases,” she says.
Because the company is self-insured, Stacie was seeing this lack of access reflected in the growing cost of healthcare claims year on year. The lack of timely access to preventative care meant that some employees’ health concerns were going untreated until they became chronic and debilitating, and many were increasingly resorting to costly urgent care and ER visits for relatively minor issues.
Stacie knew offering a primary care benefit could be a key part of improving the health of Cosmos employees, and also reducing the cost related to these high-ticket healthcare costs. Her priority was to find something that Cosmos employees would actually want to use.
Cosmos Corp at a glance:
- Established in 1980
- Based in St. Peters, MO
- Leading manufacturer of personal care, pet health and wellness products, and household cleaning solutions
- 235 eligible employees
- Rezilient customer since September, 2022
“A primary care benefit had to be convenient and easy for our employees.” says Stacie. “And we wanted it to be at no cost to them, so they would actually go to the doctor.”
Cosmos introduced Rezilient Health as a benefit for their 235 eligible employees in September, 2022. Once they activate their benefit, eligible employees get access to same day or next day appointments at CloudClinics — the St. Peters and Clayton CloudClinics being closest to most of Cosmos’ employees — and 24/7 access to their care team with telehealth and messaging. Cosmos employees pay nothing out of pocket, with a $0 co-pay and a $0 deductible.
“Our employees get really timely visits at the Rezilient clinics — they can easily get care when they’re sick. That’s game-changing,” she says. “If they’re not feeling well, they can head down to the Rezilient clinic almost right away, because there’s going to be an appointment available. It’s easy for them to go to the doctor, so they go to the doctor. And they have an actual relationship with their primary care physician, they’re not just a number.”
Rezilient also serves Cosmos employees who work remotely outside of St. Louis. “When our employees in California or Michigan are in St. Louis for quarterly events, they’ll go to the Rezilient clinic and build that relationship [with their physician],” Stacie says. “Then if they’re sick with the flu, or a cold, or whatever reason they need to see their doctor, they can easily message or have a virtual appointment with them.”
“It’s changed our business,” Stacie continues. “We have a true partnership with Rezilient. We meet with them twice a year to find out where our employees are struggling, for example with mental illness. That way we know how to take care of our employees: where to focus our time and efforts to educate them and help them.”
“And we’re not getting 22% increases in our premiums anymore because our employees are healthy because they’re actually going to the doctor. It’s saving Cosmos a significant amount of money.”
“Our healthcare costs have been reduced by hundreds of thousands of dollars across around 235 eligible employees,” Stacie says. “It’s clear that using Rezilient for primary care and urgent care has significantly impacted our healthcare costs. We’re not having to pay for those hospital visits anymore, because our employees don’t have to rely on them.”
Stacie ran a mid-year survey to understand if Cosmos employees like the benefits they’re offered and if they’re actually using them. “ 84% of our employees that have our benefits received an annual checkup this year,” she says. “This only happened because Rezilient is so convenient. It did not happen before. The survey also revealed that 98% of our employees are happy with Rezilient and the services they provide.”
“The only concern I had was that some people might find it strange that the doctor isn’t present in the same room and instead they’re on a large screen,” she says. “But once I went to try it, it was quickly a non-issue. Instead, the amount of care that I received when I was there was unbelievable. And same with our employees. They’re educated during the appointment: ‘we’re looking at three different parts of your heartbeat to make sure it’s healthy. We’re looking in your ear. It normally looks like this. If it’s infected, it looks like this.’ It means they understand their healthcare so much more.”
Along with the level of attention from her care team, Stacie has been impressed with the CloudClinic’s digital tools. “The technology that Rezilient has is not typical,” she says. “For example, I had a rash on my arm and I thought my doctor wouldn’t be able to help me because they’re not in the same room. I was wrong. They used a special light to figure out exactly what it was. I’m like, this is crazy. They had all the technology for all of my questions. Everything was just right there. I think the CloudClinic technicians kind of love that as well.”
The one thing Stacie would change about Cosmos Corp’s Rezilient benefit? “I wish I had launched this years earlier,” she says. “My advice, if anybody were to think about adopting Rezilient, is to partner with them right away. Don’t wait. It will change the health of your employees and your company. It will change the culture too. You’ll have more of a caring culture and it will save you a lot of money.”
We’re here to help.
Talk to our expert team to find out how Rezilient could change your healthcare game.