Enhancing health plans with mental health support

We really look to bring quality providers to our network... Bringing something like Lyra, or some of our other services, which we're able to plug in quickly and get out to our members—I think that sets us apart from our competitors.

Cindy Dunnavant

Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing

EMI Health

With Lyra, EMI Health is a one-stop shop for high-quality physical and mental health care. EMI Health provides a high-quality, comprehensive physical health plan to partners nationwide—and now offers Lyra as an extension of those services. Before partnering with Lyra, EMI Health customers had inconsistent or difficult-to-access mental health care through traditional in-network providers. Cindy Dunnavant, senior vice president of sales and marketing shared, “We had plenty of providers, but employees just couldn’t get in to see them. It was taking three months to get in, and that was a real concern for our groups and their employees.” When EMI learned about Lyra, Cindy saw it as a holistic solution for their entire book of business: “There has been concern for a lot of our groups and it helps us when our groups and their employees have access to care quicker.”

Offering Lyra through their health plan directly gives EMI Health a competitive advantage. “I feel pretty proud about EMI and the fact that we can be nimble, and we can put these types of programs into our network, which doesn’t happen easily with larger carriers,” shared Cindy. “Bringing something like Lyra, or some of our other services, which we’re able to plug in quickly and get out to our members—I think that sets us apart from our competitors.”

Mental health is also a powerful differentiator during the sales process. “We always bring Lyra into the selling process,” says Cindy. “Mental health is always one of the biggest factors that we see groups needing. Prospective customers ask, ‘How big is our network?’ and, ‘do we have sufficient support?’ And we say yes.” Lyra members have access to quality mental health care 24/7/365, with appointments available within 24 hours of searching. With its extensive provider network, Lyra can support partners and employees in any location nationwide. “We have a lot of contracts with different networks,” Cindy shared, “and we’re able to use Lyra broadly across all of our groups, no matter where they reside. And that’s huge.”

EMI Health leverages Lyra’s medication management services so employees can easily navigate all their care needs. “After launching Lyra, we had several employers stating that it was great to have employees accessing care quickly, but in many cases they couldn’t get medication when needed,” shared Cindy. Lyra’s medication management services addressed this gap by offering members expert consultation and ongoing support from providers using evidence-based prescribing methods.
“You guys were able to quickly turn medication management on for us when we found there was a huge need for it,” said Cindy.

Fast access and high-quality care through Lyra promote cost savings. Every provider in Lyra’s exclusive network is rigorously vetted and uses research-backed therapeutic methods. This means EMI Health members don’t just get fast care—they get the
right care.

“I’m very impressed with how Lyra goes about making sure that providers are highly qualified, not just licensed,” shared Cindy. “And you’re able to put people in care with the right type of therapist, instead of having them hit and miss two or three before they find the right one.” Lyra’s efficient, tailored approach helps reduce both the financial and emotional toll of trial-and-error therapy. “It’s a cost savings when you can get somebody into care quickly, instead of waiting or having them end up in the emergency room because they couldn’t get care and it could have been prevented,” notes Cindy.

Lyra evidence-based care supports long-term mental health improvement. Lyra’s focus on proven, effective care means members achieve and sustain reliable improvement or recovery. As Ben Lewis, assistant vice president at EMI Health, shared, “The return-to-care percentage with Lyra versus traditional mental health services affects the cost and quality for our members.” In a claims analysis conducted by Lyra, 40% of members who received therapy from other in-network health plan providers returned for a second episode of care in the following year for the same issue. In contrast, only 11% of members who completed care with Lyra during the first 18 months of this partnership, returned to Lyra for follow-up care related to their original concern.  While this doesn’t account for the members who may have sought care outside of Lyra, the data points to Lyra’s ability to deliver meaningful, lasting results for the majority of members.