Health Insurance

How a Baseline Visit model can drive healthcare engagement

Read Time

6 Minutes

Written by

Team Curative

Published

Jul 9, 2025

As a benefits leader, you know that your healthcare plan is only effective if your employees are actually using it.

And when your healthcare engagement dwindles, there’s a ripple effect across your business and your staff. According to the CDC, absenteeism costs US employers around $225.8 billion per year for lost productivity.

While the dollar value alone may give employers sticker shock, there are other hidden costs that impact your workforce. Think: employee engagement, company morale, burnout, and any employee underlying health concerns that only exacerbate and compound these issues.

Read on for our insights on how to boost health plan engagement and strike down financial barriers to care.

No more dodging the doctor’s office

Traditional health insurance models keep people from getting the care they need.

What keeps them out of the office?

Long waits to see docs (21 days on average)
High provider turnover (which keeps patients and doctors from having relationships)
Systems that are complicated (tough to navigate = easy to avoid)
Financial barriers (copays for what turns out to be “nothing” seem like a waste)
Lack of trust in the system itself (not an uncommon feeling)

For employers, this means low healthcare engagement, and that you’re spending money without any impact on people's health. The longer they wait to get care, too, the worse their outcomes are, which is worse for your bottom line (both keeping them in-office and in the general costs of care).

Curative's approach — a $0 copay, $0 deductible model — can make some brokers skeptical. They’ve been on the high-deductible grind for years, so they can’t figure out how no-deductible makes sense.

But building trust creates patients who keep coming back. When your employees use their healthcare packages, employers get sustainable cost savings alongside increased employee engagement. Utilization is the very best you can get for your money.

Trust-building as the foundation for healthcare engagement

As an HR leader, you want your employees to trust your healthcare options.

You can do that by picking a plan that gets back to the most fundamental part of healthcare: people. Curative kicks off things with a Baseline Visit. How exactly? With the ultimate incentive – every member must complete a Baseline Visit in the first 120 days to maintain $0 out-of-pocket coverage for services and preferred prescriptions.

The Baseline Visit is a two-part virtual appointment — first with a Curative Care Navigator, then with a Curative Clinician — designed to help members make the most of their plan from the start.

Traditional health plans are designed to make people wait to get care for when they really need it. But when health plans kick off with a visit, everybody wins: members get advice and help right away without cost concerns, and the doctor learns more about the patient so they can do any early intervention necessary. The Baseline Visit does more work than you think for your employees and your business. That first touchpoint with a healthcare system can be make-or-break for an employee's full utilization of the healthcare plan and for you getting the most bang for your buck. We’ve outlined a step-by-step guide for benefits leaders who want to boost employee engagement with Curative’s tactic: the Baseline Visit.

Leveraging the Baseline Visit model to boost healthcare engagement

The Baseline Visit serves as a guided onboarding experience, making sure every member starts their plan with clarity and support. It builds their trust with Curative, makes them more open to some of the features of our plan, and it also builds their trust with the healthcare system generally.

It means your employees are getting the most out of their healthcare plan — and you’re not sinking costs into a model that doesn’t do its job. Here’s how you can use the Baseline Visit to your benefit.

Step 1: Calculate the ROI of the Baseline Visits

Sure, an upfront investment might make leadership a little nervous — but it pays off. Because the Baseline Visit system has clear returns through early intervention. You can show them: preventive care = cost savings. Just track metrics like reduced ER visits, lower average claim costs, and dropping absenteeism.

Earlier care results in better outcomes. It’s also cheaper.

When people get the right level of care, catch chronic conditions early, and aren’t struggling to navigate the healthcare system, it helps your bottom line.

Step 2: Improve employee engagement through health education

When people aren’t engaged with healthcare, you’re paying for benefits they don’t use. That’s money out the window — making for more sick days, lower productivity, and decreased engagement.

The Baseline Visit is a tool to boost employees’ health literacy. Care Navigators explain how to access $0 providers, medications, pharmacies, programs and other care when needed. This is contextualized to member needs and the experience with the Curative Clinician.

When they truly understand their benefits (and their personal health risks), especially when matched to relevant health programs, they’ll take more decisive and proactive action.

As a result, you’ll see higher plan utilization, fewer surprise OOOs, and employees who know how your plan really works.

Step 3: Deliver an exceptional employee experience that differentiates your benefits

The talent market is competitive, and now more than ever, prospective employees are looking at healthcare benefits as part of their job decision. It can be both a huge recruitment and retention tool.

What makes your plan different? The focus is on interpersonal interactions that build trust between the employee, their health plan (Curative), and ultimately, the healthcare system. Personalized guidance, not generic advice, allows members to get the most value.

Employees who feel supported by their benefits are going to be happier — it’ll be something they’ll tout about your business when new people apply, and a benefit that keeps them around.

Step 4: Ensure seamless care transitions to maximize plan value

When employees can't navigate their healthcare, they’re likely to give up. That’s bad for your pocketbook and their long-term health.

You can simplify the process by making sure that, from the start, your employees have an in-network primary care provider, covered medications, and a connection to telehealth. When it’s easy to talk to a doctor or check in, employees won’t hesitate to get care.

Proof that the Baseline Visit works

Here’s the evidence Curative’s gathered, showing that this kickstart benefits everyone.

Higher-than-ever engagement

Curative sees a 98% engagement rate with the Baseline Visit. That’s the majority of employees actually engaging with their health plan and putting faces to an often faceless industry. We’re talking almost 100% participation, something that traditional plans would be hard pressed to touch.

Catching issues early

Because of the upfront calls, Curative engages members in conversation about conditions months before other models do, and can connect them to appropriate care. The sooner a doctor knows about a chronic condition, the sooner there can be a two-way conversation about how they can help.

Making healthcare – and health insurance – trustworthy

The Baseline Visit engages members from the start, letting them know they have people to turn to at Curative when needed. Some members (currently Texas only), continue on with their Curative Clinician as their Primary Care Physician.

When everything goes right, clinicians get a taste of that fulfillment of really helping someone, giving them information that will help them down the road with their health.

When you make real human connections, members are more likely to follow through on the care they’re recommended. For employers, it’s a win-win. Your employees are getting top-notch, proactive care for no out-of-pocket costs, and your business reaps the benefits of a healthy, engaged workforce with less risk of preventable, sky-high costs. It all starts with people.