Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM), the nation’s longest-serving health cost sharing ministry, announced it’s partnering with leading tech-enabled virtual primary care physician group HealthTap to help combat rising healthcare costs. The three-year partnership provides access to virtual primary and urgent care services as part of the member experience.

CHM – HealthTap partnership significantly reduces primary care wait times; provides hundreds of thousands of CHM members with comprehensive virtual primary and urgent care through HealthTap’s board-certified primary care doctors in all 50 states.

Health Technology Insights: Johns Hopkins Medicine Selects Caregility to Collaborate on Virtual Care Innovation

Primary care plays a critical role in improving health outcomes and reducing overall healthcare costs, yet access to primary care remains a significant challenge across the United States. Nearly 100 million Americans face barriers to accessing primary care, with rural and underserved communities disproportionately affected. Access to primary care also is associated with significant reductions in overall healthcare costs. Studies have shown that U.S. adults who regularly see a primary care physician have 33% lower healthcare costs and 19% lower odds of dying prematurely compared to those who see only specialists.

“CHM understands that when Americans can engage their primary care physician, their health improves, they literally live longer, and the cost of their care goes down. For years, we have encouraged our members to engage in primary care; however, it appears many, if not a majority, are having difficulty doing so, especially in remote areas,” said Dr. Michael Jacobson, CHM Medical Director. “The HealthTap advantages are many. For example, in the U.S.the average wait time for an in-person primary care appointment is nearly one month, and the appointment is usually pressed for time and ineffective. In contrast, HealthTap’s virtual model provides same-day or same-week appointments and can be done anywhere there is an internet signal.”

Health Technology Insights: Siolta Therapeutics and Cowellnex Enter Joint Research Agreement

Through this partnership, CHM members can connect with board-certified doctors for comprehensive, patient-centered care to establish long-term relationships with a doctor of their choice. It includes:

  • Dedicated Virtual Primary Care: CHM members can pick one doctor they trust for ongoing care with convenient video visits. Members can access same-day or same-week video appointments and enjoy 90 days of unlimited messaging with their doctor after each visit.
  • On-Demand Virtual Urgent Care: Members also have access to video visits with the first available on-call doctor, including weekends and holidays, with seamless follow-ups available through their HealthTap primary care doctor.

CHM selected HealthTap because of HealthTap’s superior ability to offer continuity of care with the same primary care doctor and because of its intuitive and user-friendly patient experience. CHM also valued HealthTap’s advanced reporting capabilities, which provides the organization with metrics around utilization, prescription and specialist referral data, patient feedback and other important information.

Health Technology Insights: VectorBuilder Powers FDA IND Approval of World’s First Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Allogeneic CAR-T Product

“Primary care is the cornerstone of ensuring optimal health and is crucial for keeping overall healthcare costs contained. Christian Healthcare Ministries strongly believes that primary care is critically important as a faith-based health cost-sharing ministry where members share eligible medical expenses with one another,” said HealthTap Founder and CEO Sean Mehra. “Our partnership with their organization is part of our unwavering commitment to expanding access to primary care nationally, enabling people to build lasting relationships with their doctor.”

“We want all of our members to access primary care because we believe in the transformative power it holds to support a myriad of health concerns. HealthTap supports annual wellness visits, chronic condition management, women’s health, senior health, pediatric care and specialist referrals – all while ensuring that all care is seamlessly coordinated,” added Dr. Michael Jacobson. “We already see strong utilization and look forward to continuing to grow our relationship in the future.”

Health Technology Insights: Care Access Makes No-Cost Heart & Kidney Health Screenings Available in Austin

HealthTap worked collaboratively with CHM to design and implement the new benefits for members in under 90 days, which included managing a seamless member-onboarding process and educating members about the significantly enhanced solution. Since formally launching the partnership in late December 2024, HealthTap has already conducted thousands of healthcare visits for CHM members.

To participate in our interviews, please write to our HealthTech Media Room at news@intentamplify.com

Source – businesswire