Eden Health, a direct-to-employer health provider that offers virtual and in-person care and insurance navigation, has expanded its COVID-19 workplace offerings to include opt-in vaccine record-sharing.

With this consent-driven initiative, Eden Health aims to give both employers and their workforce assurance that jobsites can safely reopen and remain open.

“I think that there’s a lot of companies who’ve been looking for a way to say ‘We’re taking all the steps we can,’ and looking for a way to feel like they are able to confidently bring people back and I think this is a huge tool,” Eden cofounder and CEO Matt McCambridge told MobiHealthNews.

“Vaccinations in general, I think, open a lot of hope for people. We’ve seen an improvement actually in mental health across our population with this ability to have hope around the vaccine.

"And so instrumenting that, so the employers can actually leverage that, to sort of do what they need to do. ... I’m actually super excited for our customers on that. So I’m hoping that this gets us to a more level place of certainty than we had before, and definitely an aspect of hope.”

WHAT’S THE IMPACT?

On the employee side, workers can opt in to share their vaccination records with their employer through the Eden Health app. If they get vaccinated through Eden Health, their employee profile will automatically update. If they get vaccinated elsewhere, they can upload their COVID-19 vaccination-record card manually in the app.

“What we find is that employees are made much more confident about returning to the worksite when they have processes in place that they’re aware other people are following,” McCambridge said.

“And so, we have not received pushback on these from employees, and I think that’s ultimately because we’re coming from a place of being a medical provider who is guaranteeing the privacy of the individual.”

To protect individuals' privacy, Eden Health only shares information regarding COVID-19 and vaccination status.

“So let’s say you’re worried about returning to the worksite, and had anxiety around that, and were talking to our mental healthcare providers. None of that is showing up – just the status in this very discreet way,” McCambridge said.

As for employers, they can now view the vaccination status of their workers in real time through the Eden Health Employer Dashboard. The dashboard gets updates once an employee gets their first dose, and again when they are fully vaccinated, if they received a multiple-dose vaccine.

“From my perspective, we’re going to see a change towards more remote work and flexibility, but most employers, we find, are really looking to get back to some level of in-person experiences – whether that’s having your product team together, or being able to collaborate in a variety of ways and having people around the watercooler,” McCambridge said.

“By being able to be a little more proactive, a little bit safer, I think, in some of the policies, we’re able to bring people back faster.”

He also anticipates that this offering will lend itself to the changing employer benefits landscape.

“So that helps teams manage their employees, and also I think gives [employers] a bit of a sense of what’s going to be going on for the future of employee workforce management, where [they’re] going to have to, not just manage COVID vaccines, but think about flu shots, boosters and, I think, having a more population-health approach to the way that they think about their workforce.”

Along with this new vaccine record-sharing capability, Eden Health has released a number of COVID-19-related tools for employers. The company offers daily symptom screening, at-home and onsite COVID-19 testing, and guidance from a medical director who can collaborate with employers to develop back-to-work plans.

“We’ve provided, before COVID, now during COVID, and soon post-COVID, a pretty comprehensive offering for employers and their employees, and we’re just continuing to expand that,” McCambridge said.

THE LARGER TREND

Since Eden Health’s start, it has raised nearly $100 million in investment funding. Most recently, it completed a $60 million Series C round to help fuel the expansion of its brick-and-mortar medical offices.

Other digital health companies helping employers manage their workers during the pandemic include Buoy Health, which recently released a tool that can gauge employees’ interest in getting vaccinated, and their vaccine status.

Outside of the employer space, numerous tech companies have offerings for vaccine distribution. Zocdoc and Notable Health both released tools to help patients schedule a vaccination appointment.

In the world of big tech, YouTube, Facebook, Apple and Amazon have all commenced efforts to support widespread inoculation.