Icario Launches Benefits Care Card to Bring New Levels of Flexibility to Medicare Advantage Member Rewards and Incentives

User-friendly Card Gives Members Easy Access to Benefits Including OTC Medication, Nutrition, Hearing, Fitness and Vision

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Icario, the healthcare industry’s largest health action company, today announced the launch of the Icario Benefits Care Card, a new way for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to deliver recurring benefits to members, including over-the-counter (OTC) products and support for vision, hearing, fitness and nutrition programs. The Icario Benefits Care Card allows MA plans to tailor restrictions to meet specific program goals while offering members benefits and incentives via a retail network covering more than 62,000 locations. The expansive retail network encompasses even those that are hardest to reach in the most rural areas. With this latest offering, Icario customers benefit from yet another way to motivate members to take health action and address social determinants of health (SDoH) factors they may be dealing with by directly adding grocery, transportation, or other categories of funds to the member’s card to simplify and provide choice to each member’s unique needs and experience.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidelines for reward and incentive programs, eliminating the availability of unrestricted single-load and reloadable debit cards and gift cards from big box retailers. Under the new guidelines, health plans must limit rewards and incentives to specific products, retailers or retail categories.

Icario’s Benefits Care Card ensures that health plans comply with CMS guidelines while promoting improved member satisfaction by delivering a variety of plan benefits on a single, easy-to-use card. The capability enables plans to encourage and incentivize healthy behaviors among members by offering them rewards that match the plan’s specific goals, including closing gaps in care. Any unused funds are returned to the plan, making the solution both valuable and cost-effective.

“We’re already the leader in helping health plans to get their members to take action on their health, and the Icario Benefits Care Card is another way for them to do just that,” said Troy Jelinek, chief commercial officer at Icario. “The new offering is a win-win proposition for plans because it allows them to meet specific goals they may have while also improving relationships with members by offering them meaningful incentives that make a difference in their lives.”

Icario Benefits Care Card Benefits
Icario Benefits Care Card augments the company’s industry-leading Icario Connect platform, giving health plans new levels of flexibility as they engage with and incentivize members to take health action. Key benefits include:

• The ability to limit which products in specific retail categories are allowed for purchase to meet a member’s unique needs and goals of the health plan
• Unspent funds returned to the health plan at the end of program cycles, eliminating excess spending on unused funds
• Both physical and digital cards are available for members based on their individual preferences and lifestyles
• The largest set of restricted product catalogs and widest retail acceptance network in the healthcare industry, giving both plans and members an unmatched level of choice, even encompassing individuals that live in the most rural of areas

For more information on Icario Benefits Care Card and the company’s health action capabilities, visit www.icariohealth.com.

About Icario
Icario is the leading health action company focused on connecting people to health. Icario uses pioneering behavioral research, data science, and our adaptive multi-channel platform to deliver personalization at scale for the most trusted healthcare organizations in all 50 states, including eight of the ten largest health plans. Learn more at www.icariohealth.com.

BOCA Communications for Icario
icario@bocacommunications.com