August 19, 2025 • 16 mins
Recorded live at the Ascend Conference in Salt Lake City, David A. Saltzman sits down with Hans Kullberg, CEO and Founder of Avocado Health. Together, they explore how Avocado Health is solving one of the biggest challenges facing employers and employees alike: helping working parents get the right answers, right when they need them.
Hans shares how his own journey as a father of five inspired him to build a text-first platform that provides parents with evidence-based guidance on everything from toddler sleep issues to adolescent anxiety—without the endless rabbit holes of Dr. Google.
The discussion covers the massive productivity costs of presenteeism, why text messaging is the most effective format for support, and how AI plus human advocates deliver empathetic, on-demand solutions that reduce stress for families and cut costs for employers.
🤖 Sponsored by BenePower
BenePower is an AI-powered platform helping advisors build high-impact, self-insured health plans quickly and seamlessly. By integrating best-in-class point solutions and eliminating inefficiencies, BenePower reduces costs, improves member outcomes, and positions advisors as industry leaders.
🔗 Learn more at BenePower.com
🔑 Key Takeaways from This Episode
📌 Working Parents = Productivity Costs
60% of employees are parents, and presenteeism costs employers $8,000 per worker annually.
📌 Texting Beats Dr. Google
Avocado Health uses SMS to deliver expert pediatric, developmental, and behavioral guidance instantly.
📌 AI + Human = Empathy at Scale
97% of questions can be answered by AI, with human advocates stepping in for complex cases.
📌 Reducing Claims and ER Visits
Quick triage and trusted guidance prevent unnecessary urgent care and hospital costs.
📌 Boosting Benefits Utilization
The platform helps employees discover and use existing employer-sponsored resources.
⏱️ In This Episode
00:00 Live from Ascend: Introducing Hans Kullberg
02:00 From fatherhood to founding Avocado Health
04:00 The scope of challenges working parents face
07:00 Presenteeism, absenteeism, and attrition explained
10:00 Why text messaging is the most accessible solution
14:00 AI + human empathy in care delivery
18:00 Real-life RSV case study: avoiding hospitalization
22:00 Connecting employees to existing plan benefits
26:00 Employee onboarding and education via SMS
30:00 Serving rural and underserved populations
34:00 The future: languages, Medicaid, municipalities
38:00 Building scalable, accessible support for all parents
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Raising children might be easier if they came
with an owner's manual, but theydon't.
How can plans help employeeparents get on-demand answers to
on-demand problems?
We'll find out on this episodeof Shift Shapers.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Change either energizes or paralyzes.
The choice is yours.
This is the Shift Shaperspodcast, bringing the employee
benefits industry interviewswith individuals and companies
who are shaping the industryshifts.
And now here's your host, davidSaltzman.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And we're here in Salt Lake City at the Ascend
Conference and I've caught upwith Hans Kohlberg, hans' CEO
and founder at Avocado Health.
Hey, hans, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hey, david, nice to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
My pleasure, my pleasure.
So we always like to start outby asking how'd you end up doing
what you're doing today?
Because in this business,everybody's got an interesting
story and it's rarely a straightline.
So how'd you get to be here?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So, first of all, david, I'm a father of five and,
as with any parent, we've beenthrough our own circumstances,
challenges across the life cycleof our own parenthood journey,
and really this has been bornout of a passion of mine to
ensure that every parent isequipped and empowered with the
tools necessary to meet theirquestions and really with
(01:19):
validated, evidence-basedinformation at the right time.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Have you been in the insurance space forever and ever
?
I've not, I you, been in theinsurance space forever and ever
?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I have not.
I've been in the pediatricspace for the last five years,
but really in the insurancespace.
What we've learned is thatemployers care a lot about
working parents, not just from apsychological standpoint, but
also from an economicalstandpoint.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, and we'll get into that as we go along in our
conversation, because I thinkit's sometimes something that's
overlooked and yet it'spervasive, because almost
everybody has not everybody, butalmost everybody has kids and
it's a problem to deal with.
So let's talk a little bitabout this what kind of problem
are you solving and what's thescope of it?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, so 60% of working employees are parents,
and they usually have a numberone job.
That's really their home life,so what we're really addressing
is their five to nine.
When they're not in thatworkplace, how are they able to
actually answer all of theirquestions and concerns?
Whether it's a new parent, orwhether it's a child with a
developmental delay, or whetherit's a teenager that has anxiety
(02:21):
and stress, we know thatparents will likely drop
everything, work included, ifthere's any concerns on the home
front, and so what we're doingis really able to answer and
address behavioral,developmental, minor medical and
even everyday challenges thatworking parents face at any
point in time, whether it's 2 inthe morning and your kid's not
sleeping, or 2 in the afternoonand you're worried about your
(02:43):
child that might have autism.
We're doing that in the mostaccessible format possible,
which is via text message, andso the big problem right now is
working parents are going downthe rabbit hole of Dr, google or
Instagram influencers or TikTokright All because it's
accessible on their phone.
Ideally, they love to go totheir trusted pediatrician or
provider, but it takes days, ifnot weeks, to actually get in
(03:06):
front of them, and really we'rebridging that gap with the right
information at the right time,in the right format, which is
text message, in addition tothat validated information that
they need.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
So that's kind of the impact on parents.
But let's talk about it from anemployer's viewpoint viewpoint,
because most of our listenersare advisors.
They're trying to bring reallyuseful and meaningful solutions
to employers who, by and large,are trying to find really great
solutions for their employees.
What kind of a toll does nothaving this information and
(03:37):
having to deal with the childrenproblems take on employers and
their plans and their businesses?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, so the biggest problem is really the
productivity gap and among thosethere's three main ones
attrition, absenteeism andpresenteeism.
Among those, presenteeism isthe biggest one, where it costs
employers on average $8,000 peremployee every year.
Lots of different factors gointo that, but for working
parents, whether it's beingphysically in the office, in the
(04:06):
workplace, but maybe mentallyabsent Mentally they're checked
out, they're somewhere else,maybe they're sleep deprived or
maybe they're trying to searchdown the rabbit hole of Dr
Google trying to get answers fortheir child Presenteeism is a
really huge $300 billion problemhere in the US that, when we
talk to people leaders, hrleaders say this solution
(04:27):
immediately addresses you knowwhat we know.
This is not a caregivingsolution, it's not, you know,
it's not a Teladoc solution.
But what we are doing is reallyanswering parents' questions
that they really need to beanswered.
Other than that, it's alsobeing able to kind of mitigate a
lot of medical claims, a lot ofhigh-cost claims that actually
come through ER visits, urgentcare visits and also
(04:48):
developmental delays.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So, from an employee standpoint, once an employer
says, yes, this is something Iwant to add to my array of
benefits for employees, do theyget like an app?
Do they just text someplace andsay, hey, my kid's got this and
that.
And the next thing, what do Ido?
How does practically, how doesit work?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
So the user experience is like texting with
your best friend, who's the mostknowledgeable pediatrician,
therapist, parent coach andsocial worker that you know,
right there on your phone.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So part of the reason that text messaging is what you
say is the most effective isbecause it's accessible to
everybody and it's easy to useand pretty much everybody knows
how to send a text message.
Do you have to do any moreeducation on the employee side?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
No, absolutely not.
So.
Text message receives a 98%read rate very high response
rate as well.
We know, as parents, parentsare very busy and being top of
mind is the most practical wayto get in front of them.
In terms of education, it'sreally like having a
conversation with your bestfriend, who happens to be the
most knowledgeable pediatrician,therapist, parent coach that
(05:51):
you know, and so, with regardsto education, everyone really
knows how to text.
We're making that assumption,but, in terms of effective
communication, what we're ableto do is really make sure that
they're getting that benefitthat they need and deserve.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now, one of the reasons that people like going
to their friendly pediatricianis because of the empathy that
they they're able to provide.
Do you lose the empathy ifyou're sending text messages?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, so we incorporate incorporate empathy
even in our text messageplatforms.
So we are not just AI, we're ahybrid of human and AI component
.
We lead with empathy.
We think that's a veryimportant part of understanding
who the parent is, what problemsthat they actually have, and
really addressing those concerns.
For about 97% of questions,we're able to answer that with
(06:38):
AI.
For that 3%, we'll actuallycome in with a human care
advocate and let them know thathey, we're on this case.
We're going to help you, solveand walk you through whatever
challenge that you're facing.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
And then, if you get to the point where it's
something that the care advocatecan't handle, do you mesh with
the employer's plan and helpthem find a provider, or what's
that next step?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, absolutely, and one of the big things that
we're doing with employers isreally taking a look at their
health plan and their benefitson the health stack and being
able to increase adoption andawareness and also utilization
of those existing benefits.
So an example is if a motherhas postpartum depression and
we're able to pick up on that wedon't have providers that are
(07:24):
looking at that from our side,but we're able to say, hey, did
you know that your employerprovides this mental health
benefit and you can go ahead andbook an appointment by just
clicking here.
By that simple access ofbringing that information that
that member might have not knownbeforehand, increases in
awareness and then utilizationof even existing benefits, which
(07:44):
is a huge thing when we talk tobenefit directors.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
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And now back to ourconversation.
If I'm an advisor and I'mtalking to a potential client,
an employer or a plan.
I think that part of theconversation is easy to have.
I wonder what has to happen foreducation on the employee side,
(09:43):
because this is something Ithink a lot of people are kind
of cued into telehealth but Idon't think they've ever thought
about it kind of this, quitethis way, is there a lot of
employee education that needs togo on?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, and so one of the big things that we're doing
is really extending theonboarding education in really
the first seven days, and somaking sure that the member
knows you know what we are, whatwe do and what resources are
available is very important.
But also getting that not in acourse format but more so in
bite-sized snippets, and so onetext message every day, in
(10:18):
addition to a very short videoexplaining what questions they
can ask, but also helping guidethem through that parenting
journey.
So one of the things we do isask reflexive questions to
really help coach that parentthrough whatever challenge they
have, as well as give age anddevelopment-related information
relevant for that.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Can you give me an example of what one of those
reflexive questions might be?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah.
So one reflexive question istell me about a moment today or
this week that you reallyconnected with your child.
Why was that special and howdid that make you feel there's
no right answer?
It's a rhetorical question, butwhat it helps that parent do is
really stop, take a moment andreally connect.
(11:03):
Connection is a really big partof parenting.
It's just one of many differentfacets, but what we know is
that an empowered parent is onethat's informed in knowledge and
also understands their child ina very unique way.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Can they, for lack of a better term, kind of press a
panic button if they knowthey've reached a point, with
whatever's happening with theirchild, that they've got to go
see somebody or take the childsomeplace?
Everybody's looking to havefriction removed from processes
these days.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Do we create friction there or do we remove that
friction and give them a way tohit the eject button?
Yeah, so certainly for anymajor crisis, critical emergency
instance, we're going toredirect them and say emergency
instance.
We're going to redirect themand say, hey, call 911 and go to
emergency room because we havea threshold of situations that
we can actually talk and address.
But we know that there's a lotthat's out of our scope.
And so a very poignant exampleof that we had a member who had
(12:04):
their fifth child.
They were six months old andshe was having wheezing and
really difficulty coughing oreven breathing.
It seemed like a typicalrun-of-the-mill cold, but when
they started asking Avvo theyrealized that this was a more
urgent scenario and thesuggestion was go see your
provider.
One trip to the pediatrician.
(12:25):
The realization was that itwasn't just a ear infection but
it was also RSV.
Rsv at that age can be evenfatal.
So a couple medications ofantibiotics and the baby is fine
, good to go.
And so that very small examplewas a way that it probably
reduced or mitigated ahospitalization visit, a big
(12:47):
medical bill for an employer,but also that time and stress
for that parent.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Is this generally only applied at the plan level,
or is it a voluntary?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
piece.
We're flexible on both sides.
We'd love to be at the planlevel and embedded and
incorporated within that, but weknow that there's different
priorities, different budgets,different circumstances.
Our mission, really at our core, is to empower all parents with
accessible, informative andactionable parent support, and
so, by that definition, we areflexible at the voluntary.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And can it run alongside a fully insured plan?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Absolutely can.
We can absolutely be flexibleon the fully insured plan as
well, and that's within ourscope.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So if you kind of look out into the future four,
five, six years where do you seethis going?
Where do you see the evolutionof this?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah.
So we're really starting, davidwith employers, because we know
that working parents andemployers have the biggest to
gain as well as biggest to losein terms of liability attrition,
productivity, et cetera.
You know our mission is to helpover a billion humans around
the world.
And where do we start?
We start where the need is thegreatest, and so you know,
(14:03):
ideally we'd love to be in allhealth plans.
We'd also love to work withpayers, such as even Medicaid
and local city statemunicipalities, where there is a
societal cost of not ensuringthat parent has the maximum
amount of support and that childhas the best foundation to
(14:24):
really start their life.
And so we are flexible withtext message, whatsapp as well,
soon to have Spanish capabilityin other languages later down
the road.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You know we didn't talk about Medicaid, but there's
a lot of underserved areas andwhatnot.
It seems that this would be areal boon to folks in those
kinds of areas and or in ruralareas where you know there
aren't hospitals.
The rural hospitals have allpretty much been bought up by
the big chains and closed, so isthat a target area?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Absolutely Rural and lower income is a really big
target area down the road for usand we're building with the end
in mind, knowing that that userbase is probably the highest
amount of need.
It's also a longer cycle, longertimeline just to really get in
front of them.
But when we look at we'vetalked to rural pediatricians
you know they're inundated,they're swamped, they have, you
(15:16):
know, thousands of patients thatare on their panel, but what
they say is we don't really havetime for every single patient.
And we have, you know, we haveparents calling in the middle of
the night, but we don't have apediatric nurse.
How do we actually address that?
You know here's a wraparoundservice that you can actually
offer at a fairly minimal costto actually have a scalable
(15:37):
impact.
Same thing on the Medicaid side, where we know, even with
budget costs and the crisis thatare happening, we know social
workers that are having to belaid off.
How do you actually address,you know, that gaping hole with
a tech forward solution that'sscalable, in a cost effective
manner, to make sure that singleparent who's raising a child by
himself isn't left by thewayside, right, and so that's a
(15:59):
really huge opportunity for usin the future.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Juan, that's a great place to end our conversation
for today, but we do hope you'llcome back as things evolve.
Hans Kohlberg, CEO and founderat Avocado Health.
Hans, thanks for sharing yourexpertise with us.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Thank you, david, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor
and our producer, hatcher Media.
Hey, if you need podcastproduction or professional
graphic design, josh Hatcher isthe expert to contact For more
information.
Visit him at HatcherMedianet.
That's H-A-T-C-H-E-R Media dotnet.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
This Shift Shapers podcast is copyrighted content
and may not be reproduced inwhole or in part without the
express written permission ofShift Shapers Solutions LLC.
Copyright 2024.
Raising children might be easier if they came
with an owner's manual, but theydon't.
How can plans help employeeparents get on-demand answers to
on-demand problems?
We'll find out on this episodeof Shift Shapers.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Change either energizes or paralyzes.
The choice is yours.
This is the Shift Shaperspodcast, bringing the employee
benefits industry interviewswith individuals and companies
who are shaping the industryshifts.
And now here's your host, davidSaltzman.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And we're here in Salt Lake City at the Ascend
Conference and I've caught upwith Hans Kohlberg, hans' CEO
and founder at Avocado Health.
Hey, hans, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hey, david, nice to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
My pleasure, my pleasure.
So we always like to start outby asking how'd you end up doing
what you're doing today?
Because in this business,everybody's got an interesting
story and it's rarely a straightline.
So how'd you get to be here?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So, first of all, david, I'm a father of five and,
as with any parent, we've beenthrough our own circumstances,
challenges across the life cycleof our own parenthood journey,
and really this has been bornout of a passion of mine to
ensure that every parent isequipped and empowered with the
tools necessary to meet theirquestions and really with
(01:19):
validated, evidence-basedinformation at the right time.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Have you been in the insurance space forever and ever
?
I've not, I you, been in theinsurance space forever and ever
?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I have not.
I've been in the pediatricspace for the last five years,
but really in the insurancespace.
What we've learned is thatemployers care a lot about
working parents, not just from apsychological standpoint, but
also from an economicalstandpoint.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, and we'll get into that as we go along in our
conversation, because I thinkit's sometimes something that's
overlooked and yet it'spervasive, because almost
everybody has not everybody, butalmost everybody has kids and
it's a problem to deal with.
So let's talk a little bitabout this what kind of problem
are you solving and what's thescope of it?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, so 60% of working employees are parents,
and they usually have a numberone job.
That's really their home life,so what we're really addressing
is their five to nine.
When they're not in thatworkplace, how are they able to
actually answer all of theirquestions and concerns?
Whether it's a new parent, orwhether it's a child with a
developmental delay, or whetherit's a teenager that has anxiety
(02:21):
and stress, we know thatparents will likely drop
everything, work included, ifthere's any concerns on the home
front, and so what we're doingis really able to answer and
address behavioral,developmental, minor medical and
even everyday challenges thatworking parents face at any
point in time, whether it's 2 inthe morning and your kid's not
sleeping, or 2 in the afternoonand you're worried about your
(02:43):
child that might have autism.
We're doing that in the mostaccessible format possible,
which is via text message, andso the big problem right now is
working parents are going downthe rabbit hole of Dr, google or
Instagram influencers or TikTokright All because it's
accessible on their phone.
Ideally, they love to go totheir trusted pediatrician or
provider, but it takes days, ifnot weeks, to actually get in
(03:06):
front of them, and really we'rebridging that gap with the right
information at the right time,in the right format, which is
text message, in addition tothat validated information that
they need.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
So that's kind of the impact on parents.
But let's talk about it from anemployer's viewpoint viewpoint,
because most of our listenersare advisors.
They're trying to bring reallyuseful and meaningful solutions
to employers who, by and large,are trying to find really great
solutions for their employees.
What kind of a toll does nothaving this information and
(03:37):
having to deal with the childrenproblems take on employers and
their plans and their businesses?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, so the biggest problem is really the
productivity gap and among thosethere's three main ones
attrition, absenteeism andpresenteeism.
Among those, presenteeism isthe biggest one, where it costs
employers on average $8,000 peremployee every year.
Lots of different factors gointo that, but for working
parents, whether it's beingphysically in the office, in the
(04:06):
workplace, but maybe mentallyabsent Mentally they're checked
out, they're somewhere else,maybe they're sleep deprived or
maybe they're trying to searchdown the rabbit hole of Dr
Google trying to get answers fortheir child Presenteeism is a
really huge $300 billion problemhere in the US that, when we
talk to people leaders, hrleaders say this solution
(04:27):
immediately addresses you knowwhat we know.
This is not a caregivingsolution, it's not, you know,
it's not a Teladoc solution.
But what we are doing is reallyanswering parents' questions
that they really need to beanswered.
Other than that, it's alsobeing able to kind of mitigate a
lot of medical claims, a lot ofhigh-cost claims that actually
come through ER visits, urgentcare visits and also
(04:48):
developmental delays.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So, from an employee standpoint, once an employer
says, yes, this is something Iwant to add to my array of
benefits for employees, do theyget like an app?
Do they just text someplace andsay, hey, my kid's got this and
that.
And the next thing, what do Ido?
How does practically, how doesit work?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
So the user experience is like texting with
your best friend, who's the mostknowledgeable pediatrician,
therapist, parent coach andsocial worker that you know,
right there on your phone.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So part of the reason that text messaging is what you
say is the most effective isbecause it's accessible to
everybody and it's easy to useand pretty much everybody knows
how to send a text message.
Do you have to do any moreeducation on the employee side?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
No, absolutely not.
So.
Text message receives a 98%read rate very high response
rate as well.
We know, as parents, parentsare very busy and being top of
mind is the most practical wayto get in front of them.
In terms of education, it'sreally like having a
conversation with your bestfriend, who happens to be the
most knowledgeable pediatrician,therapist, parent coach that
(05:51):
you know, and so, with regardsto education, everyone really
knows how to text.
We're making that assumption,but, in terms of effective
communication, what we're ableto do is really make sure that
they're getting that benefitthat they need and deserve.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now, one of the reasons that people like going
to their friendly pediatricianis because of the empathy that
they they're able to provide.
Do you lose the empathy ifyou're sending text messages?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, so we incorporate incorporate empathy
even in our text messageplatforms.
So we are not just AI, we're ahybrid of human and AI component
.
We lead with empathy.
We think that's a veryimportant part of understanding
who the parent is, what problemsthat they actually have, and
really addressing those concerns.
For about 97% of questions,we're able to answer that with
(06:38):
AI.
For that 3%, we'll actuallycome in with a human care
advocate and let them know thathey, we're on this case.
We're going to help you, solveand walk you through whatever
challenge that you're facing.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
And then, if you get to the point where it's
something that the care advocatecan't handle, do you mesh with
the employer's plan and helpthem find a provider, or what's
that next step?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, absolutely, and one of the big things that
we're doing with employers isreally taking a look at their
health plan and their benefitson the health stack and being
able to increase adoption andawareness and also utilization
of those existing benefits.
So an example is if a motherhas postpartum depression and
we're able to pick up on that wedon't have providers that are
(07:24):
looking at that from our side,but we're able to say, hey, did
you know that your employerprovides this mental health
benefit and you can go ahead andbook an appointment by just
clicking here.
By that simple access ofbringing that information that
that member might have not knownbeforehand, increases in
awareness and then utilizationof even existing benefits, which
(07:44):
is a huge thing when we talk tobenefit directors.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And now a word from our sponsor.
You're not just an advisor,you're a game changer.
Forget cookie cutter offthethe-shelf solutions.
That's yesterday's news, it's2025, and it's all about
delivering bold, custom-craftedplans that truly make a
difference.
At the core is a razor-sharpself-insured framework, but the
(08:11):
real magic that's in thehigh-impact point solutions you
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And now back to ourconversation.
If I'm an advisor and I'mtalking to a potential client,
an employer or a plan.
I think that part of theconversation is easy to have.
I wonder what has to happen foreducation on the employee side,
(09:43):
because this is something Ithink a lot of people are kind
of cued into telehealth but Idon't think they've ever thought
about it kind of this, quitethis way, is there a lot of
employee education that needs togo on?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, and so one of the big things that we're doing
is really extending theonboarding education in really
the first seven days, and somaking sure that the member
knows you know what we are, whatwe do and what resources are
available is very important.
But also getting that not in acourse format but more so in
bite-sized snippets, and so onetext message every day, in
(10:18):
addition to a very short videoexplaining what questions they
can ask, but also helping guidethem through that parenting
journey.
So one of the things we do isask reflexive questions to
really help coach that parentthrough whatever challenge they
have, as well as give age anddevelopment-related information
relevant for that.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Can you give me an example of what one of those
reflexive questions might be?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah.
So one reflexive question istell me about a moment today or
this week that you reallyconnected with your child.
Why was that special and howdid that make you feel there's
no right answer?
It's a rhetorical question, butwhat it helps that parent do is
really stop, take a moment andreally connect.
(11:03):
Connection is a really big partof parenting.
It's just one of many differentfacets, but what we know is
that an empowered parent is onethat's informed in knowledge and
also understands their child ina very unique way.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Can they, for lack of a better term, kind of press a
panic button if they knowthey've reached a point, with
whatever's happening with theirchild, that they've got to go
see somebody or take the childsomeplace?
Everybody's looking to havefriction removed from processes
these days.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Do we create friction there or do we remove that
friction and give them a way tohit the eject button?
Yeah, so certainly for anymajor crisis, critical emergency
instance, we're going toredirect them and say emergency
instance.
We're going to redirect themand say, hey, call 911 and go to
emergency room because we havea threshold of situations that
we can actually talk and address.
But we know that there's a lotthat's out of our scope.
And so a very poignant exampleof that we had a member who had
(12:04):
their fifth child.
They were six months old andshe was having wheezing and
really difficulty coughing oreven breathing.
It seemed like a typicalrun-of-the-mill cold, but when
they started asking Avvo theyrealized that this was a more
urgent scenario and thesuggestion was go see your
provider.
One trip to the pediatrician.
(12:25):
The realization was that itwasn't just a ear infection but
it was also RSV.
Rsv at that age can be evenfatal.
So a couple medications ofantibiotics and the baby is fine
, good to go.
And so that very small examplewas a way that it probably
reduced or mitigated ahospitalization visit, a big
(12:47):
medical bill for an employer,but also that time and stress
for that parent.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Is this generally only applied at the plan level,
or is it a voluntary?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
piece.
We're flexible on both sides.
We'd love to be at the planlevel and embedded and
incorporated within that, but weknow that there's different
priorities, different budgets,different circumstances.
Our mission, really at our core, is to empower all parents with
accessible, informative andactionable parent support, and
so, by that definition, we areflexible at the voluntary.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And can it run alongside a fully insured plan?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Absolutely can.
We can absolutely be flexibleon the fully insured plan as
well, and that's within ourscope.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
So if you kind of look out into the future four,
five, six years where do you seethis going?
Where do you see the evolutionof this?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah.
So we're really starting, davidwith employers, because we know
that working parents andemployers have the biggest to
gain as well as biggest to losein terms of liability attrition,
productivity, et cetera.
You know our mission is to helpover a billion humans around
the world.
And where do we start?
We start where the need is thegreatest, and so you know,
(14:03):
ideally we'd love to be in allhealth plans.
We'd also love to work withpayers, such as even Medicaid
and local city statemunicipalities, where there is a
societal cost of not ensuringthat parent has the maximum
amount of support and that childhas the best foundation to
(14:24):
really start their life.
And so we are flexible withtext message, whatsapp as well,
soon to have Spanish capabilityin other languages later down
the road.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You know we didn't talk about Medicaid, but there's
a lot of underserved areas andwhatnot.
It seems that this would be areal boon to folks in those
kinds of areas and or in ruralareas where you know there
aren't hospitals.
The rural hospitals have allpretty much been bought up by
the big chains and closed, so isthat a target area?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Absolutely Rural and lower income is a really big
target area down the road for usand we're building with the end
in mind, knowing that that userbase is probably the highest
amount of need.
It's also a longer cycle, longertimeline just to really get in
front of them.
But when we look at we'vetalked to rural pediatricians
you know they're inundated,they're swamped, they have, you
(15:16):
know, thousands of patients thatare on their panel, but what
they say is we don't really havetime for every single patient.
And we have, you know, we haveparents calling in the middle of
the night, but we don't have apediatric nurse.
How do we actually address that?
You know here's a wraparoundservice that you can actually
offer at a fairly minimal costto actually have a scalable
(15:37):
impact.
Same thing on the Medicaid side, where we know, even with
budget costs and the crisis thatare happening, we know social
workers that are having to belaid off.
How do you actually address,you know, that gaping hole with
a tech forward solution that'sscalable, in a cost effective
manner, to make sure that singleparent who's raising a child by
himself isn't left by thewayside, right, and so that's a
(15:59):
really huge opportunity for usin the future.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Juan, that's a great place to end our conversation
for today, but we do hope you'llcome back as things evolve.
Hans Kohlberg, CEO and founderat Avocado Health.
Hans, thanks for sharing yourexpertise with us.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Thank you, david, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor
and our producer, hatcher Media.
Hey, if you need podcastproduction or professional
graphic design, josh Hatcher isthe expert to contact For more
information.
Visit him at HatcherMedianet.
That's H-A-T-C-H-E-R Media dotnet.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
This Shift Shapers podcast is copyrighted content
and may not be reproduced inwhole or in part without the
express written permission ofShift Shapers Solutions LLC.
Copyright 2024.
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