July 14, 2025 • 11 mins
In this episode of Risky Benefits, we discuss the opioid crisis with Nico LoDolce, founder of Dolce Vida Consulting, and Jose Bracero from Champion Health. The conversation introduces Covert, a groundbreaking platform that helps organizations proactively address opioid addiction by analyzing medical claims to detect early symptoms of withdrawal. The platform ensures privacy by de-identifying employee data and targets prescribers to update them on safe opioid prescribing practices. Success stories, including significant cost savings for a Florida school district, underscore Covert's impact. The episode highlights the importance of early intervention and the substantial benefits it provides to both individual health and organizational productivity.
To listen in and subscribe to more episodes, visit our website: fbmc.com/podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hey, thank you for listening into Risky Benefits, a podcast
that informs you on all thingsbenefits.
We've got a saying around here,benefits isn't your main
business.
It's ours.
marketing_1_06-16-2025_1417 (00:16):
Hey everyone.
Thank you for listening to RiskyBenefits and welcome to this
week's episode.
Our guests this week are Nico LaDoce and Jose Ro, representing
Champion Health and an advocatefor clever Benefits featuring a
game changing platform calledCovert.
So today we're tackling a veryserious topic that touches.
(00:37):
Every industry and everycommunity, the opioid crisis,
but we're not just talking aboutthe problem, we're showcasing a
powerful, proactive solution.
So thank you both for coming on.
Why don't we start by you guystelling us a little bit about
yourselves and what you guys do.
First off, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm Nico a Dolce.
I'm the founder of Dolche VidaConsulting, and I work closely
(00:58):
with the teams at ChampionHealth and Clever Benefits.
So we provide proactivesolutions for organizations of
all sizes, both public andprivate.
And actually personally, I grewup in Johnsburg, Illinois, so
really small town and at the.
Age of 21.
I drove myself down to Orlando,where I currently live ever
since.
So just what spurred that?
(01:18):
Yeah.
During the height of COVID, Ihad an, an opportunity, a friend
of mine that I grew up with inIllinois was going to UCF, and
he was actually in benefits andhe was doing well, and he told
me, if you wanted to try it, youcould, but you gotta move to
Orlando.
I was like, no way.
And then long story short.
I visited Orlando three monthslater.
I drove myself down as a21-year-old.
(01:39):
Awesome.
Absolutely.
Um, but just really thankful forthe journey and the opportunity
to make a positive impact here.
Very good.
Thanks.
Yeah, so I started off as abusiness owner for 10 years, ran
a sales consultant company.
We built up sales teams for someof the largest companies in
America.
When COVID hit.
(01:59):
We got very lucky, was able toexit successfully on that
business.
Took some time off, had somebabies, and then decided I
wanted to get back into the techworld.
So, uh, started working intechnology companies.
Eventually met with Nico.
Saw that his solutions havetechnology behind it, and you
(02:20):
know, that we could do somethingwith this type of technology and
then decide to partner up.
Very good.
Well, happy Father's Day.
Thank you, belated.
Thank you.
Did you have a nice day?
Yeah, I had a great day.
Good, good.
Yeah.
Very good.
So let's get into it.
The big picture, um, the opioidcrisis is that it's obviously
(02:40):
very devastating to everyonefamilies.
It's overwhelmed the healthcaresystem and driven up costs for
employers.
It's not just a personaltragedy, it's a massive
financial and operationalchallenges for businesses and
public entities.
So can you guys speak on that alittle bit?
Absolutely.
So I think something that getsmissed too is 75% of people that
(03:01):
get addicted to opioids andenter treatment.
Actually started with aprescription written by their
doctor.
Mm-hmm.
So I'll share some more realnumbers with you guys that we're
seeing on our end.
So we analyze about 50,000members claims each month.
And what we're seeing on our endis about 10% of plan members get
prescribed an opioid in a year.
(03:23):
Of those, 30% of those membersend up.
Suffering withdrawal symptomssevere enough where they seek
outside coverage or care.
Think like emergency room visitsurgent care and more.
And this one's shocking too.
Patients managing severe opioidwithdrawal symptoms account for
up to eight to 10%.
Of the total health plans costin a year.
(03:45):
That's crazy.
And the reason for that isbecause on our end we're seeing
that someone that is abusingopioids costs a health plan
$10,000 more in a year thancompared to others.
So imagine you're a largeorganization with a ton of
employees, that adds up veryfast.
Okay, so how does Covert help?
Yes, so Covert is a pet andpending solution that basically
(04:07):
analyzes medical claims and isable to detect opioid withdrawal
symptoms very, very early on.
And what's very unique is weneed no personal health
information, so we don't evenknow who the employee is.
It's all de-identified.
What we do though know, what wedo know is the.
Provider prescribing theopioids.
(04:28):
So then our team is able to goand reach out to that per
prescribing provider, like adentist, a surgeon, a doctor,
and we're able to tell them themost up-to-date protocols and
practices for safe opioidprescribing.
What's what we're really proudof is 98% of providers actually
adopt what we are suggestingbased on the numbers.
(04:50):
That's obviously extremely highnumber and really proud of that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Why do you think that is?
I think because the numbersdon't lie.
Right?
And when they've seen somethingthey've never seen before and we
have proof, I think that's why,and I do wanna add it really
important to understand there'sfour stages to opioid use.
The first is pain management,second is chemical dependency,
(05:12):
third is abuse, and fourth isaddiction.
Why I bring this up is becausewe have a 75% success rate.
With provider intervention inthe first two stages, it is so
important we get this early.
'cause if we don't and itprogresses to abuse or
addiction, success rate drops tounder 10%.
And if somebody's addicted, it'sbasically 0%.
(05:35):
It's too late.
Wow.
So that's why our window to helpis in stages one and two.
Yeah, that makes sense.
On a personal note, like we'veseen so many friends and family
members, uh, especially on myside or my generation who are no
longer here because they fellinto stages three and four, and
it's very little to no help atthat point.
(05:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Wow that's impressive.
I mean, those numbers arereally.
Really crazy.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So, that's a very powerfulstrategy and it sounds like it's
not just about helping oneperson, but it impacts the whole
health ecosystem.
absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(06:18):
A great example I like to pointout and funny, I actually have
the memo printed here.
I'll kind of go into it.
Yeah.
But up.
Yeah.
May I?
Yeah, absolutely.
Just'cause we're really proud ofthis, but I was gonna acting
like Joe Rogan, where it's like,uh, could you show this on the
podcast please?
Yes.
But no, but basically this isjust a thank you memo that I'll
get into in a second.
But the school district of.
(06:39):
Osceola County here in Florida.
They're in Orlando where I am ornear Orlando, and they have
thousands of health planmembers.
They've been using Covert since2019.
So they're a proud client and inthe first year alone, they saved
$1.45 million on their healthplan.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Not only that, but emergencyroom visits went down and urgent
(07:00):
care visits went down as well.
And the head of risk and benefitmanager there she wrote us that
thank you memo, just explaininghow it saved them a ton of money
and it prevented opioidaddiction and all of these great
things.
Yeah.
In addition, as a reminder, eachintervention.
Saves$10,000 on average in ayear, right?
(07:21):
So not only is covert savinglives, but it's also a positive
return on investment fororganizations.
Absolutely.
And I can imagine that if youare catching them in those
phases, one and two, that theemployee engagement side is a
lot better, less absenteeism,more people, you know, able to
come into work and Absolutely,yeah.
(07:41):
Healthier, more productive.
Mm-hmm.
So, so the thing about opioiddisorders.
Is that it's sometimes it'sundetectable to the naked eye,
right?
The person that's on it, youwon't notice until like they hit
really drastic measures and thenthey start nodding out at work
or spacing out at work or takinglonger breaks or this, that, and
(08:01):
the third, and by then it'salready too late.
So the goal is.
You know, they're probably gonnaget it prescribed to them by a
doctor and it's normalized,especially here in America to do
so, you know, they get into acar accident, back hurts,
whatever that looks like tothem.
And then we wanna make sure thatwe could catch it right up front
because again, like the numbersdon't lie.
(08:23):
Right.
And, and it's super important tomake note of that.
If you have an entireorganization that's on it, God
forbid I don't think thatorganization would last long,
but but for sure, you know, it'sall about how can we be as
proactive as possible to helpthat organization for time to
come.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
(08:43):
And do you guys have like anyeducation pieces that go with
this to help, the employers lookfor those signs and know when
people are potentially reachingstages three and four?
So covert is actually more so onthe.
Backend, it kind of operates asa safety net without anybody
actually knowing, right?
(09:04):
'cause there's no employeeidentification or interaction.
And it doesn't, it also doesn'thave to for material.
It's honestly all gonna be comefrom our prescribing
professionals.
Our team of pharmacists thatreach out with the.
Provider.
So all that education's actuallygonna go to the prescribers.
Not so much hr, et cetera.
Okay.
They are aware of these newmitigation policies that are
(09:25):
gonna happen.
Mm-hmm.
But that's kind of as far asthey, they know.
And of course we do partner withfolks that provide these types
of trainings and help witheducate businesses with this.
So we could always refer them tothem, but we're just not the
experts on that side.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Okay, good.
That's I really incrediblestuff.
So what can HR leaders, schooldistricts or other brokers how
(09:49):
can they explore the solution?
Absolutely.
well actually, so for anybodylistening please feel free out
to.
Please feel free to actuallyjust reach out to me over email
or connect with you on LinkedIn.
I'd be more than happy to walkthrough how COVID works and how
it could save your organization.
Not only lives, but money aswell.
I.
(10:09):
And is there anyone, like, is,do you guys have a target
audience for this or?
Yeah.
So if, whether it's a schooldistrict or a municipality or
just an organization with alarge workforce those are who we
impact the most.
All right.
Well, is there anything else?
Yeah, actually I do wanna addone more really important thing
(10:30):
I like.
No I.
So most health plans actuallyrely a lot on their pharmacy
Benefit manager or PBM to helpprevent opioid addiction or for
claims to pile up.
But to be frank, by the timethat actually is alerted, it's
usually too late.
That member is most likelyalready addicted to opioids.
So Covert is able to catch itbefore any other tool out there.
(10:53):
And once again, that's where wemake the most impact, is
actually proactively notreactive.
I love the name Covert.
How did you guys come up withthat?
Covert, behind the scenes?
Not really detectable.
Yeah, just operating behind thescenes.
Okay, cool.
Anything else for.
No, I think I think we hit itall.
(11:15):
Okay.
Well thank you guys.
And I think what you're doingreally sounds like a very
innovative solution and a gamechanger, so thank you.
And for our listeners, if youwanna learn more, please contact
Nico or visit ourhomepage@www.fbmc.com.
And remember, you can find usand subscribe on any podcast
(11:35):
app.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Hey, thank you for listening into Risky Benefits, a podcast
that informs you on all thingsbenefits.
We've got a saying around here,benefits isn't your main
business.
It's ours.
marketing_1_06-16-2025_1417 (00:16):
Hey everyone.
Thank you for listening to RiskyBenefits and welcome to this
week's episode.
Our guests this week are Nico LaDoce and Jose Ro, representing
Champion Health and an advocatefor clever Benefits featuring a
game changing platform calledCovert.
So today we're tackling a veryserious topic that touches.
(00:37):
Every industry and everycommunity, the opioid crisis,
but we're not just talking aboutthe problem, we're showcasing a
powerful, proactive solution.
So thank you both for coming on.
Why don't we start by you guystelling us a little bit about
yourselves and what you guys do.
First off, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm Nico a Dolce.
I'm the founder of Dolche VidaConsulting, and I work closely
(00:58):
with the teams at ChampionHealth and Clever Benefits.
So we provide proactivesolutions for organizations of
all sizes, both public andprivate.
And actually personally, I grewup in Johnsburg, Illinois, so
really small town and at the.
Age of 21.
I drove myself down to Orlando,where I currently live ever
since.
So just what spurred that?
(01:18):
Yeah.
During the height of COVID, Ihad an, an opportunity, a friend
of mine that I grew up with inIllinois was going to UCF, and
he was actually in benefits andhe was doing well, and he told
me, if you wanted to try it, youcould, but you gotta move to
Orlando.
I was like, no way.
And then long story short.
I visited Orlando three monthslater.
I drove myself down as a21-year-old.
(01:39):
Awesome.
Absolutely.
Um, but just really thankful forthe journey and the opportunity
to make a positive impact here.
Very good.
Thanks.
Yeah, so I started off as abusiness owner for 10 years, ran
a sales consultant company.
We built up sales teams for someof the largest companies in
America.
When COVID hit.
(01:59):
We got very lucky, was able toexit successfully on that
business.
Took some time off, had somebabies, and then decided I
wanted to get back into the techworld.
So, uh, started working intechnology companies.
Eventually met with Nico.
Saw that his solutions havetechnology behind it, and you
(02:20):
know, that we could do somethingwith this type of technology and
then decide to partner up.
Very good.
Well, happy Father's Day.
Thank you, belated.
Thank you.
Did you have a nice day?
Yeah, I had a great day.
Good, good.
Yeah.
Very good.
So let's get into it.
The big picture, um, the opioidcrisis is that it's obviously
(02:40):
very devastating to everyonefamilies.
It's overwhelmed the healthcaresystem and driven up costs for
employers.
It's not just a personaltragedy, it's a massive
financial and operationalchallenges for businesses and
public entities.
So can you guys speak on that alittle bit?
Absolutely.
So I think something that getsmissed too is 75% of people that
(03:01):
get addicted to opioids andenter treatment.
Actually started with aprescription written by their
doctor.
Mm-hmm.
So I'll share some more realnumbers with you guys that we're
seeing on our end.
So we analyze about 50,000members claims each month.
And what we're seeing on our endis about 10% of plan members get
prescribed an opioid in a year.
(03:23):
Of those, 30% of those membersend up.
Suffering withdrawal symptomssevere enough where they seek
outside coverage or care.
Think like emergency room visitsurgent care and more.
And this one's shocking too.
Patients managing severe opioidwithdrawal symptoms account for
up to eight to 10%.
Of the total health plans costin a year.
(03:45):
That's crazy.
And the reason for that isbecause on our end we're seeing
that someone that is abusingopioids costs a health plan
$10,000 more in a year thancompared to others.
So imagine you're a largeorganization with a ton of
employees, that adds up veryfast.
Okay, so how does Covert help?
Yes, so Covert is a pet andpending solution that basically
(04:07):
analyzes medical claims and isable to detect opioid withdrawal
symptoms very, very early on.
And what's very unique is weneed no personal health
information, so we don't evenknow who the employee is.
It's all de-identified.
What we do though know, what wedo know is the.
Provider prescribing theopioids.
(04:28):
So then our team is able to goand reach out to that per
prescribing provider, like adentist, a surgeon, a doctor,
and we're able to tell them themost up-to-date protocols and
practices for safe opioidprescribing.
What's what we're really proudof is 98% of providers actually
adopt what we are suggestingbased on the numbers.
(04:50):
That's obviously extremely highnumber and really proud of that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Why do you think that is?
I think because the numbersdon't lie.
Right?
And when they've seen somethingthey've never seen before and we
have proof, I think that's why,and I do wanna add it really
important to understand there'sfour stages to opioid use.
The first is pain management,second is chemical dependency,
(05:12):
third is abuse, and fourth isaddiction.
Why I bring this up is becausewe have a 75% success rate.
With provider intervention inthe first two stages, it is so
important we get this early.
'cause if we don't and itprogresses to abuse or
addiction, success rate drops tounder 10%.
And if somebody's addicted, it'sbasically 0%.
(05:35):
It's too late.
Wow.
So that's why our window to helpis in stages one and two.
Yeah, that makes sense.
On a personal note, like we'veseen so many friends and family
members, uh, especially on myside or my generation who are no
longer here because they fellinto stages three and four, and
it's very little to no help atthat point.
(05:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Wow that's impressive.
I mean, those numbers arereally.
Really crazy.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So, that's a very powerfulstrategy and it sounds like it's
not just about helping oneperson, but it impacts the whole
health ecosystem.
absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(06:18):
A great example I like to pointout and funny, I actually have
the memo printed here.
I'll kind of go into it.
Yeah.
But up.
Yeah.
May I?
Yeah, absolutely.
Just'cause we're really proud ofthis, but I was gonna acting
like Joe Rogan, where it's like,uh, could you show this on the
podcast please?
Yes.
But no, but basically this isjust a thank you memo that I'll
get into in a second.
But the school district of.
(06:39):
Osceola County here in Florida.
They're in Orlando where I am ornear Orlando, and they have
thousands of health planmembers.
They've been using Covert since2019.
So they're a proud client and inthe first year alone, they saved
$1.45 million on their healthplan.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Not only that, but emergencyroom visits went down and urgent
(07:00):
care visits went down as well.
And the head of risk and benefitmanager there she wrote us that
thank you memo, just explaininghow it saved them a ton of money
and it prevented opioidaddiction and all of these great
things.
Yeah.
In addition, as a reminder, eachintervention.
Saves$10,000 on average in ayear, right?
(07:21):
So not only is covert savinglives, but it's also a positive
return on investment fororganizations.
Absolutely.
And I can imagine that if youare catching them in those
phases, one and two, that theemployee engagement side is a
lot better, less absenteeism,more people, you know, able to
come into work and Absolutely,yeah.
(07:41):
Healthier, more productive.
Mm-hmm.
So, so the thing about opioiddisorders.
Is that it's sometimes it'sundetectable to the naked eye,
right?
The person that's on it, youwon't notice until like they hit
really drastic measures and thenthey start nodding out at work
or spacing out at work or takinglonger breaks or this, that, and
(08:01):
the third, and by then it'salready too late.
So the goal is.
You know, they're probably gonnaget it prescribed to them by a
doctor and it's normalized,especially here in America to do
so, you know, they get into acar accident, back hurts,
whatever that looks like tothem.
And then we wanna make sure thatwe could catch it right up front
because again, like the numbersdon't lie.
(08:23):
Right.
And, and it's super important tomake note of that.
If you have an entireorganization that's on it, God
forbid I don't think thatorganization would last long,
but but for sure, you know, it'sall about how can we be as
proactive as possible to helpthat organization for time to
come.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
(08:43):
And do you guys have like anyeducation pieces that go with
this to help, the employers lookfor those signs and know when
people are potentially reachingstages three and four?
So covert is actually more so onthe.
Backend, it kind of operates asa safety net without anybody
actually knowing, right?
(09:04):
'cause there's no employeeidentification or interaction.
And it doesn't, it also doesn'thave to for material.
It's honestly all gonna be comefrom our prescribing
professionals.
Our team of pharmacists thatreach out with the.
Provider.
So all that education's actuallygonna go to the prescribers.
Not so much hr, et cetera.
Okay.
They are aware of these newmitigation policies that are
(09:25):
gonna happen.
Mm-hmm.
But that's kind of as far asthey, they know.
And of course we do partner withfolks that provide these types
of trainings and help witheducate businesses with this.
So we could always refer them tothem, but we're just not the
experts on that side.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Okay, good.
That's I really incrediblestuff.
So what can HR leaders, schooldistricts or other brokers how
(09:49):
can they explore the solution?
Absolutely.
well actually, so for anybodylistening please feel free out
to.
Please feel free to actuallyjust reach out to me over email
or connect with you on LinkedIn.
I'd be more than happy to walkthrough how COVID works and how
it could save your organization.
Not only lives, but money aswell.
I.
(10:09):
And is there anyone, like, is,do you guys have a target
audience for this or?
Yeah.
So if, whether it's a schooldistrict or a municipality or
just an organization with alarge workforce those are who we
impact the most.
All right.
Well, is there anything else?
Yeah, actually I do wanna addone more really important thing
(10:30):
I like.
No I.
So most health plans actuallyrely a lot on their pharmacy
Benefit manager or PBM to helpprevent opioid addiction or for
claims to pile up.
But to be frank, by the timethat actually is alerted, it's
usually too late.
That member is most likelyalready addicted to opioids.
So Covert is able to catch itbefore any other tool out there.
(10:53):
And once again, that's where wemake the most impact, is
actually proactively notreactive.
I love the name Covert.
How did you guys come up withthat?
Covert, behind the scenes?
Not really detectable.
Yeah, just operating behind thescenes.
Okay, cool.
Anything else for.
No, I think I think we hit itall.
(11:15):
Okay.
Well thank you guys.
And I think what you're doingreally sounds like a very
innovative solution and a gamechanger, so thank you.
And for our listeners, if youwanna learn more, please contact
Nico or visit ourhomepage@www.fbmc.com.
And remember, you can find usand subscribe on any podcast
(11:35):
app.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
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