The Business of Healthcare Podcast · Center for Healthcare Leadership and Management

Employer-Focused Wellness

·23 min·1 clip

Levanto says employers now buy 40 or 50 benefits vendors, and employees get overwhelmed.

1. The Business of Healthcare Podcast episode centers on employer-focused wellness and Levanto, a Baylor Scott & White Health company. 2. Host Daniel Carnuta, a professor and director at UT Dallas, speaks with Kevin Kumler, Levanto’s President and General Manager, about the company’s launch and business model. 3. The episode asks whether employer wellness can move beyond fragmented point solutions into one integrated platform that connects digital tools, virtual care, and in-person care. 4. Kumler says Levanto grew out of Baylor Scott & White products built over three years and launched into the commercial market after prototyping and clinical testing. 5. He links his interest in digital health to watching his orthopedic-surgeon father care for patients in the hospital while chronic problems accumulated outside the hospital walls. 6. Kumler says employee wellness has often been hard to navigate because large employers may offer 40 or 50 benefits vendors at once. 7. He argues Levanto reduces that clutter by putting multiple health solutions into one app with one personalized relationship. 8. He says Levanto is integrated with the downstream healthcare system, so members can move from digital tools to virtual care to Baylor Scott & White facilities when needed. 9. For a healthy-weight program, he cites an AI food tracker that lets someone photograph a meal and log it automatically. 10. He says that same product can surface common foods a member eats so they do not need to re-photograph every meal. 11. Kumler explains that Levanto does not require members to live near a Baylor Scott & White facility to use the digital or virtual services. 12. He says virtual care can happen synchronously or asynchronously through chat or text, and today the service is available anywhere in Texas. 13. He gives bariatric surgery as an example of when in-person care is still necessary, with Baylor Scott & White facilities used when clinically indicated. 14. On employer value, he says companies want healthier, more productive employees and also want clear value for the healthcare dollars they pay. 15. He says First Contact Navigation helps people decide where to go first and found that 80% who planned to go to the ER ended up somewhere more appropriate. 16. He says the remaining 20% still went to the ER, which is why the tool is framed as guidance rather than blanket diversion. 17. The interview style is practical and business-oriented, with Carnuta pressing on pricing, network coordination, AI, and employee experience. 18. Kumler answers in a detailed, explanatory tone and uses concrete examples like food tracking, claims billing, and coach-based support. 19. People evaluating employer wellness platforms, virtual care, or Baylor Scott & White partnerships would likely benefit from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for clinical deep dives without business model discussion may want to skip it.

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