Lane Health

Lane Health was founded in 2019 in Philadelphia, PA as a result of a successful capital raise from private investors. Lane Health services approximately 19,000 spending accounts as of 3/1/2022. Currently, Lane Health only services employer-sponsored health accounts.

The most important item to know about Lane Health is that in addition to traditional spending account services, they also offer an Advance* line of credit. This allows employees who need on-demand funds to help pay for their healthcare expenses to receive an Advance* and get additional funds. The Advance*, which is a loan, is repaid through the spending account (principal and fees) via payroll deduction. If an employee is enrolled in an HSA, the repayment will be on a pre-tax basis. Lane Health does not require an employee to make a precommitment to their HSA. As a result, employees who never were able to take advantage of an HSA because they could only make a modest contribution or none at all, will gain peace of mind knowing they can enroll in a high deductible health plan and in the event of a large or unexpected healthcare expense, the Advance* feature is available.

Partners

Platform

Lane Health licenses the Alegeus Technologies HSA platform. The HSA team at Lane Health works hand-in-hand with Alegeus daily to provide superior service in this fast-growing, and ever-changing consumer-driven healthcare industry.

Updates to the Lane Health platform come hand in hand with Alegeus Technologies’ new product rollouts. For example, in Q1 2020, Alegues deployed their Smart HSA, which included machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Features of the Alegeus Smart HSA include:

• Data-driven tools, including a personalized 'Smart Score,' that guide consumers to make intelligent choices on where to best spend and save their healthcare dollars

• AI-based recommendations that use historical spending to drive better future outcomes (e.g., "You might have paid too much for this service.")

• A virtual medicine cabinet for managing monthly drug costs

• Long-term saving recommendations based on healthcare spending habits (e.g., “You have a chronic condition that will require you to have X dollars saved for retirement.”)

• Intelligent prompts throughout the app to optimize the member experience for existing self-service functions beyond HSAs (e.g. "It looks like you need to provide a receipt for your latest debit card swipe.”)

• Year-end recommendations about funding and account enrollment that are based on the past year of health and wealth activity (e.g., “It looks like you didn't hit your deductible or max out your HSA. Next year, we recommend the following funding levels.”)

Fees

Q: What is the monthly maintenance fee charged by Lane Health?

Fees vary by account size but generally range from $1.50 to $4.00 per employee per month. These fees include the Advance line of credit.

Q: Is the employer or the employee expected to pay the maintenance fee?

Usually the employer pays the fee, but Lane Health can charge the employee if they would like that arrangement.

Q: What is the balance required to avoid the maintenance fee?

Lane Health does not currently waive the fee based on account balances.

Q: What other uncommon fees are on the Lane Health fee schedule?

• Origination and periodic finance fees associated with the advance line of credit. Paid by the employee only when utilized. There is no charge to activate the line of credit.

• Potential setup and renewal fees for smaller employers - paid by employer depending upon group size.

Investments

Q: Does Lane Health offer a pre-selected investment lineup? Self-directed brokerage account? Or a managed option?

They offer options for every type of investor!

The Managed option is for the investor who wants to invest but needs full support. In this case, the investor would answer a few questions, and their investments would automatically be allocated to various investments.

Self-directed investments are available investors who want a pre-selected list of curated funds.

The Brokerage option is also available for investors who desire a large selection of funds and stocks.

Q: Does Lane Health charge any investment fees?

The annual investment fee is 40 basis points per year, with a $0.99 per month minimum and a $10 per month maximum for self-direct and brokerage investment paths. There is a 90 basis points fee for those who enroll in the managed path.

Q: What is the minimum balance threshold to make investments?

Lane Health gives employees access to the investment account once their HSA balance reaches $1,000. Any funds over the $1,000 threshold in the account can be invested.

Q: Which mutual funds are included in the Lane Health pre-selected investment account?

The listing for the self-directed investments can be viewed here.

Q: Is the investment account tightly integrated with the HSA platform? Does it require one or two passwords to get to the investment account?

The investment account functionality is available directly on the member portal, where the member can click on the investment button to view the investment portfolio.

Q: Does Lane Health have an investment sweep feature?

Yes. Account-holders can enable automated/recurring transfers to investments for all 3 account types.

Q: If an employer wanted to customize a pre-selected investment lineup, would Lane Health be able to carry this out?

A few administrators offer an open architecture framework that allows for investment lineup customization enabling 401K mirroring. At this time, Lane Health cannot offer a custom fund lineup.

Q: What are the interest rates offered by Lane Health?

Deposit rates at Lane Health are competitive. That said, deposit rates everywhere are at historical lows. Click on the link to see up-to-date rates.

Payments

The overwhelming majority of HSA users are spenders, and they’re going to want to pay their healthcare bills with familiar and convenient methods such as debit cards, online bill pay, and checks.

Employers should partner with administrators that are quickly evolving with the digital transformation taking place in healthcare payments. For example, a trend we are currently seeing is the adoption of virtual cards (Apple Pay and Android Pay). Online bill pay has also been gaining traction as more and more providers—and payers—are moving to electronic payments daily. On the other side of things, check payments are slowly being phased out as the healthcare payment revolution has progressed.

Lane Health allows participants to pay for qualified medical expenses with a debit card and via bill pay. Checks are not provided.

Reimbursement

When employees pay for qualified medical expenses out-of-pocket, they should be able to access their HSA dollars in multiple ways, whether via online transfers, check disbursements, or ATM withdrawals.

Generally, the best way for employees to reimburse themselves is with electronic funds transfers (EFT) that are processed through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. EFTs are easy, speedy, cost-effective, paperless, safe and secure.

Lane Health participants can reimburse themselves via transfers. No ATM withdrawals are allowed with the Lane Health HSA debit card. No disbursement checks either.

Contributions and Payroll

Lane Health lets employers manage contributions in the way(s) that work best for them, including:

• Direct deposit via payroll provider

• Direct deposit via online banking (bank to bank transfers)

Lane Health utilizes a third-party platform called Finch to integrate with payroll providers through APIs, allowing for a smooth and real-time transfer of information. Below is a short list of some of the payroll providers Lane Health is fully integrated with.

• ADP Workforce Now

• Paychex

• Gusto

• Paylocity

Features

Employees will undoubtedly want a mobile app that allows them to securely access their HSA while they are on the go. Mobile apps make it easy to manage an HSA account from a mobile device by providing real-time, convenient access when participants need it most. A robust mobile application will result in a positive employee experience.

Lane Health mobile app provides a single access point for participants to manage their consumer-driven healthcare and other tax-favored benefit accounts. Lane Health mobile app offers the following functionality:

• Manage advances provided by Lane Health to your HSA account

• Benefit Health Account balances and details

• See recent transactions and details

• Ability to fund HSA account from checking/savings account

• View all email alerts

• Contact administrator from the mobile application via email or mobile phone

• Same username/password as the online portal (no need to register your mobile device; just download, login, and go!)

• More robust authentication support (Picture/Passphrase, device identification and challenge questions)

• View Dependents, card details and card PIN

• Register new users directly from a mobile device

Maintaining records for HSA-qualified expenses is made easier by providers who offer an “electronic shoebox” feature. HSA owners need to keep accurate records, making a receipt storage and expense tracking tool a must to substantiate qualified medical expenses with receipts and appropriate documentation when the IRS comes knocking on the door. Good record-keeping gives HSA participants extraordinary flexibility, especially those who currently want to pay for expenses with after-tax dollars and maximize the tax-free growth of their HSA funds.

Lane Health does not currently have a document repository.

Lane Health has a full array of educational materials available, including emails, flyers, bulletins, and videos. They also harness the resources of our concierge team members to provide education when participants call; they refer to this as a “teachable moment.” Their goal is to help beyond what is expected with any type of call. As examples, assisting a participant through the CIP process, the value and advantage of their line of credit, and/or understand why an expense may not be covered; hence, denied.

Lane Health allows all employers to have access to live account advocates and/or account managers to ensure smooth implementation and ongoing service. Member access is available to live advocates. We do not use an IVR. The only choice an employee has to make is whether the employee wishes to speak with an English or Spanish-speaking advocate.

They are available from Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern time zone. In addition, they offer special hours (i.e., weekends) to support during open enrollment or other unique situation requirements. This is generally available at no cost.

Lane Health offers a language line in the event that they might need assistance in communicating with their members, excluding Spanish since they have this available inhouse.

Investments are managed through the WealthCare Saver investments solution, which provides a robust and modern approach to investing.

In today’s world, managing health care claims is becoming more and more complex. With claims integration, your employees’ insurance information is fed directly to their HSA, which gives them easy access to their health records and medical claims in one place. For example, employees’ can see if they’re using in-network providers, which provider is billing for each service, and if the right codes have been applied to ensure proper coverage. Employees are also provided with information regarding their deductibles, co-pays, and out-of-pocket maximums. Indeed, there are numerous advantages to integrating a health plan with an HSA, but it should not be the most critical factor in choosing an HSA administrator.

Currently, Lane Health does not have claims integration, nor are participants provided with information regarding their deductible, co-pays, and out-of-pocket maximums. That said, upon request, Lane Health can directly import a participant’s insurance information.

In addition to their line of credit that is available on both a pre-tax (with an HSA) and post-tax basis, Lane Health offers the following solutions: Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Limited Purpose Flexible Spending Account (LPFSA), Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), and Commuter Account (Transit/Parking). They also offer COBRA services through a strategic partnership.

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Strengths (+)

• Product meets needs of both spenders and investors

• Best-in-class list of mutual funds

• Integrated HSA platform

• Committed to being a cost-effective, feature-rich HSA administrator

• Gives spending and investing tools equal weight and presence

• Access to a wide variety of investments via WealthCare Saver

• Frictionless movement of money across multiple accounts

• Offers other benefit programs in conjunction with HSA

Cautions (-)

• Startup founded in 2019

• Lane Health’s offering is still being built out and refined

• No claims integration nor deductible tracking capabilities

• Offers fewer access channels to HSA funds than competitors

• Does not offer a document storage solution

* Advances issued by Webbank

Contact Information

Scott Beck - Chief Revenue Officer

sbeck@lanehealth.com - 917-327-0976