How It Works
Simple, personal, and accessible.
Most employee healthcare plans are expensive, underused, and hard to navigate. Virage is built differently: a flat monthly benefit that gives your employees a dedicated primary care provider who actually knows their name.
$0
Copay for
select primary
care visits
24h
Same-day
access to your
dedicated provider
3x
Employees use
preventative care
3 times more often
HDHP
Pairs with your existing
high-deductible health plan for
a complete benefits solution
"Simple, personal, and accessible"
That is what healthcare should feel like for every employee
The employee experience
What your employees actually experience
From day one, Virage removes every barrier between your employees and the care they need. Here is what the journey looks like.
01
Enrollment - Zero HR Burden
Your HR team sends us the employee census. We handle the rest: onboarding, welcome communications, and app setup. No forms for employees to complete, no insurance cards to wait for.
02
Meet Your Provider - Relationship First
Each employee is connected with a dedicated board-certified nurse practitioner. An initial welcome visit establishes the relationship, medical history, and any ongoing conditions.
03
Book and Visit - Quick Access
When something comes up, employees book same-day via the app or portal. In-person visits, telehealth, and after-hours messaging are all included in select plans.
04
Ongoing Care - With Continuity
Chronic conditions, annual wellness visits, lab work, prescriptions, and specialist referrals are all coordinated by the same provider who already knows the employee. Care that follows the person, not the calendar.
The difference
Traditional benefits vs. Virage
Most employer health plans were designed for insurance companies, not employees. Here is how the two approaches compare.
| Traditional employer plan | Virage Health Partners | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to employer | ✕ Rising 10 to 18% per year, unpredictably | ✓ Flat monthly PMPM rate. Predictable, every month and year-on-year |
| Cost to employee | ✕ Copays, deductibles, and coinsurance every visit | ✓ $0 copay for select primary care plans. Pairs with your HDHP for major medical coverage |
| Access to care | ✕ Days to weeks for an appointment | ✓ Same-day appointments, telehealth, after-hours messaging |
| Provider relationship | ✕ Different doctor each visit, 15 minutes, no context | ✓ A dedicated NP who knows your employee by name |
| Preventive care | ✕ Often delayed until a condition worsens | ✓ Proactive, built into the relationship from day one |
| ER and urgent care use | ✕ High: employees default to ER when access is limited and symptoms worsen | ✓ Significantly reduced: quality preventative care removes the need |
| HR administrative burden | ✕ Renewals, broker meetings, employee complaints annually | ✓ Virage handles enrollment and communication |
| Transparency | ✕ Premiums go to carrier admin, broker commissions, overhead | ✓ Flat fee. You know exactly what you are paying for, transparency around Health Reserve contributions |
What is direct primary care?
A model built for relationships, not volume
Direct primary care (DPC) is a simple idea: instead of billing insurance for every visit, a flat monthly fee covers unlimited access to a dedicated primary care provider. No middlemen. Just a provider who knows you.
"DPC removes the financial barrier between employees and the care they need — and replaces it with a relationship."
At Virage, we use the DPC model as the foundation for an employer benefit. Your flat monthly subscription covers everything your employees need at the primary care level. Most employers pair Virage with a high-deductible health plan for major medical coverage, giving employees better primary care access while significantly reducing total benefits spend.
Employees visit as often as they need. The monthly subscription covers everything at the primary care level: in-person, telehealth, and after-hours. No claims, no surprises.
Every employee is connected with a dedicated board-certified nurse practitioner. That provider knows their history, their family, and their risk factors: so every visit starts from context, not scratch.
Traditional insurance premiums rise 10 to 18 percent every year. Virage is a flat monthly subscription per covered life. You know your cost on day one and it does not change unless your headcount does.
Because there is no financial barrier to a visit, employees come in earlier. Conditions are caught sooner. ER visits drop. Chronic disease is managed before it becomes expensive. That is where the 20 to 30 percent cost reduction comes from.
The business case
Short-term savings. Long-term transformation.
Virage reduces healthcare costs in two ways: immediately through predictable flat-rate pricing, and over time through reduced utilization of expensive care settings.
Year one impact
Immediate and measurable
Flat PMPM subscription eliminates annual premium renewal surprises
ER and urgent care visits drop as employees gain same-day access
Reduced HR administration time on benefits questions and complaints
Higher benefit utilisation means employees actually use what you pay for
Competitive benefit that supports hiring and retention
Long-term impact
A healthier, more productive workforce
Chronic conditions managed proactively before they become costly
Average 20 to 30 percent reduction in total healthcare spend
Reduced absenteeism as employees address health issues earlier
Option to move to a higher-deductible major medical plan as Virage handles primary care, reducing premium spend further
A workforce that feels genuinely cared for by their employer
What is covered
Virage covers primary care. Completely.
Understanding what is and is not included helps you structure the right overall benefits package for your team.
- Unlimited primary care visits: in-person and telehealth
- Annual wellness and preventive visits
- Acute illness and injury treatment
- Chronic disease management: diabetes, hypertension, and more
- Routine lab work and results review
- Prescription management and renewals
- After-hours messaging and telehealth
- Specialist referral coordination
- Mental health screening and referral
- Specialist visits are not covered by Virage directly
- Your Virage provider coordinates referrals and shares full context with the specialist
- Specialist costs go through your existing major medical insurance
- Your provider follows up on specialist recommendations and manages the care plan
- Virage reduces unnecessary specialist referrals by resolving more at the primary care level
As you grow with Virage, our PPO network relationship brings specialist care directly into the Virage model — giving your employees a fully integrated benefits experience without the traditional insurance overhead.
- Emergency room visits go through your existing major medical insurance
- Hospitalisation, surgery, and procedures are covered by major medical
- Virage significantly reduces ER visits by providing same-day access to primary care
- Your Virage provider coordinates hospital follow-up care and transitions
As you grow with Virage, we work with you to restructure your major medical coverage around a stop-loss model — keeping catastrophic protection in place while significantly reducing your overall premium spend.
Coverage while traveling
What happens when your employees travel?
Virage is a Phoenix-area clinical network. Here is how coverage works when employees are away from home.
Your major medical insurance remains in place for any situation that requires in-person emergency or specialist care while traveling. Virage covers primary care; your existing major medical covers everything else.
Your Virage provider is available via telehealth regardless of where your employee is in the US. Prescription renewals, follow-ups, and non-urgent consultations are all available remotely.
In-person visits with your Virage provider are available in the Phoenix metro area. Employees traveling out of state for in-person urgent care should use their major medical coverage.
Employees can message their Virage provider after hours regardless of location for non-emergency guidance, triage, and prescription support. Response within one business day.
For any genuine emergency while traveling, employees should go to the nearest emergency room. Those costs are covered by your existing major medical insurance, which remains in place alongside Virage.
Ready to get started?
Let's build the right plan for your team.
Find out what Virage would look like for your team. Request a quote or schedule a call and we will walk you through the model, answer your questions, and put together a custom proposal.