Canada (FR)
DIRECTV, a leader in sports and entertainment for over 30 years, is a premier provider of digital television entertainment in the US, employing over 6,000 people across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. As DIRECTV planned for its spin-off, it entered a new era focused on delivering a world-class entertainment experience and a modernized, unified benefits ecosystem for its employees. Central to their approach was the commitment to empowering employees to become smarter healthcare consumers — helping employees make informed choices, realize savings, and ultimately achieve better health outcomes.
Industry: Entertainment/Telecommunications
Workforce: 6,000+ employees (including 3,000 union employees)
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA
Featured Solutions: Benefits Administration, Healthcare Navigation
Challenge: Unifying the benefits ecosystem and addressing healthcare costs
DIRECTV’s separation from AT&T meant inheriting 15+ legacy systems and six different ownership structures. The company needed to streamline systems, simplify the employee experience, and help people make informed decisions about their benefits.
DIRECTV also wanted to change the relationship employees had with their benefits, to educate on healthcare use and costs, and provide high-touch support to free-up employees and families when navigating healthcare. Finally, analysis showed that approximately 2% of the population was driving nearly 50% of the healthcare spend, with a +15% PEPM cost trend for high-cost claimants. DIRECTV needed a proactive, data-driven approach to identify and support these employees, reducing costs and improving outcomes.
Solution: Launching Alight Worklife and Alight Healthcare Navigation
DIRECTV beamed in a better, brighter benefits experience with Alight Benefits Administration and Healthcare Navigation, via the Alight Worklife® platform. In addition to providing a single access point for all benefits, education, and expert support — for over 42 programs — employees could also utilize Alight Healthcare Navigation. This solution provides employees with a dedicated Health Pro for high-touch, concierge support plus access to always-on digital tools:
- Concierge benefits guidance
- Provider recommendations
- Program referrals
- Lower cost prescriptions
- Appointment setting
- Procedure cost estimates
- Coordination of care
- Bill reviews
This includes AI-driven, omni-channel engagement to proactively reach individuals who may benefit from these services or need reminders to stay on top of preventative care.
And, to further augment support for current and prospective high-cost claimants, DIRECTV launched a risk stratification model and proactive outreach program with Alight, engaging this population by phone and email with cost-impacting solutions and expertise.
By combining DIRECTV’s culture of education with Alight’s high-tech and high-touch guidance, they forged a new era that has turned HR complexity into clarity, employee outreach into healthcare outcomes, and their benefits into a business advantage.
“For us, we selected Alight because it really gives employees a concierge service — somebody they could talk to that was with them every step of the way… and we continue to reinforce how much money employees themselves can save when they work with their Health Pro, to do a bill review, to pick a doctor, etcetera.
If I look at all the costs we've saved [for the last few years], it's something like seven and a half million dollars.”
Matthew Lucy
VP of Rewards
DIRECTV
Results: An improved employee experience, substantial savings and smarter decisions:
- 10,200 all-time navigation solutions delivered
- 61.7 navigation solution services per 100 employees (vs. 49 solutions benchmark)
- 6,752 hours saved navigating healthcare, valued at $236K (2.1 hours per employee)
- 7,326 provider recommendations delivered
- 322 program referrals to external wellbeing partners
- 76% of eligible employees contributed to HSAs vs. 59% industry rate
- 26.8 interactions per employee
- 98.5% of interactions are digital
claims-verified savings
total interactions across all channels in the first year
conversion rate on AI-personalized preventative care campaigns
Net Promoter Score (NPS)1
Enhanced Capabilities
To identify current and prospective high-cost claimants, Alight deployed a risk stratification model in partnership with a leading actuarial firm. While health plans traditionally use trailing claims data to inform member engagement, this model focuses on underlying conditions to predict whether a participant is likely to incur healthcare costs above >$50,000 in a given year. Alight’s experts then conduct personalized phone and email outreach to the highest risk members.
Early data shows:
- 35 engaged members drove $8.1M in spend over 24 months
- 71% of solutions provided were cost-impacting (provider recommendations, bill and prescription reviews)
- Metabolic conditions accounted for 81% of engaged member spend
- Lowered PEPM cost trend to +3%
1Cost savings and other improvements are based on DIRECTV’s unique experience and may not represent typical results. Actual outcomes can vary significantly depending on factors such as business size, operational structure, and implementation approach. Similar results are not guaranteed. Readers should evaluate their own circumstances and consult with appropriate professionals before making decisions.
