Included Health is a healthcare navigation and virtual care service that employers and health plans offer to workers. The service combines a care team, doctors, billing help, and second opinions in one app. Most members activate it for free. The company works with leading employers and health plans nationwide.
The service is not insurance, and it covers primary, urgent, and mental health visits. Members get access to 4,000 specialists for second opinions. Reviews, however, split sharply. Trustpilot shows 1.4 out of 5, while employer materials praise the convenience. Pricing stays hidden from individuals. Access depends entirely on your employer’s contract and chosen package.
Pricing, eligibility, and support quality decide whether the benefit helps you. Below, you’ll find how the service works, what members praise, where complaints cluster, and how it compares with Accolade. By the end, you’ll know if it earns a spot in your routine or your benefits plan.
What Is Included Health?
Included Health is a healthcare navigation and virtual care company sold to employers and health plans. The company, once called Grand Rounds, gives members one app for doctors, bills, second opinions, and therapy. Members usually pay nothing to activate it. Employers cover the cost of the benefit. Employers and health plans sign the contracts, not members.
In fact, the range is wide. Included Health says members get care for colds, bills, anxiety, and everything in between. Its pitch is simple: one place to start for any medical, financial, or administrative question.
Here’s the thing about the audience. The app listing says top employers, including one third of the Fortune 100, offer the service. Individuals can’t buy it directly. Access depends on an employer or health plan contract.
Is Included Health Insurance?
No. Included Health is not an insurance company and does not pay your medical claims. The company calls itself a health benefit offered by employers. Its team works directly with your insurer on your behalf. The advocate role covers claims problems, coverage questions, and surprise bills, so members avoid sorting them out alone. Think of it as a real guide.
So what does that mean for you? Your insurance card still pays for covered care. Included Health acts as a guide and advocate. Its care team contacts doctors and insurers to resolve problems.
How Does Included Health Work?
Included Health works as a single front door to your employer healthcare benefits. Members download the app, enter employer information, and activate an account. From there, they reach a care team by phone, app, or web. The team answers questions, books visits, and routes members to virtual or in-person care. Care teams also check in after each visit.
How Activation Works:
- Download the Included Health app or open the sign-up page.
- Enter your employer information to confirm eligibility.
- Choose care, billing help, or a second opinion.
- Let the care team follow up after each visit.
To be clear, availability varies by package. The company says its team works 24/7, 365 days a year for millions of members. Your employer’s contract decides which services you actually see.
Who Can Use Included Health?
Included Health is available only to members and covered dependents whose employer or health plan includes it. Employees enrolled in a qualifying employer medical plan can sign up. Qualifying dependents get access too. Services vary by employer package, so not every member sees the same features. Eligibility depends on the employer’s contract terms.
Why does this matter? Eligibility decides everything. Covered dependents who are 18 or older can register for their own accounts. Some employers extend access to extended family members at no cost.
Shortlister lists a minimum group size of 1,000 eligible people for employers. Smaller employers face a higher bar to offer the benefit.
What Services Does Included Health Offer?
Included Health bundles care navigation, virtual care, billing support, and expert medical opinions in one benefit. Members get primary, urgent, and mental health care from board-certified clinicians. The company also offers insurance and claims help. Specialty programs add another layer for conditions like cancer and menopause. Employers pick the mix.
Included Health Services:
| Service | What Members Get |
|---|---|
| Primary and urgent care | Virtual visits, labs, and prescription refills |
| Mental health care | Therapists and psychiatrists for adults, kids, and teens |
| Expert medical opinion | Review by one of 4,000 leading specialists |
| Claims and billing help | Care team works with doctors and insurers |
| Specialty care | Cancer, women’s health, and metabolic health programs |
Now watch this. The second opinion service stands out. Members tap 4,000 of the nation’s leading specialists. A specialist reviews current care without exams, appointments, or bills.
The newest push is specialty care. In 2024, Included Health announced three virtual-first clinics for 2025. They focus on cancer care, women’s health, and metabolic health. Early programs target menopause and healthy weight.
One limit is worth knowing. Can providers prescribe everything? No. Included Health providers can’t prescribe controlled substances. Members who need those medications must look elsewhere.
Does Included Health Offer Virtual Primary Care?
Yes. Included Health offers virtual primary care through its Doctor On Demand clinicians. Members see board-certified clinicians by video on a phone, tablet, or computer. The service also covers urgent needs and chronic conditions. Members can book in-person care with a local provider when a visit needs hands-on attention. Visits start at any hour.
What can the doctors treat? Urgent care clinicians handle hundreds of issues. Examples include cold and flu, urinary tract infections, allergies, headaches, sprains, and skin conditions. They also order labs and screenings.
Language access is covered too. Doctor On Demand provides ASL interpretation and translation by appointment. Members call member support to book those visits, which run over Google Meet.
What Do Included Health Reviews Say?
Included Health reviews split sharply between employer praise and member frustration. Public consumer sites lean negative. Trustpilot shows a 1.4 out of 5 TrustScore from 47 reviews, with 94% rated one star. Company materials and employer case studies paint a far brighter picture of the service. Both sides deserve a careful, fair look before you decide.
Bottom line: sample size matters. Forty-seven reviews is small for a company serving millions. Trustpilot also notes the company hasn’t invited customers to review recently. Unhappy members often post more readily than satisfied ones.
Employee reviews tell a different story. Do they matter here? Not much. Indeed shows ratings near 3.0 out of 5 for the company as a workplace. Those reviews describe working there, not using the service.
What Do Members Praise?
Members who praise Included Health point to convenient virtual booking and helpful care advocates. Employer case studies highlight fast virtual access. Enterprise materials also praise the expert medical opinion and claims advocacy features. Members who activate successfully often call the app convenient for booking and navigation. Advocates file paperwork.
The good news? Free access removes the price barrier. Members don’t pay a cent to activate, because the employer funds it. Zero cost makes the app an easy add-on to existing coverage.
What Are the Common Complaints?
Common complaints center on slow support, wrong guidance, and unresolved billing problems. One Trustpilot reviewer reports waiting four hours to reach someone for urgent care. Another says case managers stopped returning calls. Reviewers describe repeating the same story to different staff members. Complaints cluster around the same few recurring themes.
Common Complaints:
- Long waits for urgent care and chat support
- Case managers who stop returning calls
- Wrong forms or inaccurate guidance
- Coverage status errors in the app
- Repeating the same issue to multiple staff
Here’s the part most people miss. Technical glitches add to the frustration. One reviewer says the homepage flipped between ‘Not Covered’ and ‘Covered by employer’ within an hour. Another received the wrong form for an out-of-network request and lost weeks.
Treat these as individual accounts. Are they reliable? Trustpilot says it doesn’t fact-check reviews. Still, the same themes of waiting and handoffs repeat across many posts.
How Does Included Health Compare to Accolade?
Included Health and Accolade sell nearly identical navigation benefits to large employers. Both offer care navigation, billing dispute support, scheduling help, and virtual primary care. Shortlister lists Included Health at 4,000,000 lives and Accolade at 2,000,000. Both carry low Trustpilot scores from consumers. Differences show up mostly in size.
Included Health vs Accolade:
| Factor | Included Health | Accolade |
|---|---|---|
| Lives serviced | 4,000,000 | 2,000,000 |
| Minimum group size | 1,000 eligible | 500 eligible |
| Trustpilot score | 1.4 (47 reviews) | 1.4 (91 reviews) |
| Company status | Owns Doctor On Demand | Now part of Transcarent |
In fact, ownership differs. Accolade now sits inside Transcarent, according to RFP.wiki. Buyers there weigh support continuity and product direction. Included Health keeps Doctor On Demand under its own brand.
Neither brand wins on consumer sentiment. Does employer praise change that? Not much. Employer-facing reviews run kinder than member reviews for both. Satisfaction depends heavily on how well your employer integrated the benefit.
How Does Included Health Relate to Doctor On Demand?
Doctor On Demand is the virtual care arm that operates under the Included Health umbrella. Included Health describes it as its provider of 24/7 virtual healthcare for the mind and body. Visits cover urgent care, mental health, preventive care, primary care, and chronic care through a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Both names appear in its marketing.
Does the name change the experience? Public scores say little. Doctor On Demand holds 1.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 496 reviews. Included Health holds 1.4 across 47. Both sit in the same low band.
Is Included Health Legit and Safe?
Yes. Included Health is a real, established company that operates under HIPAA rules. The company traces back to Grand Rounds and serves millions of members through employers. The company contracts with specialists at institutions like UCSF, Mass General, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins. Public reviews, however, raise real service concerns. Check with HR.
Legitimacy Signals:
- Contracts with large employers and health plans
- HIPAA compliance for personal health information
- Specialists from leading medical institutions
- Board-certified clinicians for virtual visits
Quality screening matters. Included Health picks experts based on education, training, patient outcomes, and institutional affiliation. The company says it meets or exceeds all federal requirements for protecting personal health information.
To put it simply: the company is legit, but legit doesn’t mean flawless. Consumer ratings show execution problems. Confirm your own plan details before relying on it for urgent needs.
Who Should Avoid Included Health?
Included Health is a poor fit for members who need controlled-substance prescriptions or guaranteed fast answers. Its providers can’t prescribe controlled substances. Reviewers also report long waits for chat and urgent care. Anyone whose employer doesn’t offer the benefit simply can’t access it at all. Planning ahead avoids many unwelcome surprises.
Think of it this way. A local doctor handles simple needs without a navigation layer. Members with complex claim disputes need records. Save screenshots, names, and dates of every contact.
How Much Does Included Health Cost?
Included Health costs members nothing to activate because employers pay for the benefit. The company says members don’t pay a cent to access their benefits. Employers and health plans buy the service. Individuals can’t purchase it on their own, and no public consumer price exists. Employers negotiate their own contracts and rates directly with the company.
But what about visits? Members typically pay only their regular copay and office visit fees for in-network doctors. Exact charges depend on your insurance plan. A Personal Healthcare Team can clarify details by phone.
Who Pays for What:
| Cost Item | Who Pays |
|---|---|
| Account activation | Employer |
| Navigation and claims support | Employer |
| In-network doctor visits | Member (regular copay) |
| Expert medical opinion | Benefit covers it, no bills to member |
Employer pricing isn’t public either. The company asks employers to schedule a demo to learn rates.
Is Included Health Worth It?
Yes. Included Health is worth using when your employer already pays for it. The service adds value at zero cost to the member. A second opinion offers confidence in your care, per the company. Billing advocacy can save hours on claim disputes. The risk is time lost on slow support. Value depends on how your employer set it up and how fast staff reply.
Does free mean risk-free? Not quite. Reviews show real support gaps. Use it as a supplement to your own insurer contacts, not a replacement.
Should You Try Eat Proteins?
Our team at Eat Proteins reviews health products and services so you can decide with facts. Included Health earns a cautious yes: free, useful tools, but uneven support. If your employer offers it, you lose nothing by trying. Read more Eat Proteins reviews before you buy anything with your own money. Check the full details below, then decide at your pace.
Here’s the bottom line. Our experts at Eat Proteins check claims against real member feedback. You get the good and the bad. Don’t wait on a billing headache to learn what your benefit includes.
How Do You Sign Up for Included Health?
You sign up through your employer benefit, not through a public checkout. Activation takes minutes. Confirm eligibility first, because only covered employees and dependents qualify. Then follow the steps below. Your benefits guide or HR portal lists the exact activation link for your plan. Many employers also publish a dedicated page for their staff.
Sign-Up Steps:
- Check your benefits guide for Included Health.
- Download the app or visit the activation page.
- Enter your employer information.
- Save the member support number for later.