Softwr

Healthcare · head to head

Included Health vs Spring Health

Included Health logo

Included Health

Healthcare

Care navigation and virtual care in one contract for self funded employers and health plans

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Spring Health logo

Spring Health

HR

Employer mental health benefit that puts a share of its own fee at risk against measured symptom improvement

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Included Health owning both the navigation recommendations and the virtual care delivery creates a structural incentive to steer members to the vendor own clinicians, and an employer should require disclosure and measurement of how often that happens.; Spring Health per employee per month cost is several times a conventional employee assistance programme, reported publicly at roughly one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per employee per year, so the business case has to rest on measured outcomes rather than price.
  • They diverge on capability: Included Health covers Provider quality steerage, Spring Health covers Precision matching.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Included Health and Spring Health actually diverge.

Attributes where Included Health and Spring Health differ
AttributeIncluded HealthSpring Health
CategoryHealthcareHR

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Included Health

  • Provider quality steerage
  • Expert medical opinion
  • Virtual primary care
  • Virtual behavioural health
  • Virtual urgent care
  • Benefits integration
  • Employer reporting

Only in Spring Health

  • Precision matching
  • Sponsored session model
  • Psychiatry and medication management
  • Coaching tier
  • Repeated outcome measurement
  • Outcomes-based fee
  • Manager and workforce reporting

Both cover

  • Care navigation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Included Health

  • A large self funded employer whose members cannot tell which specialist to see and who currently absorbs the cost of poor referral decisionsnot Spring Health
  • An employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid fornot Spring Health
  • A self funded plan wanting expert second opinions before high cost elective surgery, where a changed recommendation pays for the programmenot Spring Health
  • An employer replacing separate navigation and telehealth vendors with one contract and one member experiencenot Spring Health

Spring Health

  • An employer replacing an EAP with two percent utilisation that cannot demonstrate any clinical effect to its boardnot Included Health
  • A benefits team facing long external waiting lists for therapy that are showing up in absence and disability claimsnot Included Health
  • A distributed workforce where the incumbent EAP provider network is thin outside major metropolitan areasnot Included Health
  • A health plan wanting to add a behavioural health layer without building a provider network itselfnot Included Health

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Included Health

  • Owning both the navigation recommendations and the virtual care delivery creates a structural incentive to steer members to the vendor own clinicians, and an employer should require disclosure and measurement of how often that happens.
  • Pricing is per employee per month across the whole eligible population, so a plan with low navigation engagement pays for everyone to serve the minority who call.
  • Savings claims rest on avoided costs and changed referral decisions, which are counterfactual by nature, so performance guarantees need very careful definition or they measure activity rather than money.
  • The company is a merger of three organisations with different origins, and members and benefits teams still encounter seams between navigation, virtual primary care and behavioural health that the single brand implies are absent.
  • It sells primarily to large self funded employers, so mid market employers and fully insured plans find both the pricing and the implementation effort disproportionate to their size.

Spring Health

  • Per employee per month cost is several times a conventional employee assistance programme, reported publicly at roughly one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per employee per year, so the business case has to rest on measured outcomes rather than price.
  • Outcomes-based pricing only puts a portion of the fee at risk, and the measured cohort is people who engaged, which flatters the reported improvement relative to any effect across the whole workforce.
  • Sponsored sessions run out, and members who need longer treatment are handed to their health plan benefit where network adequacy and cost sharing may be exactly the problem they came to avoid.
  • The eligibility file integration is a real HR IT project, and employers with messy dependent and contractor data spend meaningful effort before launch.
  • Coverage and provider depth outside the United States is thinner than the domestic network, so multinational employers usually end up running a second vendor for other regions.

Pricing, plan by plan

Included Health

On request
  • Included Health$undefined/year
    • Per employee per month across the eligible population, quoted not published
    • Navigation and virtual care modules priced separately or bundled
    • Some components offered with performance guarantees tied to measured savings

Spring Health

On request
  • Spring Health employer programme$undefined/year
    • Per employee per month, invoiced to the employer, with an eligibility file feed
    • Portion of fee available at risk against measured symptom outcomes
    • Sponsored session count negotiated per contract

Which should you pick?

Choose Included Health if

  • You need provider quality steerage.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want expert medical opinion.
Included Health review

Choose Spring Health if

  • You need precision matching.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want sponsored session model.
Spring Health review

Questions people ask

Is Included Health or Spring Health better?
Neither clearly leads. Included Health starts at On request and Spring Health at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Included Health or Spring Health?
Included Health starts at On request and Spring Health at On request.
Does Included Health or Spring Health run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Included Health best used for?
Included Health is most often used for a large self funded employer whose members cannot tell which specialist to see and who currently absorbs the cost of poor referral decisions, an employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid for, a self funded plan wanting expert second opinions before high cost elective surgery, where a changed recommendation pays for the programme, an employer replacing separate navigation and telehealth vendors with one contract and one member experience. Of those, a large self funded employer whose members cannot tell which specialist to see and who currently absorbs the cost of poor referral decisions and an employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid for are not what Spring Health is typically brought in for.
What can Included Health do that Spring Health cannot?
Included Health covers Provider quality steerage, Expert medical opinion, Virtual primary care, Virtual behavioural health. Spring Health covers Precision matching, Sponsored session model, Psychiatry and medication management, Coaching tier. Both handle Care navigation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Included Health: What exactly is Included Health?

The combination of Grand Rounds Health navigation, Doctor On Demand virtual care and the original Included Health concierge service, operating under one brand since late 2021.

Spring Health: How is it priced?

Per employee per month, billed to the employer, with a portion available at risk against measured outcomes. Rates are not published; public statements from the company suggest roughly one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per employee per year.

Included Health: Who pays for it?

The self funded employer or the health plan pays a per employee per month fee. Virtual care visits may also carry member cost sharing depending on plan design.

Spring Health: Who pays, the employer or the health plan?

Usually the employer, for the sponsored session block. After those sessions the member typically continues under their health plan benefit with normal cost sharing.

Included Health: Is there a minimum size?

No published minimum, but it sells primarily to large self funded employers and the pricing and implementation effort do not suit small organisations.

Spring Health: What does outcomes-based pricing actually guarantee?

That a defined portion of the vendor fee is contingent on measured change in assessment scores among engaged members. It is not a guarantee of workforce-level improvement.

Included Health: How does it recommend providers?

Through data driven quality analysis rather than a plain directory. Ask specifically how those recommendations are produced and how often they resolve to the company own virtual clinicians.

Spring Health: Is there a minimum headcount?

Yes in practice. Spring Health sells to mid-market and enterprise employers and health plans; very small employers are not the target and usually cannot get a quote.

Share

Related pages

More on Included Health

More on Spring Health

Keep looking

Other head to heads