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Healthcare · head to head

Included Health vs VetBadger

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
VetBadger logo

VetBadger

Veterinary

Cloud veterinary practice management sold in user bands rather than per seat

From
$99/month
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.; VetBadger pricing is banded rather than per seat, so a three-user clinic pays USD 249, the same as a ten-user one, which is roughly USD 83 per user against USD 25 for a practice that fills the band.
  • They diverge on capability: Included Health covers Care navigation, VetBadger covers Chart-centric workflow.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Included Health and VetBadger differ
AttributeIncluded HealthVetBadger
Starting priceOn request$99/month
Pricing modelquotePer month by user band
CategoryHealthcareVeterinary

Identical on both: 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

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

Only in VetBadger

  • Chart-centric workflow
  • Banded pricing
  • Chart SMS and email
  • Integrated telehealth
  • Exam reporting
  • QuickBooks sync
  • Cloud hosting
  • Reminders

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 VetBadger
  • An employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid fornot VetBadger
  • A self funded plan wanting expert second opinions before high cost elective surgery, where a changed recommendation pays for the programmenot VetBadger
  • An employer replacing separate navigation and telehealth vendors with one contract and one member experiencenot VetBadger

VetBadger

  • A two-vet small animal clinic moving off an ageing on-premises server that nobody wants to maintainnot Included Health
  • A practice that wants client texting logged against the medical record rather than sitting in a separate messaging toolnot Included Health
  • A clinic adding telehealth consultations without buying a separate video and payment stacknot Included Health
  • An owner who wants exam and revenue reporting without exporting to a spreadsheet every monthnot 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.

VetBadger

  • Pricing is banded rather than per seat, so a three-user clinic pays USD 249, the same as a ten-user one, which is roughly USD 83 per user against USD 25 for a practice that fills the band.
  • Crossing a band boundary is a step change, so hiring one extra person can raise the software bill by USD 150 or USD 250 overnight with no extra capability in return.
  • The integration list is short compared with the market leaders, and in-house laboratory and imaging equipment support is the usual gap, which can mean manual result entry.
  • It is aimed at general small animal practice, with none of the specialty, referral, equine or ambulatory workflow depth that larger platforms carry.
  • As a smaller vendor it has less migration tooling and fewer conversion specialists than the large incumbents, so moving years of legacy records in is more of a project than a service.

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

VetBadger

$99/month
  • 1 to 2 users$99/month
    • Cloud hosting and backup included
    • Full medical records and scheduling
    • Chart-centric SMS and email
  • 3 to 10 users$249/month
    • Same feature set across the band
    • Flat price whether you have three users or ten
    • Exam detail reporting
  • 11 to 20 users$499/month
    • Multi-user scheduling
    • Full reporting
    • Priority support
  • 21 to 40 users$599/month
    • Largest published band
    • All features included
    • Support for larger single-site practices

Which should you pick?

Choose Included Health if

  • You need care navigation.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want provider quality steerage.
Included Health review

Choose VetBadger if

  • You need chart-centric workflow.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want banded pricing.
VetBadger review

Questions people ask

Is Included Health or VetBadger better?
Neither clearly leads. Included Health starts at On request and VetBadger at $99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Included Health or VetBadger?
Included Health starts at On request and VetBadger at $99/month.
Does Included Health or VetBadger 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 VetBadger is typically brought in for.
What can Included Health do that VetBadger cannot?
Included Health covers Care navigation, Provider quality steerage, Expert medical opinion, Virtual primary care. VetBadger covers Chart-centric workflow, Banded pricing, Chart SMS and email, Integrated telehealth.

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.

VetBadger: How is VetBadger priced?

By user band: roughly USD 99 a month for one to two users, USD 249 for three to ten, USD 499 for eleven to twenty and USD 599 for twenty-one to forty.

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.

VetBadger: Is hosting extra?

No. Cloud hosting and backup are included in the subscription, with no server to buy or maintain.

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.

VetBadger: Does it do telehealth?

Yes, integrated telehealth is included rather than sold as an add-on.

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.

VetBadger: Is it suitable for a specialty or referral hospital?

Not really. It is built for general small animal practice and lacks specialty, referral and equine workflow depth.

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