A New Employer Healthcare Model for Employers and Benefits Consultants

At a recent partnership launch event in Raleigh, WakeMed and Rezilient Health introduced a new model designed to help employers improve access to care, reduce fragmentation, and create a more coordinated experience for employees and their families.

That model is Rezilient with WakeMed.

For employers and benefits consultants across the Triangle, the conversation centered on a simple but urgent reality: healthcare costs keep rising, employees are paying more out of pocket, and many of the solutions introduced over the last decade have added complexity without meaningfully changing the trajectory of total cost of care.

Rezilient with WakeMed was designed to offer another option.

Not a replacement for existing benefit structures. Not a disconnected point solution. And not a model that competes with the local health system.

Instead, Rezilient with WakeMed brings together high-access, same-day primary care through Rezilient with direct integration into WakeMed when specialty or advanced care is needed.

Why WakeMed and Rezilient formed this partnership

During the event, speakers repeatedly returned to the same core issue: employers and employees are both feeling the pressure of rising healthcare costs, but simply shifting more cost to employees has not solved the problem.

As Rezilient founder and CEO Danish Nagda explained, many employers have spent years layering on point solution after point solution, yet total cost of care continues to climb. 

Fragmentation remains a major issue. Employees often struggle to know where to go, when to go, and how to navigate benefits, providers, referrals, and appointments across multiple disconnected systems.

Rezilient with WakeMed was built to simplify that experience.

By pairing WakeMed’s employer relationships, wellness programming, and downstream specialty and hospital capabilities with Rezilient’s same-day primary care and specialty consult model, the two organizations are creating a more integrated pathway into care.

“Today’s discussion is about offering an additional option, one that expands primary care access, improves coordination, and connects seamlessly into WakeMed when specialty or hospital care is needed.”

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What is Rezilient with WakeMed?

Rezilient with WakeMed is an employer-focused care model that gives employees a more seamless entry point into care while preserving existing benefit structures.

In practice, that means employees can access:

• Same-day primary care
• Same-day urgent care support
• Virtual and in-person visits
• Specialty consults across 70 specialties
• Care navigation and ongoing support
• Direct connection into WakeMed specialty and hospital services when needed
  

Just as important, the model is designed to work alongside existing TPAs, networks, and plans.

That point mattered throughout the event. Danish was clear that the goal is not to disrupt what already exists for employers or fragment care further. If an employee already has a primary care physician, the intention is not to break that relationship. The model is meant to augment access, improve navigation, and make it easier to get the right care at the right time.

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How the model works for employers

One of the clearest takeaways from the event was that Rezilient with WakeMed is designed to make healthcare easier for employees while offering employers a more coordinated, more affordable approach. Here's what stood out most: 

1. Same-day access changes behavior

Employees can access care quickly through physical CloudClinic locations and virtual care. Wait times are minimal, and new patient appointments are longer than traditional primary care visits.

That matters because delayed care often leads to bigger problems later. When employees cannot get in quickly, they are more likely to postpone care, use urgent care or the emergency room unnecessarily, or let manageable conditions worsen. Rezilient with WakeMed was built to intervene earlier.

2. Specialty care is easier to reach

The model allows employees to access specialty consults quickly and, when needed, move directly into WakeMed’s system for downstream care. Rather than asking employees to navigate a patchwork of separate providers, platforms, and referral processes, the goal is to create one connected care journey.

3. It reduces point solution fatigue

Employers have heard the pitch before: another app, another vendor, another carve-out, another healthcare program that sounds promising but adds another layer of administration and employee confusion.

Rezilient with WakeMed is positioned differently. It is intentionally integrated. The model is designed to reduce the feeling that employees have to download 15 different apps or figure out which vendor handles which issue.

4. It is structured to deliver real fee schedule reductions in year one

One of the biggest announcements at the event was that WakeMed agreed to provide local employers with real fee schedule savings in year one through the Rezilient with WakeMed structure.

For employers evaluating direct-to-employer options or looking for more value from their local health system partnerships, this was a major point of interest. The message was not framed as a theoretical ROI promise years down the road. It was framed as a model that can improve access now while also delivering financial value in year one.

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Why this matters to benefits consultants and brokers

For consultants and brokers, the event was not just about a new care model. It was about a new conversation to bring to employer clients.

Rezilient with WakeMed offers a local, health-system-connected option that consultants can position around three major themes:

1. Better access: When employees can get same-day primary care, same-day urgent care, and quicker specialty input, employers are in a better position to support workforce health earlier.

2. Better coordination: When care is connected into a trusted health system, employers are not simply handing employees another standalone vendor. They are creating a clearer path into local specialty and advanced care.

3. Better affordability: When the structure includes real fee schedule reductions in year one and sits alongside current plans rather than forcing wholesale disruption, consultants have a more practical, lower-friction story to tell

In other words, this is not just a benefits product. It is a strategic employer healthcare option.

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WakeMed’s perspective: why now?

WakeMed president and CEO Donald Gintzig brought an important health system perspective to the discussion.

His message was grounded in mission. WakeMed’s goal is to improve the health and well-being of the community, and that includes finding new ways to expand access as the region grows. He made the case that primary care remains foundational. 

While many health systems have leaned more heavily into specialty care, WakeMed sees long-term value in prevention, earlier intervention, and faster access to care. Rezilient with WakeMed is one more way to deliver care at the right place, at the right time, and at an affordable cost.

“We’re adding services to help people in our community get primary care fast at an affordable cost, and hopefully prevent a lot of things they may face down the line.”

He also emphasized something that will resonate with employers: WakeMed understands healthcare both as a provider and as a major employer itself. That gives the system a direct line of sight into how healthcare costs affect organizations, workforce stability, recruitment, retention, and day-to-day operations.

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For Raleigh employers, the question is shifting

The bigger question is not simply whether employers need another healthcare option.

It is whether the current combination of fragmented vendors, delayed care, and rising costs is sustainable.

Rezilient with WakeMed makes the case that there is a better way to structure access. One that starts earlier, moves faster, feels simpler to employees, and connects directly into a trusted local health system.

• For benefits consultants, it offers a concrete and differentiated story to bring to employer clients.
• For employers, it offers a path toward stronger access, more coordinated care, and meaningful savings.

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Learn more about Rezilient with WakeMed

If you are a broker, consultant, or employer in the Raleigh area and want to learn how Rezilient with WakeMed works in practice, now is the time to take a closer look.

Whether you are trying to improve access, reduce fragmentation, or explore a more integrated employer healthcare strategy, Rezilient with WakeMed offers a new option worth understanding.

Learn more about Rezilient with WakeMed and schedule a CloudClinic visit to see the model firsthand.