Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

CareFirst’s EAP is a voluntary benefit powered by TELUS Health* that combines comprehensive intervention and prevention services to deliver measurable results for happier, healthier living.

Positive changes in your employees’ behavioral health can positively impact healthcare costs, employee performance and workplace culture. Help your workforce become more productive today!

Employee Assistance Program FAQ

What is an Employee Assistance Program?

An EAP extends individual assistance to employees and their family members with emotional and personal health concerns, legal and financial issues, and child and elder care needs. EAPs can also serve organizations strategically in areas such as critical stress management when tragic incidents occur in the workplace.

Why should my organization have an EAP?

EAPs offer services that can help resolve most problems employees face. As a result, they can improve workforce productivity and retention and enhance the effectiveness of managers.

How can an EAP help employees manage care costs?

The services offered through an EAP, specifically emotional and mental health support, are not subject to out-of-pocket costs. This adds value, whether you have an HMO, PPO, or even a consumer-directed health (CDH) plan with a health savings account (HSA).

Members may be more likely to use these EAP services than their benefits or HSA dollars. For short-term needs, these may be sufficient. If necessary, they can pursue additional support through their healthcare plan.

What factors should my organization consider when buying an EAP?

EAP providers should offer comprehensive services that address work-life balance, legal, financial, emotional health and wellness issues.

You should also consider:

  • An extensive provider network that will cover where your employees work and live
  • A program that has a return on investment
  • Accessibility 24/7 by phone or website
  • A robust website with EAP and work-life provider search functions
  • Experienced and licensed clinical staff to answer member calls
  • Dedicated support to managers for workplace issues, threats of violence and critical incidents
  • Ability to integrate with behavioral health program

Are eligibility files needed?

No. All household members over the age of 13 living in the employee’s household are covered by the EAP regardless of their medical carrier.

How do we promote the EAP to encourage employees to use the services?

The key is to de-stigmatize the program and promote it as a cornerstone of your company’s desire to improve the health and wellness of your employees—at no cost to them. The EAPs promotional materials normalize the everyday nature of the issues covered—stress, depression, child and elder care. You can further reach out to your employees by linking to the EAP website on your company’s intranet.

How does the EAP differ from CareFirst’s Behavioral Health Digital Resource?

CareFirst’s EAP is a robust resource that offers a wide range of services, including mental, physical, social or financial support. Through the EAP, participants have access to licensed behavioral health clinicians and counselors during a time of need.

The Behavioral Health Digital Resource, on the other hand, provides focused emotional and behavioral health support through trained listeners, personalized growth paths, and online communities.

Sometimes our human resource department seeks training resources. Can the EAP help?

Our EAP gives employees access to thousands of clinically verified and trusted articles, toolkits, podcasts and more. Additionally, TELUS Health offers workplace support programs, such as management training and critical incident support.**

Resources



*Formerly known as LifeWorks, TELUS Health is an independent company that provides employee assistance program (EAP) services to CareFirst members. TELUS Health does not provide BlueCross BlueShield products or services and is solely responsible for the EAP services it offers.

** Additional charges may apply for employer services.