The nation’s largest physician-owned healthcare network will use Immediate to provide earned wage access

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 27, 2021 (PR Newswire) – Immediate, a financial wellness company, today announced that Steward Health Care will use its solution to provide earned wage access (EWA) to its more than 40,000 healthcare workers across the country as part of an effort to improve financial stability for employees and enhance recruitment and retention efforts.

Steward Health Care is the largest physician-owned and -led healthcare network in the United States, annually providing more than 12 million patient encounters through its extensive network of hospitals, urgent care centers, skilled nursing facilities and substantial behavioral health services. With Immediate, Steward Health Care employees will have access to their earned wages at any time, rather than waiting until payday.

“Steward’s frontline health heroes put patients’ needs ahead of their own every day, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to offer this forward-thinking technology that in turn makes their lives a little easier,” said Patrick Lombardo, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Steward Health Care Network.

Already in place at nine hospitals and two corporate locations, Immediate seamlessly integrates with payroll systems and costs nothing for organizations to implement. Employees can access their earned wages by requesting the funds through Immediate. They then receive the money in their bank account or on a reloadable debit card, and the deduction is reflected in their next paycheck.

A recent survey of 1,250 employees and 200 employers across various industries confirms the growing demand for EWA. More than half of employees surveyed said that they have asked for a pay advance, and 84 percent said they have needed to do so more frequently since the pandemic began. EWA is considered so important that 80 percent of employees said they would prioritize an employer that offers EWA when seeking new employment.

The need for EWA is even more prevalent within the healthcare industry. In the survey, healthcare employees were the least likely respondents to rate their personal financial wellness as excellent (only 18 percent, or less than 1 in 5). In addition, 62 percent of healthcare employee respondents said financial stress affects their physical health, and 71 percent said it affects their mental health. Most alarmingly, 54 percent of healthcare employees said financial stress impacts their attention at work and 63 percent said it affects their on-the-job performance, potentially leading to dangerous or fatal outcomes.

“Partnering with the nation’s largest physician-owned health system solidifies our position as the premiere EWA solution and enables us to provide these critical benefits to tens of thousands more individuals,” said Matt Pierce, Immediate founder and CEO. “The strategic value of providing a financial wellness solution to employees, particularly in the healthcare industry, is clear. It improves recruitment and retention, and it also creates healthier healthcare systems – not just improving the bottom line, but also improving patient care and patient safety.”  

About Steward Health Care

Steward Health Care’s physician-owned and -led business model was built to unlock access to the highest-quality care at a sustainable cost, committed to providing personalized, ongoing medical services that positively impact patients’ physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.

Founded in 2010 by Ralph de la Torre, M.D., Steward Health Care is the largest Hispanic-owned health care network with more than 5,500 providers and 43,000 health care professionals empowering the health and wellness journey of 12.3 million patients a year through its extensive global network of hospitals, urgent care centers, skilled nursing facilities and substantial behavioral health services.

Based in Dallas, Steward currently operates hospitals 39 hospitals across Arizona (4), Arkansas (1), Florida (3), Louisiana (1), Massachusetts (10), Ohio (2), Pennsylvania (1), Texas (7) and Utah (5), as well as in Malta (2) and Colombia (3).

For more information, visit www.steward.org.