New York, NY – June 11, 2024 – Laurel Road, a digital banking platform and brand of KeyBank, announced today that its custom benefits solution Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers, has grown to include nine large health system and physician group agreements. Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers, which launched in April 2023 is aimed at revolutionizing financial benefits for healthcare systems, offering quality financial wellness tools and resources to all eligible employees, simplifying the path to financial freedom.
Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers was introduced as federal student loan repayment was expected to resume in 2023, adding urgency to existing financial burdens for many healthcare professionals. According to a recent survey from Laurel Road, the average physician and nurse both have student loan debt equaling half their current income or more and believe it will take an average of 8-10 years to pay off their student loans. With healthcare professionals shouldering some of the highest educational debt loads, they unsurprisingly experienced elevated mental stress and burnout, a burden they increasingly began looking to their employers to help alleviate.
The customizable program, led by Diana Welch Howell, Head of Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers, works directly with Human Resources leadership to help employers improve access to financial resources and services for all eligible staff, supporting both medical and non-medical functions. Some of these services include:
- One-on-one counseling with student loan specialists who will analyze employees’ student loans and help them understand their repayment and forgiveness options
- Prepayment for student loan memberships that help employees enrolled in Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) which helps manage the complex program requirements and keep track of qualifying payments
- Programs to directly contribute to employees’ student loans and facilitate student loan payments
- Banking solutions – such as a competitive high yield savings account – that can help employees jumpstart their savings goals
To date, the program has helped partner organization employees get on the path to achieving nearly $30 million in federal loan forgiveness, and in the past twelve months helped employees grow their savings by 16x. To provide further value to these partners, Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers has also hosted numerous virtual workshops for employer partners on financial wellness, the resumption of student loan payments, and the mind-money connection.
“As hospitals and healthcare systems faced challenges of post-pandemic employee burn out, talent attraction and retention, Laurel Road can help employees find financial peace of mind,” said Diana Welch-Howell, Head of Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers. “It became clear that more employees were looking to their employers to help with financial stress than ever before. Leveraging Laurel Road’s deep healthcare roots and student loan expertise, we set out to help healthcare professionals through employer-provided resources tailored to their specific needs, ultimately increasing organizational productivity and retention.”
Laurel Road has worked with healthcare professionals since its founding in 2013 and continues to focus on supporting this community through its product offerings and solutions. For more information on Laurel Road for Healthcare Employers, visit www.laurelroad.com/employers/.
About Laurel Road
Laurel Road is a digital banking platform and brand of KeyBank that provides tailored offerings to support the financial wellbeing of healthcare and business professionals. Laurel Road’s banking and lending solutions, including Loyalty Checking and High Yield Savings accounts, Student Loan Cashback Credit Card, Student Loan Refinancing, Mortgages, Personal Loans and more, provide our members with a simplified, personalized experience that helps them better navigate their financial journey and achieve life’s goals. Additionally, through a partnership with GradFin, one of the nation’s leading PSLF providers, Laurel Road offers student loan counseling services that help borrowers manage and understand their options.
Laurel Road has reimagined banking and financial management for physicians and dentists through Laurel Road for Doctors, a tailored digital experience made up of banking, insights, and exclusive benefits to provide the financial help and peace of mind they need through each career stage. In spring of 2022, Laurel Road also launched Loyalty Checking, the first checking account designed with nurses in mind, furthering the company’s commitment to healthcare professionals.
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