For self-funded employers
Gut symptoms show up to work. So does the cost.
87% of employed people with IBS say symptoms cut into their workday,3 and almost none mention it. Nerva treats the functional GI layer standard care misses, before it lands on your claims.
- 300,000+ people supported
- 20,000+ referring clinicians
- RCT published in the AJG1
- CMS ACCESS Model participant12
GI costs are rising, for both you and your employees.
In a typical 1,000-employee population, roughly 400 meet criteria for a gut-brain disorder.2
National GI spend
$119.6B
in annual US costs for GI, liver and pancreatic disease.13
- reason adults visit the ED: stomach and abdominal pain.11
- #1
- cause of work absenteeism after the common cold: IBS.14
- #2
The engagement mechanism: care employees actually use.
A six-week program built on brain-gut behavioral therapy, the approach clinical guidelines recommend for IBS.6 Nerva is AI behavioral care: a structured, clinician-designed program, evaluated in a randomized controlled trial,1 delivered entirely by software. AI tailors pre-authored content around a program that never changes.
One 15-minute guided brain-gut session a day for six weeks: on their phone, wherever they are, with no appointment to book.
Short CBT-based lessons and diet guidance, including support for reintroducing foods they've been avoiding.
Check-ins on validated symptom measures show employees their own trajectory across the six weeks.
Our care team screens at intake, reaches out to members who go quiet, and escalates warning signs to a provider.
Every eligible employee can start on day one.
- Eligible
An eligibility list, or open access with a company link. No claims feed, no integration.
- Enrolled
Employees sign up privately in minutes. Nothing to disclose at work.
- Six weeks
A daily 15-minute session, short lessons, and symptom check-ins.
- After
Maintenance access for flare-ups; outcomes roll up into your reporting.
“Within the evidence reviewed, Nerva presented the strongest overall evidence for improving IBS symptoms.”
Peterson Health Technology InstituteVirtual Gastrointestinal Care Solutions, March 20267
Evidence you can take to committee.
81%1of participants met the primary symptom endpoint (≥50-point IBS-SSS improvement), vs 63% on active control.
Randomized controlled trial · N=244 · active control · AJG 2025 Read the research →
- Clinically significant abdominal-pain reduction, vs 35% on control1
- 71%
- Clinical studies on Nerva, indexed on our Research page
- 15+
Real-world study · presented at DDW
It moves the numbers employers watch.
In a retrospective study of over 17,000 Nerva users, completing the program was associated with significant long-term improvements in work absenteeism, presenteeism and overall productivity.5
20,000+ providers from leading institutions have referred patients to Nerva
Modeled savings, built on measured outcomes.
Across 17,000+ Nerva users, six-month IBS management costs roughly halved, with associated long-term gains in absenteeism, presenteeism and productivity.5 The population analysis works out what that means for your plan.
- Identification. How the functional GI cohort shows up in your claims history.
- The baseline. What that cohort costs today, with sources and assumptions stated.
- Modeled vs observed. Expected enrollment and modeled net impact, labeled as modeled.
- of covered US workers are in self-funded plans, where GI claims are the employer's claims.4
- 67%
- six-month IBS management costs after completing Nerva, down from $1,259, in a retrospective study of 17,000+ users.5
- $502
Modeled estimate · not observed results
10,000 covered employees
- 1,000 with an addressable functional GI condition (10%)
- 500 eligible and reachable (50%)
- 68 enrolling at the model's 13.5% assumption
The 10% addressable share is deliberately narrower than the >40% of adults who meet DGBI criteria: the model counts only members a claims-identified, self-guided program can plausibly reach.
$43,000–$86,000Modeled annual net savings range8$0.36–$0.72 net per covered employee per month. The low bound halves the enrollment assumption.
$1,276modeled net savings per enrolled member, after the expected program fee8
68enrolled members
Private for them. Clear for you.
Nobody wants to explain gut symptoms to their manager. The reporting line is built so they never have to.
The employee
Owns their care in full
- Signs up privately from any device, with nothing to disclose at work
- Their symptoms, check-ins and progress stay theirs
- Our care team support runs member-to-Nerva, never through you
The employer
Sees the aggregate picture only
- Uptake, engagement and outcomes at the population level
- HIPAA-compliant reporting on an agreed cadence
- No individual-level data. No names. Ever.
Launch without a project plan.
Nerva runs alongside your existing carrier or TPA. No claims feed, no clinical integration, and your team doesn't carry it.
Per enrolled employee. Not PEPM.
You pay for the people who actually use it, with outcome-aligned structures available. The care is software, which is what makes this pricing possible.
- Eligibility list or company link
- Communications templates included
- Aggregate reporting on a cadence
The questions we get asked.
Why add a point solution in a consolidation year?
Because the spend is already there and no incumbent covers it. Nerva adds no PEPM, no integration and no per-claim spend: a program nobody uses is a program you barely pay for.9
What does the population analysis actually use?
Published prevalence and utilization research, our commercial model's disclosed funnel, and, where you choose to share it, your own claims summary. Sharing claims sharpens the analysis; it is never required to launch.
We're fully insured. Is this still for us?
The employee experience and the launch are the same; the claims economics sit with your carrier instead of you. Point your health plan at our health-plans page, or talk to us and we'll bring them into the conversation.
Evaluate Nerva for your population.
References
- Anderson, Ellen J.; Peters, Simone L.; Gibson, Peter R.; Halmos, Emma P. Comparison of Digitally Delivered Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy Program With an Active Control for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The American Journal of Gastroenterology 120(2):p 440-448, February 2025. DOI: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000002921
- Sperber, A. D. et al. Worldwide Prevalence and Burden of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, Results of Rome Foundation Global Study. Gastroenterology, 2021;160(1):99–114: over 40% of adults worldwide meet criteria for a disorder of gut-brain interaction (functional gastrointestinal disorder). Per-1,000 figures are that prevalence applied to a hypothetical workforce, for illustration.
- Frändemark, Å. et al. Work Productivity and Activity Impairment in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): A Multifaceted Problem. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2018;113(10):1540–1549: 86.8% of employed IBS patients reported impairment while at work and 24.4% reported missed work due to IBS.
- KFF. 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey: 67% of covered workers are enrolled in self-funded plans, including 80% at large firms.
- Peters, S. L.; Gibson, P. R.; Halmos, E. P. App-delivered gut-directed hypnotherapy halves the long-term costs associated with managing Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) symptoms and improves work productivity. Retrospective study of 17,000+ Nerva users, presented at Digestive Disease Week: IBS management costs fell from USD 1,259 to USD 502 over six months, with significant long-term improvements in work absenteeism, presenteeism and overall productivity. Retrospective completer analysis, not a controlled trial.
- Lacy, B. E. et al. ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2021.
- Peterson Health Technology Institute. Virtual Gastrointestinal Care Solutions Assessment. March 2026.
- Mindset Health commercial model, August 2026: modeled expectations net of the model's expected per-enrollee fee, with the enrollment funnel shown in the calculator. Modeled estimates, not observed Nerva claims savings.
- Business Group on Health, 2026 Employer Health Care Strategy Survey, executive summary: 51% of large employers report changing or issuing RFPs for non-PBM health and wellbeing vendors, against a projected 9% median 2026 health care cost trend.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: stomach and abdominal pain is the most common principal reason for adult emergency department visits. See also Wu et al., Academic Emergency Medicine, 2025, on ED abdominal-pain presentations 2007–2019.
- Mindset Health participation in the CMS ACCESS Model, 2026: outcomes-based arrangements in the musculoskeletal and behavioral health tracks. ACCESS coverage does not extend to GI.
- Peery, A. F. et al. Burden and Cost of Gastrointestinal, Liver, and Pancreatic Diseases in the United States. Gastroenterology, 2022. The $119.6B estimate is a national whole-GI figure from 2018.
- Drossman, D. A. et al. U.S. householder survey of functional gastrointestinal disorders. Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 1993: IBS reported as second only to the common cold as a cause of work and school absenteeism. 1990s survey data, widely cited since.