Beyond the Gym: Advanta Bets Pet Telehealth Will Redefine Wellness ROI

NEWARK, NJ – September 09, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant evolution in the corporate wellness landscape, engagement technology firm Advanta Health Solutions has announced a partnership with Petzey, an on-demand pet telehealth provider. The deal integrates 24/7 veterinary consultations into Advanta’s ActiveFit+ platform, extending benefits beyond human health to the furry family members of its users.

While on the surface it appears to be a simple, feel-good perk, the partnership is a calculated bet on a new driver of employee engagement and a strategic pivot for Advanta. The company is moving beyond traditional wellness incentives like gym memberships to address the practical, and often stressful, realities of its members' daily lives. This integration is less about novelty and more about a core business principle articulated by both companies: true engagement, the kind that delivers a return on investment for employers, is driven by undeniable usefulness.

The New Economics of Employee Well-being

The corporate wellness industry has long been dominated by programs focused on physical fitness and nutrition. Yet, as the line between work and home blurs, employers are discovering that the most significant stressors—and drains on productivity—often originate outside the office. With an estimated 70% of U.S. households owning at least one pet, the health and well-being of those animals have become a major factor in the mental and financial health of the workforce.

This is where Advanta sees its opening. The company is betting that by addressing a major source of anxiety for a majority of employees, it can deliver a more impactful and stickier wellness solution. Research supports this strategy. The "caregiver burden" associated with a sick pet is psychologically comparable to caring for a human family member, leading to increased stress, anxiety, and absenteeism. One industry survey found that 63% of pet owners would be more likely to stay with an employer that offered pet-related benefits.

"We built ActiveFit+ around a simple belief: the more useful a benefit is in someone's actual life, the more they use it, and the more they use it, the more it works," said Courtenay Higgins, Co-Founder and President of Advanta Health, in the announcement. "Pet health is a perfect example of a need our members have every week that no wellness platform has addressed."

By integrating Petzey, Advanta is directly targeting this "caregiver burden." The service offers ActiveFit+ members immediate, low-cost access to veterinary advice, potentially mitigating the panic of a late-night pet health scare and the associated productivity loss the next day. For employers footing the bill, the logic is compelling: a low-cost telehealth benefit that reduces employee stress and prevents costly absenteeism could offer a far greater ROI than an underutilized gym subsidy.

Disrupting the Vet Visit: The Rise of On-Demand Pet Care

The partnership also shines a spotlight on the disruptive potential of Petzey’s model within the rapidly growing pet care market. The U.S. veterinary telehealth sector, valued at just over $92 million in 2024, is forecast to explode to nearly $600 million by 2034. Petzey is positioning itself to capture a significant share of this growth by tackling the industry’s primary friction points: cost and accessibility.

For a flat fee, the service provides 24/7 access to licensed veterinary professionals via phone or video, along with a free, vet-trained AI chat for basic questions. This model directly challenges the traditional clinic visit, which can cost upwards of $250 for a consultation alone and often requires taking time off work. Petzey claims that roughly 70% of issues that would typically trigger a clinic visit can be resolved through its telehealth consultations.

However, the term "resolved" carries significant regulatory nuance. The ability for a veterinarian to legally diagnose an illness or prescribe medication via telehealth is governed by a patchwork of state-level Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR) laws. In many states, an in-person physical exam is still required to establish a VCPR. Therefore, Petzey's primary function in these jurisdictions is not to replace the veterinarian, but to serve as a powerful triage tool. Its professionals can offer expert advice, help a frantic pet owner assess the urgency of a situation, and prevent unnecessary and expensive trips to an emergency clinic—a value proposition that stands on its own.

"Our mission has always been to make expert pet care instant and accessible, because pet worries don't wait for business hours and neither should the answers," noted Mike Ortega, CEO of Petzey. This focus on immediate access, rather than comprehensive diagnosis, smartly navigates the complex regulatory environment while still delivering substantial value to users.

From Platform to Ecosystem: The Business of Holistic Health

This partnership is perhaps most significant as a case study in modern platform strategy. Advanta is evolving from a company that simply incentivizes activity into one that curates a holistic ecosystem of high-value services. By integrating best-in-class partners like Petzey, it makes its own ActiveFit+ platform indispensable to its clients—employers, health plans, and public sector groups.

The strategy is to create a virtuous cycle: high-utility benefits like pet telehealth drive member engagement with the platform, and high engagement makes the platform more valuable to the organizations paying for it. For Petzey, the partnership provides access to Advanta's highly engaged user base across more than 3,000 organizations. This B2B2C model allows Petzey to scale rapidly, building on a foundation of successful enterprise partnerships with giants like Verizon Rewards and Citibank Mastercard.

This expansion into pet health is a clear indicator that the definition of "health" itself is broadening within the benefits industry. It's a recognition that an employee's well-being is an interconnected system where stress from one area of life—like a sick pet—inevitably spills into another, affecting focus and performance at work. Companies that successfully address these interconnected needs are poised to build deeper loyalty and demonstrate a more tangible impact on both employee wellness and the corporate bottom line. By meeting members "where their worry actually is," as Higgins puts it, Advanta is making a strategic move to own a larger share of the modern employee's life, creating a stickier product and a more defensible market position.