Healthcare And Your Bottom Line: Improve Employee Health

When you want to equip your workforce for success, it’s helpful to take a fresh look at your health benefits. Start by asking the question: Are these benefits serving the needs of everyone on the team?

After all, when people are healthier they are more productive and less likely to take sick or vacation PTO due to illness. And these aren’t the only benefits. 

A healthier workforce saves money

Investing in the health and well-being of your workforce is the right thing to do — and it also makes sense. 

Advanced primary care (APC) reduces overall health costs by providing 80-90% of employee and member care needs in a primary care setting. Routine and preventive services help detect things early that can become costly or chronic if left untreated. The result is a significant return on investment through a reduction in total cost of care — such as fewer specialist care visits, decreases in hospital and ED utilization, and reduced prescription drug costs.

Organizations often face a cycle of increasing cost curves for years, forcing them into the difficult choice between reducing benefits or cost-shifting to their workforce to stay solvent. When self-insurers pair with APC, they gain more control over their benefit and plan design, reclaim consistency over a key part of their balance sheet, and retain lower overall costs of care.

How Vera’s APC keeps your workforce healthy

The traditional fee-for-service model can bring with it unexpected costs, long wait times, and short appointments where patients and providers struggle to look beyond immediate concerns. Vera’s APC model addresses these issues through longer appointments and empathetic listening that creates a safe space for members to feel truly heard and understood. Members benefit from a more intuitive and streamlined care experience, and providers have the time to focus on the whole person rather than treating only the presenting symptoms.

From clinically integrated health coaches to coordinated care teams, our APC model equips members with the support and information they need to become more engaged in their own health. This not only improves health outcomes — it’s the future of healthcare.

Better outcomes help organizations thrive

Organizations are recognizing the value and compounding benefits of Vera’s APC model. Seattle Children’s, one of the nation’s premier children’s hospitals, was struggling under the weight of unmanaged claims and a trend increase of 7-9% that cost them an additional $3-4 million each year.

To change this alarming trend, Seattle Children’s needed to find a better solution for their bottom line as well as benefits better suited for their thousands of employees. Vera collaborated with Seattle Children’s to build a primary care center with a dedicated care team, and claims decreased significantly within one year. They also saw an 80% drop in hospital stays, a 20% drop in PMPM ambulatory expenses, and a 10% drop in prescriptions — with a 1.79:1 average return on investment and a 4.6/5 patient satisfaction score. After 6 years, Seattle Children’s reaped a savings of $16 million.

Learn more about how Seattle Children's saved money. Download our FREE white paper, Patient Engagement and Healthcare Costs at Seattle Children’s.

Since placing Vera’s APC model at the center of their benefit strategy, Seattle Children’s has been able to reinvest back into the organization and their members.

Improved health improves organizations

Vera’s APC model is proven to increase the health of your workforce — and that means significant benefits for the entire organization.

It makes sense: When APC providers help members feel truly heard and taken care of through low- or no-cost primary care services, members are more likely to play an active role in achieving their health goals through regular appointments, screenings, and treatment. 

As health outcomes improve, organizations see the difference reflected in significant care savings and a workforce with increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, higher workforce satisfaction rates, better member retention, and positive recruiting results. 

We’ve seen it time and time again: Organizations thrive when their workforce gets the access and support they need to live more intentional, healthier, and happier lives. 

Learn more about the real outcomes Vera’s APC model delivers to members and your bottom line by visiting our updated APC guide.

This post was originally published on October 3, 2019.