When Vera is in the process of launching a new onsite clinic (or care center, as we call them) we leverage massive amounts of data—including more than two years of claims data. It's critical to ensure that the services we provide, the team we build, and even the entire center itself are specifically tailored to the population we are serving.
It’s the difference between providing the right resources, services, and expertise to the right people, and carrying unnecessary, less cost-effective bloat within the system.
And let’s be honest, the healthcare system has enough bloat and wasted resources already. That’s what we’re trying to prevent within our model.
Part of preventing waste means actively engaging with HR and the company’s executive team to better understand the organization’s culture and values. Many times, this even precedes the discovery process of identifying a location center or even hiring a care team.
For a clinic to be successful, it must start with full, seamless integration. That’s only possible with a clinic environment that speaks to its members and a care team that’s the right fit.
For example, if we’re planning to launch a clinic in the middle of Idaho with a company whose culture is outdoorsy and family-focused, we look for we look for team members who have common interests or similar experiences and can fit within that specific context.
Once we understand the culture and community, we can begin to formulate how our clinics are set up. Here are a few of the questions we ask:
The answers to these questions, and many more, will determine the look and feel of the care center itself. But they also determine the specialties, training, and expertise of the people we hire.
While we work closely with our clients throughout the entire process, as we begin choosing team members, we make sure each hire aligns both with the Vera approach and the overall vision of the organization. Some of our clients will even interview candidates so they can experience for themselves the providers we hire.
After all this, and team members are in place, we begin the process of training and educating the new team members. And the client is a part of this training and education process. We need everyone working together to feel like one massive team. Because within the on- or near-site clinic model, that’s the reality: every care team member needs to be an essential part of the whole organization.
But this training also includes making sure our care team fully understands the client’s benefit structure, managed care plan, referral network, dispensary coverage, and everything the care team needs at their fingertips to effectively provide care coordination to the patients depending on them.
Sometimes it means training with a client’s benefits team, and sometimes a broker. It’s about providing quality care and giving patients peace of mind knowing that all the details — especially their coverage and benefits — are taken care of.
But this doesn’t stop with the launch of a clinic . . .
When a clinic launches, stakeholders don’t suddenly go their own way. In fact, within our model, our team functions within a triad that includes:
This customer success manager meets regularly with the client and is responsible for bringing ideas, challenges, and solutions between the client and the care team. This keeps the teams unified and connected, and uncovers gaps in care and healthcare services, but it also helps generate new ideas around messaging and outreach for the clinic.
In addition, Vera also creates Whole Health Councils made up of care team staff and employees from different departments. Together, all these individuals are charged with being the care center champions, as well as the voice of the client and the care center.
These councils are effective in their ability to help the team develop personal transformation plans and training for the company, in addition to the services provided by the care center.
Here are just a few examples of the training developed from Whole Health Councils:
These types of training add value to overall care center, but they also communicate the value of each employee. And because these councils are collaboration-minded, training is the reflection of what employees are asking for. The result is that employees know they’re valuable, relevant, and feel prepared for the needs and desires of each patient.
The purpose of a clinic serving a specific population is to provide a place where patients can have all their needs met. That’s the Vera way — using data to build a care team that can provide wraparound care to a unique patient population.
It's a radical approach to putting the patient in the center of the system. Using the varied skills of our care team along with data and advanced analytics, we're able to manage their health more effectively and at a better cost.