11/Jul/2009
WELLNESSWORKS
New Lane Regional Medical Center Program Helps Businesses Save On Health Care
Editors Note: We recently heard about a new program Lane Regional Medical Center is sponsoring for businesses in and around Zachary. It sounded interesting, and it is being managed by Heather Murphy. So we stopped by for a chat with Heather last week about WELLNESSWORKS.
Q. Is this a totally new thing that Lane is sponsoring for area businesses?
A. Yes, WELLNESSWORKS is a brand new program designed to help area businesses control their insurance costs. It actually does a lot more than that.
Q. That’s really new and different. Why would a hospital want to become involved in helping businesses cut costs?
A. Well, there are many new businesses moving into Zachary and most have no idea what Lane Regional Health Center has to offer. Most people think a hospital is someplace you go only when you’re sick or when you have a serious medical problem. But problems that come into the hospital via the Emergency Room are always the most expensive ones to solve. Lane wants to be much more than just an Emergency Room for area businesses. Our hospital is playing an even larger role in preventative medicine. WELLNESSWORKS is all about helping and their employees prevent expensive accidents and even more expensive illness.
Q. Are we just talking about conducting safety meetings here or is this really about improving people’s quality of life?
A. WELLNESSWORKS does both. There are safety meetings plus lots of wellness programs. Both have as their goal the education of workman’s compensation insurance costs. See, the state of Louisiana ranked 50th in 2008 when it came to general health of our population. We have the highest numbers when it comes to infant mortality, obesity, adults who smoke and our age-adjusted death rate is the worst in the nation.
Q. So you’re out there presenting these facts to business owners. What kind of response are you getting?
A. Well, two-thirds of Louisiana’s population is obese or overweight which causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and the result is a very sharp increase in health care cost. I just explain that these diseases combine to make us the least healthy state. These disease are the cause for our number one ranking when it comes to the rate of death and disability.
Q. So, let’s say I am a business owner and I am buying what you are selling. What’s next?
A. Well the first thing you need to understand is that the program is free. We want to be the “partner” hospital for every Zachary business. When you have an injury on the job we want you to feel comfortable coming to us. We want to keep things in the community. We want Zachary to grow because if Zachary grows, Lane has to grow too.
Q. So it’s a “business development” thing?
A. Well, we think of it as a partnership. Our goal is to help with injury prevention and injury intervention. We provide service coordination and wellness information to the employees of the businesses that agree to partner with us.
Q. Is there a “canned” program?
A. Well, there are things that must be put in place if they are not in place already. We need pre-employment drug screenings and physicals. Safety talks are a standard part of every program. We want pre-placement functional testing and then injury prevention. Our goal set up an arrangement with one of Lane’s panel of physicians to take care of somebody with a cut finger in the doctor’s office instead of the emergency room where costs triple. When you are talking about a charge of $150 or $200 to stitch up a finger, the businessman may decide to just handle that out of his pocket rather than filing a claim. We also will send out one of our physical therapists to give a talk about proper lifting.
Q. And one call gets it all?
A. That’s right. And if they want to do blood pressure checks or if they have an injury, be it minor or major, they can just call the same phone number and it starts the tracking immediately. Or if the company wants to pay, we process the claim and follow through all the way to and including payment.
Q. One phone call streamlines the whole process?
A. Yes. But we help in other ways too. Many companies are way too concerned about employees being absent and they emphasize presence, or what we call “presenteism.” That means employees come in sick and spread germs. You really don’t want people working when they are sick or hurt. If an employee does not stay home and give their body time to heal, they may never get better. Say you have somebody with high blood pressure and he or she never takes the time off work to make sure it gets fixed. You will save a few pennies, but heart attacks cost big dollars. This will mean many more lost days of work and increase health insurance costs.
Q. So, if I was a business owner in Zachary, or anywhere in East Baton Rouge Parish for that matter, and I wanted to get on board: What do I do?
A. They can just contact me and we will do a brief implementation process to find out if they do drug screening and pre-employment physicals. If not, then we can help set those up. We also need to set up post-accident drug screens; we need to find out where they want us to send the bills. Everything is streamlined, the employee gets what he needs by the fastest, least complicated means.
Q. I mean the basic program is free, but with the drug screens and all there are definitely costs, huh?
A. One of the biggest factors with lowering health care costs is making sure employees get early diagnosis and treatment. It is much cheaper to pay to get checked out and to take the necessary steps to avoid a heart attack than to have a heart attack and then treat it after the fact. It costs like $10 to $12 per employee to have us come out and take everyone’s blood pressure and check cholesterol, but it is much cheaper than treating heart attacks. Women who get mammary-grams each year and have annual preventive visits with an OB/GYN, and men who get annual physicals, are going to be much healthier. In many cases the insurance carrier will pay for these wellness costs because they save so much money in the long run, but many businesses do not even realize that they have this coverage as part of their policy. If employees will just call and say “I am having an earache” or “Can you get me in to see a cardiologist?” then we can head off problems before they become expensive. We will get them in and set the appointment for them. We want to be here for everything and anything. A healthier business community makes us all happier.
Q. So it would be a good idea for all businesses to call their insurance company to see if they have wellness coverage?
A. You bet. And then they can call me at 658-4383 or 1-888-977-3319. We’ll take it from there and they can start saving money and making happier more productive employees right away.
Janet Armand, Administrator
Northridge Care Center
That program is helping us a lot because it is located right here in the community and it is so very convenient. Plus it is very good care. We send our employees there when they are hired for drug screening and is we have an injury we send them and they take care of whatever they need plus they handle all of the Workman’s Compensation paperwork.
Ashlee Anderson, H.R. Director
City of Zachary
We have had WELLNESSWORKS for about six months, and it has been a big help to me. They come by and drop off our monthly reports all done up and. They have had a couple of breakfast meetings where we talk about how things are going and those have been great. It really makes my job a lot easier because when someone gets hurt they track everything and fill out the reports. It really is a great program.
Ashley Ross, Human Resources Administrator
Anvil Attachments Inc.
It’s an excellent program for us. The employees are very friendly and helpful any time I have to call them. They really are on top of their game. It has been like a breath of fresh air for me. It makes my job much easier because they take care of everything. They schedule all the drug screenings and many of their services are free of charge.
New Lane Regional Medical Center Program Helps Businesses Save On Health Care
Editors Note: We recently heard about a new program Lane Regional Medical Center is sponsoring for businesses in and around Zachary. It sounded interesting, and it is being managed by Heather Murphy. So we stopped by for a chat with Heather last week about WELLNESSWORKS.
Q. Is this a totally new thing that Lane is sponsoring for area businesses?
A. Yes, WELLNESSWORKS is a brand new program designed to help area businesses control their insurance costs. It actually does a lot more than that.
Q. That’s really new and different. Why would a hospital want to become involved in helping businesses cut costs?
A. Well, there are many new businesses moving into Zachary and most have no idea what Lane Regional Health Center has to offer. Most people think a hospital is someplace you go only when you’re sick or when you have a serious medical problem. But problems that come into the hospital via the Emergency Room are always the most expensive ones to solve. Lane wants to be much more than just an Emergency Room for area businesses. Our hospital is playing an even larger role in preventative medicine. WELLNESSWORKS is all about helping and their employees prevent expensive accidents and even more expensive illness.
Q. Are we just talking about conducting safety meetings here or is this really about improving people’s quality of life?
A. WELLNESSWORKS does both. There are safety meetings plus lots of wellness programs. Both have as their goal the education of workman’s compensation insurance costs. See, the state of Louisiana ranked 50th in 2008 when it came to general health of our population. We have the highest numbers when it comes to infant mortality, obesity, adults who smoke and our age-adjusted death rate is the worst in the nation.
Q. So you’re out there presenting these facts to business owners. What kind of response are you getting?
A. Well, two-thirds of Louisiana’s population is obese or overweight which causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and the result is a very sharp increase in health care cost. I just explain that these diseases combine to make us the least healthy state. These disease are the cause for our number one ranking when it comes to the rate of death and disability.
Q. So, let’s say I am a business owner and I am buying what you are selling. What’s next?
A. Well the first thing you need to understand is that the program is free. We want to be the “partner” hospital for every Zachary business. When you have an injury on the job we want you to feel comfortable coming to us. We want to keep things in the community. We want Zachary to grow because if Zachary grows, Lane has to grow too.
Q. So it’s a “business development” thing?
A. Well, we think of it as a partnership. Our goal is to help with injury prevention and injury intervention. We provide service coordination and wellness information to the employees of the businesses that agree to partner with us.
Q. Is there a “canned” program?
A. Well, there are things that must be put in place if they are not in place already. We need pre-employment drug screenings and physicals. Safety talks are a standard part of every program. We want pre-placement functional testing and then injury prevention. Our goal set up an arrangement with one of Lane’s panel of physicians to take care of somebody with a cut finger in the doctor’s office instead of the emergency room where costs triple. When you are talking about a charge of $150 or $200 to stitch up a finger, the businessman may decide to just handle that out of his pocket rather than filing a claim. We also will send out one of our physical therapists to give a talk about proper lifting.
Q. And one call gets it all?
A. That’s right. And if they want to do blood pressure checks or if they have an injury, be it minor or major, they can just call the same phone number and it starts the tracking immediately. Or if the company wants to pay, we process the claim and follow through all the way to and including payment.
Q. One phone call streamlines the whole process?
A. Yes. But we help in other ways too. Many companies are way too concerned about employees being absent and they emphasize presence, or what we call “presenteism.” That means employees come in sick and spread germs. You really don’t want people working when they are sick or hurt. If an employee does not stay home and give their body time to heal, they may never get better. Say you have somebody with high blood pressure and he or she never takes the time off work to make sure it gets fixed. You will save a few pennies, but heart attacks cost big dollars. This will mean many more lost days of work and increase health insurance costs.
Q. So, if I was a business owner in Zachary, or anywhere in East Baton Rouge Parish for that matter, and I wanted to get on board: What do I do?
A. They can just contact me and we will do a brief implementation process to find out if they do drug screening and pre-employment physicals. If not, then we can help set those up. We also need to set up post-accident drug screens; we need to find out where they want us to send the bills. Everything is streamlined, the employee gets what he needs by the fastest, least complicated means.
Q. I mean the basic program is free, but with the drug screens and all there are definitely costs, huh?
A. One of the biggest factors with lowering health care costs is making sure employees get early diagnosis and treatment. It is much cheaper to pay to get checked out and to take the necessary steps to avoid a heart attack than to have a heart attack and then treat it after the fact. It costs like $10 to $12 per employee to have us come out and take everyone’s blood pressure and check cholesterol, but it is much cheaper than treating heart attacks. Women who get mammary-grams each year and have annual preventive visits with an OB/GYN, and men who get annual physicals, are going to be much healthier. In many cases the insurance carrier will pay for these wellness costs because they save so much money in the long run, but many businesses do not even realize that they have this coverage as part of their policy. If employees will just call and say “I am having an earache” or “Can you get me in to see a cardiologist?” then we can head off problems before they become expensive. We will get them in and set the appointment for them. We want to be here for everything and anything. A healthier business community makes us all happier.
Q. So it would be a good idea for all businesses to call their insurance company to see if they have wellness coverage?
A. You bet. And then they can call me at 658-4383 or 1-888-977-3319. We’ll take it from there and they can start saving money and making happier more productive employees right away.
Janet Armand, AdministratorNorthridge Care Center
That program is helping us a lot because it is located right here in the community and it is so very convenient. Plus it is very good care. We send our employees there when they are hired for drug screening and is we have an injury we send them and they take care of whatever they need plus they handle all of the Workman’s Compensation paperwork.
Ashlee Anderson, H.R. DirectorCity of Zachary
We have had WELLNESSWORKS for about six months, and it has been a big help to me. They come by and drop off our monthly reports all done up and. They have had a couple of breakfast meetings where we talk about how things are going and those have been great. It really makes my job a lot easier because when someone gets hurt they track everything and fill out the reports. It really is a great program.
Ashley Ross, Human Resources AdministratorAnvil Attachments Inc.
It’s an excellent program for us. The employees are very friendly and helpful any time I have to call them. They really are on top of their game. It has been like a breath of fresh air for me. It makes my job much easier because they take care of everything. They schedule all the drug screenings and many of their services are free of charge.
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