Michael Auten & Randy Bernard/On-Site Health Solutions of Atlanta
On-Site Health Solutions of Atlanta has been committed to improving the quality of life for individuals and companies by bringing preventative care to the workplace at no cost to the employer. OHS Atlanta helps thousands of employees each year with early detection of diseases that could possibly save their lives.
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In the state of Georgia, 118 counties out of 159 have too few dentists to treat those residents. 16 Georgia counties have NO DENTIST at all. Clearly, this leaves a large, rural population in the state with limited or NO access to even basic, preventive dental care.
Today, there are only 5 states that do not allow hygienists to operate under a dentist’s supervision unless the dentist is physically on site where the dental hygiene care is provided. One of those is Georgia.
President of Georgia’s Dental Hygienist Association, Misty Mattingly, stopped by, along with Sarah Smith and Charlie Craig of Solution Road to talk about a measure before the Georgia House of Representatives that will address the lack of access to preventive screenings and treatments that are provided by hygienists.
Currently, Georgia law requires that a dentist is ON SITE while a hygienist administers care. Obviously, this is impossible in 16 counties without some sort of medical mission on the part of dentist and hygienist, and limited in 118 Georgia counties. Under HB 684, hygienists would be able to be supervised remotely by a dentist rather than requiring them to physically be on site. This would empower hygienists to provide diagnostic screening and preventive care in these areas with limited to no access.
When problems requiring restoration such as a filling or crown would be identified by the hygienist during these visits, they would be referred to a dentist for appropriate care. Without question this is a win for all parties, particularly the patients who today, have problems often going undiagnosed until serious, often resulting in an ER visit for evaluation.
The notion of working to improve a population’s awareness of wellness and disease is not new. For decades we have sought to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including reduced smoking rates, early detection for cancers, and decrease obesity (not to mention containing healthcare costs) But with improving data capabilities, interoperability between EMR’s and data systems, changing laws, and an over-arching goal of improving the general health and wellness of our population we are beginning to see ever-greater emphasis on population health management as a strategy to both contain costs and improve outcomes. Check out this week’s episode to learn more about how your company can save long-term costs while at the same time improving quality- and length of life to their employees.
As a health strategy, population health management focuses heavily on preventive care measures, coupled with making such care delivery as convenient as possible for the population involved. Additionally, procedures around work place injuries are assessed and if needed, modified to include triage that can prevent the use of ER to initiate care when such injuries/exposures occur.
We talked about how Dekalb Medical restructured their approach to their own employees’ wellness and work place injuries, successfully reducing their spend on high cost claims, ER visits, and work place injuries. They are now collaborating with businesses in the community to collaborate with them to improve the wellness/safety of their respective employees and helping them achieve the same sort of cost savings on health/risk in their enterprises. These efforts are steadily improving the aggregate health of the Dekalb Medical catchment area patients through more consistent, integrated delivery of preventive/wellness-focused care.
Dekalb Medical, a long-standing pillar of the Atlanta health systems, serving the eastern half of the metro, has proven to be an innovator and thought leaders in the concept of population health management. After a multi-year effort to reduce cost and improve outcomes for their own ~4000 employees, including decreasing work-place accidents and ER visits, they have an impressive list of successes to talk about.
And as a well-established health system with the full complement of services from acute to tertiary, diagnostic and procedural services available, Dekalb Medical is uniquely positioned to exert positive effects on the health of the large metropolitan population they serve.
About DeKalb Medical
Founded in 1961, DeKalb Regional Health System, Inc., known as DeKalb Medical, is comprised of more than 800 doctors skilled in 55 medical specialties across three campuses. The 627-bed system includes DeKalb Medical at North Decatur (451 beds), DeKalb Medical Long Term Acute Care at Downtown Decatur (77 beds), DeKalb Medical at Hillandale (100 beds), DeKalb Medical Physicians Group and the DeKalb Medical Foundation.
This week Diana Keough and I sat down with Dr. Shealynn Buck and Jim Forstner from the health system. We talked about population health management as a concept and how it was put to work as a strategy to the benefit of both its employees and the bottom line of the organization.
Dekalb Medical is now providing similar population health management services to employers within their catchment area around the east perimeter of Atlanta and beyond. They are engaging employers’ employees through gameficiation, on-site services, consulting regarding workplace safety, narrow network benefits that save costs and improve outcomes, and more. We talked about how the notion of population health management is a move from transactional, disease-focused care to a relational, wellness-focused model and how that can save both money and improve lives of employees. We also discussed some positive unintended consequences that can come through offering such a health initiative to an employee population.
The not-for-profit health care system is a HealthGrades® Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack in 2013 and Five-Star Recipient for Peripheral Vascular Bypass in 2012, and earned the Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart/American Stroke Association. Their Maternity Center was selected as a participant in the Best Fed Beginnings project as part of UNICEF/WHO’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. The Dekalb Medical Cancer Center received the Outstanding Achievement Award and is granted three-year approval by The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons as a community hospital comprehensive oncology program. Their Joint Solutions Center is a metro Atlanta leader in joint replacement.
In addition, The Dekalb Medical LTAC earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for acquired brain injury, wound care and respiratory failure services. Their WorksWell® program is dedicated to supporting employers with solutions to maximize the health, safety and well-being of their employees while improving performance and the bottom line.
Special Guests:
Dr. Shealynn Buck, MD, Executive Director, Dekalb Medical WorksWell and Medical Director of Dekalb Medical Wellness Center
Jim Forstner, SVP & Senior Strategy Officer of Dekalb Medical
Annual blood screening and testing a single, powerful and cost effective tool for preventing disease. Blood tests reveal a snapshot of our health and often detect health problems before symptoms or disease. Regular monitoring, especially over time, can help patients focus on early intervention strategies and good health maintenance. Blood tests are cost effective compared to the costs of disease related healthcare and medication expenses. Physicians often order “routine” blood tests during and annual physical, but often neglect age related or non-obvious blood testing and they often do not focus on risk factors. Blood tests provide information about the function of our cardiovascular status, hormone function, kidney and liver function, our body chemistry and our endocrine system. By obtaining blood samples and evaluating the results, patients can screen for cancers, learn about the degree of inflammation in their bodies, measure our risk factors for certain diseases and help us improve our health and longevity by catching critical changes and showing us where to focus for optimal health maintenance.
In this segment, board-certified urologist, certified medical review officer and owner of Any Lab Test Now, Dr. David Perlow will educate the listeners on top, common annual blood tests that can save lives and help us keep focused on disease prevention. Listeners can visit: www.anytest.com for more information.
Dr. David Perlow
