If there’s one thing modern medicine has taught us, it’s that healthcare isn’t one-size-fits-all. This is especially true when you consider where someone lives – a key social driver of health. Geography plays a powerful role in shaping access to care, health outcomes, and even life expectancy.  

The Unequal Map of Health 

A recent study published in The Lancet highlights just how stark geographic disparities are. It found in the United States, life expectancy can vary by more than 20 years just depending on the county you live in. These differences are deeply entangled with other social drivers of health like race, income, and access to healthcare. Simply put, where you live can determine how long you live. 

This finding reinforces the idea that a person’s environment is one of the most influential social drivers of health. Where someone lives profoundly shapes how they access care, their ability to manage chronic conditions, and their overall health outcomes.  

For employers, this matters. Geographic health disparities can drive up healthcare costs, lead to inconsistent health outcomes across your workforce, and affect absenteeism and productivity. By recognizing these gaps and implementing solutions like care navigation, employers can help bridge access issues. It’s not just the right thing to do for your people — it’s a smart investment in the health and performance of your business. 

The Urban vs. Rural Divide in Healthcare 

In metropolitan areas, people often have too many choices for where to receive healthcare. Should someone go to the urgent care clinic that’s found on every street corner, or the major health system that sits downtown? This may not sound like a problem, but with dozens of clinics and hospitals available, navigating these choices — figuring out who’s in-network, who provides quality care — is confusing and time-consuming. Another barrier for those living in urban areas is finding a doctor they can see in a timely manner. That’s because the denser the population, the more likely you’re going to have a long wait to see your preferred provider. In fact, one survey found the average wait time for an appointment across six different medical specialties in 15 metro areas is 31 days.  

In contrast, rural populations face a different kind of healthcare barrier: a shortage of care and limited access. Choices for a primary care doctor, specialist, and even a pharmacy may be limited or located hours away, making it harder to stay healthy and get timely treatment. This lack of nearby, reliable care can lead to delayed diagnoses, unmanaged chronic conditions, and preventable health crises. It can also lead to higher costs for employers — individuals who delay preventive medicine are often more expensive for organizations because of costly downstream care. What’s more, employees in rural areas often need to take time off work to travel long distances to receive care, costing both them and their organization time (and money).  

Why Direct Healthcare Works, No Matter Where You Live  

Enter direct healthcare, a solution that allows both urban and rural populations to access the healthcare they need, when they need it. Direct healthcare models are designed to eliminate friction, no matter your location. Through onsite, nearsite, and virtual care delivery, employers and unions can give their people access to preventive care services, same-day appointments, 24/7 care, pharmacy services, including overnight prescription delivery, and wraparound support like behavioral health, occupational health, and care management.  

Care Navigation: Tailored Healthcare by Geography 

As part of an advanced primary care model, care navigation is the bridge between people and the specialty care they need. Care navigation is a referral coordination solution that takes a hands-on approach to helping members seamlessly navigate the healthcare system. Care navigators are there to offer a guided experience for members looking for high-value specialists and facilities. From the moment specialty care becomes necessary, through referral coordination, to receiving that care, and any necessary follow-up, members are never left alone on their health journey. This is true whether they’re receiving care in-person at an onsite or nearsite center, virtually, or in the community.  

How does care navigation support people in completely different geographies? In urban areas, care navigation filters out the noise. It guides members to high-quality, cost-effective providers, reducing wait times by finding specialists who are available, and avoiding unnecessary or duplicative care. For rural areas, care navigation is a lifeline. It helps members identify the highest-quality facility and providers, ensuring every visit counts. Care navigators can also help coordinate virtual care when possible, cutting out the need for a lengthy drive altogether. 

Two Stories of Impact 

Premise Health’s care navigation solution is helping members across the country get the right care at the right time, whether they live in a city of millions or a town of hundreds. Here are two examples of how care navigation at Premise helped address environmental challenges for two unique employers. 

Urban: At a large mortgage lending company based in a major city, Premise implemented its care navigation solution to guide members with better referrals and help them make smarter healthcare choices. By guiding individuals to high-quality, cost-effective providers and away from low-value care, members experienced improved health outcomes and greater ease navigating the healthcare system.  

The impact was measurable: the company saw an average savings of $1,082 per person that worked with care navigation for their referral, totaling an estimated $540,000 in annual savings. Members who engaged with care navigation also spent 13% less year-over-year on outpatient surgeries, in contrast to a 2% increase in spend among those who received care in the community. In just its first year, the care navigation program helped guide half of all referrals to high-quality, cost-effective care. That number continues to grow, showing how powerful personalized support can be in improving outcomes and lowering costs.  

Rural: In northeast Georgia, a food production company with a large, primarily Spanish-speaking workforce, wanted to address the barriers its people were facing when it came to accessing specialty care. Many employees were first-generation Americans unfamiliar with the U.S. healthcare system, making navigation especially difficult. To address this, Premise and the employer added a bilingual care navigator to the onsite wellness center, offering hands-on support with everything from referral coordination to appointment scheduling and record transfers.  

This personalized, culturally competent approach ensured members not only found the right specialists, but also received timely, appropriate care. The results were transformative. In just one year, 69% of referrals were directed to high-value, cost-effective providers, leading to more than $1.2 million in estimated annual savings for the employer. 

It’s important your organization’s direct healthcare solution is designed to flex with the local realities of your unique population, from dense urban environments to remote rural communities. In cities, it means helping people make smarter choices from many options. And in rural areas, it means supporting employees and their families in making the most of limited choices. By using care navigation to meet members where they are — physically, culturally, and medically — we can build a more equitable healthcare system, one tailored solution at a time. 

Learn how Premise can meet your people wherever they are, no matter the ZIP code. Contact us today.  

Payers face a significant healthcare challenge. Rising costs, poor experiences, and lack of access mean that they need something new. Something different.  

Advanced primary care is a primary care model that can work alongside health plans to meet challenges head on and provide lower total cost of care, improved quality and experiences, and value-driven referral navigation. Keep reading to learn why payers should be looking into this groundbreaking model of healthcare. 

Advanced primary care models deliver lower costs, improved outcomes, and more accessible care 

Advanced primary care is a value-based, all-around better approach to healthcare. It focuses on whole-person care by incorporating behavioral health, social determinants of health, and more. This approach removes barriers to access to make healthcare easy to use. Healthcare is made easy through sufficient provider staffing, digital and in-person care, and short waits for appointments.  

The resulting combination of quality and convenience gets people engaging more with healthcare in the primary care space. When this happens, especially when routine and preventive care happens regularly, it lowers or avoids costs by catching problems early. This is how a partner focused on value and excellence succeeds in lowering or avoiding costs, improving outcomes, and making primary care convenient. 

Once engaged with advanced primary care, your people will benefit further from referral coordination. Having a trusted provider help them navigate the healthcare world by identifying high-quality, low-cost specialists can be life changing.  

Advanced primary care offers exceptional experiences for your members 

This better approach to primary care doesn’t just benefit you but has benefits for your members. Faced with their own challenges with healthcare, members are in need of impactful support to improve their experiences and reduce costs. Members will be excited to get this support from their health plans. You can support your members in three ways: 

Improving member experience 

Your members likely regard healthcare as a headache-inducing, stressful matter. This makes them use it less and lets minor health problems grow into serious ones. Changing that experience for them is critical.  

Giving multiple access points (such as digital and in-person) and reducing wait times, both for appointments and in the waiting room, can get people in the door. Once there, a model that allows for longer visits and more face time with the doctor gives your members what they need – to be heard and have their needs fully addressed. They’ll be healthier and happier, now and down the road.  

Providing steerage to high-value networks 

Outside of the primary care environment, referral navigation to high-value networks helps your members find quality care from community specialists. As cost and quality can vary drastically for a procedure even within the same region, data-driven steerage is a meaningful resource for members. 

Improving Clinical Outcomes 

As a value-based care model, advanced primary care is focused on providing high-quality care at every level of healthcare. In the primary care space, the focus on value means providers are incentivized to achieve the best health outcomes possible, instead of a high rate of short appointments that always leave something more to address. Longer appointments paired with care that is held to high standards (such as third-party standards like HEDIS and AAAHC accreditation) means that your members get a better kind of primary care.

Advanced primary care saves you money 

We believe advanced primary care will continue to grow in popularity and this approach will bring a noticeable shift to the healthcare landscape. Healthcare that feels easy and impactful encourages your members to engage and stay on top of routine and preventive care, where health issues are prevented or caught early. Prevention and early treatment decrease expensive downstream care like ER and urgent care visits or hospital admissions. Positive experiences will bring members back to their primary care more often. 

Engaged members are healthier members, and healthier members have lower cost of care. 

Engaging a direct healthcare partner to build an advanced primary care solution benefits you and your members in game changing ways. Flexibility combines with quality and convenience to lower total cost of care. Premise Health is here to help health plans figure out how to incorporate this groundbreaking approach to care into their offerings.  

So why wait? Your organizations and its members need a different kind of healthcare. Learn more about how Premise works with health plans to deliver advanced primary care. 

A major challenge facing organizations and their people is the lack of access to quality healthcare. A 2022 study by AMN Healthcare/Merritt Hawkins found an average wait time of 26 days for a primary care appointment across 15 large metro areas. Provider shortages and healthcare deserts, long commute times, and a lack of digital access combine to make healthcare seem out of reach for many.

In this blog, we’ll talk about how large organizations can play a key role in solving these problems while at the same time reaping the benefits for themselves and their populations. We’ll cover three types of large organizations: Employers, Health Plans, and Unions.

Why Primary Care Access Matters

Everyone puts off experiences that are stressful and cause headaches. Healthcare is no different. The traditional primary care model incentivizes providers to deliver a high volume of short visits that often leave needs unaddressed. On top of this, delays in care brought on by the pandemic, a growing provider shortage, and long wait times to get an appointment cause patients to put off preventive screenings or treatment for minor issues that could worsen if left unaddressed. This could mean avoidable visits to urgent care centers, emergency rooms, or even hospital stays.

In a direct healthcare model, increasing access to primary care providers is the number one priority. Patients have more face-to-face time with their provider, less time spent in the waiting room, and next- or same-day appointments to address what ails them. Plus, digital and in-person access points remove barriers that plague community healthcare.

Whether your insured population is comprised of employees and their dependents, union members, or health plan subscribers, greater access to quality primary care in a convenient way is what matters most. When seeing a doctor is easy, people stay on top of their health, see better outcomes, and avoid serious and costly healthcare services. 

What does this look like in practice?

A mother wakes in the middle of the night to her child, who has asthma, wheezing slightly. As a Premise Health member, she’s able to connect with a 24/7 virtual visit to see a provider quickly. The child is evaluated and has mild-to-moderate asthma exacerbation but is at a low-risk for emergency. The provider recommends using the child’s rescue and steroid inhalers and visiting their local Premise wellness center in the morning. The follow-up visit in the morning confirms the diagnosis and ensures the child has the necessary medications. Access to direct primary care, particularly a 24/7 virtual solution, allowed the member to avoid a costly emergency room visit and begin a course of treatment quickly, even in the middle of the night.

Benefits for Employers

Large employers are constantly challenged by headwinds in the marketplace, economy, and workforce. Your employees struggling with their healthcare doesn’t have to be one that you face. Direct primary care can help you:

Combat rising medical costs

There are many reasons healthcare-related costs are increasing. While things like inflation can’t be helped, that doesn’t mean offsetting your medical spend is hopeless. Seeing a primary care provider is a critical first step in the reduction of downstream costs and hospital admissions, which is key to delivering financial results. Improving access to healthcare creates a healthier workforce, which means higher productivity and less time away due to sickness.

Build a strong workplace culture

Culture building is likely high on your list of priorities from year to year. A positive culture is foundational to driving success for employers. Building a culture of wellbeing is easier when you provide employees and their families with tangible resources to support it. A direct primary care benefit says, “we care for you” or “you belong here” and truly means something, fostering a sense of belonging and commitment.

Support recruiting and retention

In a competitive job market and after years of high turnover rates and disruption, employers need every tool they can get to be competitive when it comes to talent management and acquisition. A high-value benefit such as employer-sponsored healthcare can make it easier to attract and retain top talent. Low turnover can aid in culture building as employees have a chance to buy-in to an organization and increases the depth of organizational knowledge in your workforce over time.

What does this look like in practice?

A large employer’s workforce dispersed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they are looking for ways to bring employees back to campus a few days a week. While researching ways to incentivize employees to return, they identify an onsite primary care center as a top option. The prospect of quick visits and easy experiences draws employees back to the office and helps build a culture of wellness. Beyond return to office initiatives, the health center will help them prepare to lower costs as they expect double-digit premium increases in the next few years.

Benefits for Health Plans

Payers play a key role in helping their subscriber populations access quality healthcare by packaging a primary care solution alongside certain plans. This solution, delivered in partnership with a direct healthcare provider, gives their subscribers access to high quality, convenient healthcare in their community. It also benefits health plans by creating a competitive advantage in several ways:

Lowers total cost of care

Increasing cost of care is a top concern for payers, with chronic conditions being one of the primary drivers of healthcare spending. By preventing and effectively treating chronic conditions or acute care needs, higher utilization of primary care can help payers avoid unnecessary medical claims. Going further, an advanced primary care solution that features a team-based approach and whole-person care is key to getting people as healthy as they can be.

Improve subscriber experiences

For many reasons, it can be hard for health plans to engage their subscribers. Poor experiences with previous plans or even the busyness of the day can make it hard to reach your populations. But the prospect of headache-free healthcare and a provider that gets to know you can be the breakthrough they need to start engaging with their health. When primary care providers have the time to build relationships with your subscribers, they can have a profound impact on their healthcare experience.

Ensure access to providers

Many health plans are struggling to counteract the effects of a growing provider shortage and the existence of provider deserts. Having a partner guarantee provider availability amidst these challenges helps ensure your subscribers can see the doctor when they need it. Your direct primary care partner should support access to providers through local and nationwide models and provider recruitment and retention strategies.

What does this look like in practice?

A health plan evaluates their subscriber population costs and realizes that their subscribers have rapidly increasing claims costs. Further research shows a rapidly increasing provider shortage in rural areas and long wait times for appointments in urban locations. The health plan partners with a direct healthcare provider to build a tailored solution with the flexibility to address the needs of both rural and urban subscribers. Strategically placed locations combined with virtual care models and sufficient staffing allow subscribers to easily access primary care helping to reduce costs, improve their experience, and even improve their opinion of their health plan.

Benefits for Unions

Increasing access to direct primary care can be a valuable benefit for Taft-Hartley funds and unions, and the impact of which is felt in several ways:

Members have easy-to-access affordable healthcare

A direct healthcare partner can be a one-stop location for preventive and acute primary care needs without high costs. Members can engage with services like pharmacy, physical therapy, or behavioral health. Through these solutions, unions can help their members, including seasonal, contract, and part-time workers, have access to high-quality care that they can afford year-round.

It’s tailored to your members’ needs

Direct primary care can be tailored to your population to include convenient locations, expanded hours to match your worker’s needs, or even 24/7 digital care options. Multiple types of care can be packaged based on your population’s needs, ensuring the care they need is there when they need it. Direct healthcare is relevant for your members, and relevance brings value.

Integrated healthcare encourages use of all forms of care

Having multiple forms of healthcare (primary care, behavioral health, pharmacy, and more) integrated into one location allows members to get whatever care they need in one place. It reduces the stigma around visiting certain providers and members won’t have to worry about what to say if they run into a coworker in the waiting room. Warm handoffs between providers also help introduce members to more types of care, right under one roof.

What does this look like in practice?

A union member in a manufacturing plant works an overnight shift from Monday to Friday. He’s historically had trouble scheduling primary care appointments that didn’t cut into the all-too-brief time with family between work and sleep. During a biometric screening event at work, his blood pressure is high and he’s directed to follow up with his primary care provider. With easy access to a direct primary care wellness center through his union, he’s able to take advantage of extended hours and short wait times to see his provider quickly and conveniently on the way home from work then get home to his family. 

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No matter the organization or what your population looks like, providing your people with easy access to primary care can solve some of the biggest challenges you face today: rising costs, ineffective healthcare, and poor experiences. Learn more about how care is delivered at Premise Health and what it could do for your bottom line.

Today, we’re sharing the latest from The Break Room, a webinar series created for Premise Health members where we discuss topics that support their health and wellness.

In “Yoga Detox: Simple poses for aches, pains and discomfort,” Tiffany Grove Dufour demonstrates yoga postures that can help relieve stress, shoulder stiffness, back pain, digestion, fatigue, and headaches. Tiffany is a Premise Health fitness team member and is a 500-hour registered yoga instructor, NASM certified personal trainer, and AFAA group exercise instructor.

During the webinar, Tiffany breaks down these postures in detail to demonstrate the correct, safe way to get into them. She also discusses the health benefits of each pose to provide members with an understanding of how these movements can positively affect their bodies.

Watch the recording below to practice the postures alongside Tiffany while learning more about their incredible health benefits. After watching, we hope you feel encouraged to incorporate more yoga into your routine so you can let go of tension and feel better, physically and mentally.

Why is yoga beneficial?

Yoga is for everyone, whether you’re new to the practice or you’re an experienced yogi. Each posture has its own corresponding modifications, and many can be done from a chair, making yoga an extremely adaptable practice regardless of physical ability.

Through a consistent practice, you can build strength and flexibility, relieve stress, improve energy levels, increase blood flow, and much more. Yoga can also help counteract the effects of living in such a fast-paced society, where we forget to slow down, ground ourselves, and be more present. It is an excellent blend of mindfulness and movement that can help you feel more centered, aligned, and refreshed during both joyful and overwhelming times in life.

How Premise Health can help

At Premise Health, we’re here to advocate for the health of your mind, body, and spirit. If you’re a member or think you may be a member, speak with your employer to learn more about the fitness and wellness coaching offerings that may be available to you.

Employers, don’t hesitate to contact us and find out how we can support your employees with many different types of care, such as fitness, physical therapy, primary care, and more.

When people have easy access to high-quality healthcare, patient outcomes improve. However, there are many factors that prevent patients from receiving the care they need – and these barriers have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. A key pillar of direct healthcare is creating barrier-free access that ensures all individuals can receive the care they need.

Read on to learn the three ways direct healthcare removes barriers and improves access for those who need it most.

Direct Healthcare Offers Multiple Access Points 

Barrier-free access means individuals can choose how they want to get care in a way that’s most convenient for them – digitally, in-person, or a combination of the two. For employers, barrier-free access means integrating multiple access points so their people can receive convenient, cost-effective, and personalized care whenever and wherever they need it.

These access points may include:

1. Onsite Wellness Centers

An onsite wellness center delivers health and wellness services by licensed providers on the premises of an employer or other membership-based organization (such as a union or health insurance plan). Each onsite health center is designed specifically for the needs of its unique member population. Often, onsite providers can deliver care both in-person at the center or virtual care during office hours, depending on patients’ preferences. The seamless intersection of both virtual and onsite primary care delivery, right where people work, leads to higher member engagement and better health outcomes.

2. Nearsite Wellness Centers

Nearsite wellness centers often complement onsite centers, filling the gap for families and remote workers. Onsite centers can serve dependents, but they may be a long way from where families live, work, or go to school. Or, in some cases the onsite health centers may be part of a secure location that is not accessible to dependents. Therefore, many organizations choose to offer both onsite and nearsite primary care services to better serve their dispersed populations and deliver greater value.

3. Digital Care

Digital access points play an increasingly important role in helping people connect to care. They can make it easier and more convenient for patients to prioritize health, by granting them access to high-quality care when, where, and how it’s most convenient for them. By integrating digital access with in-person care, direct healthcare can deliver on its promise of “anytime, anywhere.”

No matter the access point, appointments should be readily available. Unlike in the community where seeing your physician can take weeks or months, barrier-free access makes same or next day scheduling the norm.

Direct Healthcare Supports Patient Journeys

Barrier-free access doesn’t stop at offering a variety of ways to connect with a primary care provider. It also means that patients shouldn’t have to navigate the healthcare system on their own.

While primary care serves as the front door to healthcare, many patients will need a higher level of care at some point on their care journey. With direct healthcare, there is always a trusted guide to help patients take the next step, whether that is scheduling an appointment with a specialist or seeking a second opinion.

In some cases, a patient’s primary care provider may support patients as they navigate the healthcare system. In others, the patient and primary care provider may work with a care navigator. Care navigators ensure that patients receive care from high-quality providers and facilities without overpaying for their services, resulting in improved outcomes, lower costs, and a great member experience. No matter the approach, what’s most important is that patients have someone who understands the healthcare system to advocate for them and help them make the most informed decisions about their care.

Direct Healthcare is Culturally Competent Care

One final way that direct healthcare removes barriers is by ensuring patients receive culturally competent care. After all, meeting patients where they are not only means providing them with different access points. It also means that culture and language should not be a barrier to seeking needed healthcare services.

When accessing healthcare is easy, people are more likely to get the care they need, which creates better experiences – and better outcomes for all.

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Instead of accepting the way healthcare has always been, Premise Health is redefining the system. We are leading the way with our value-driven approach to care, delivered through our in-person wellness centers and digital access for members across the nation. It’s primary care that’s more personable, accessible, and intelligent.

Contact us today to learn more about bringing this innovative care approach to your people.

You’ve decided to implement an onsite health center – congratulations! It’s a big decision that can solve for a variety of problems, not only making it easier for your workers to live healthier lives, but also helping drive down your healthcare costs.

The implementation phase is a rewarding time. After the hard work of evaluating if an onsite is a good fit for your organization and making your case to leadership, this is the time when everything starts to come together. While exciting, implementations are a big lift involving many stakeholders and moving pieces. Here are four things to keep in mind while working through the process to help ensure success.

Involve the key players

From the start, you’ll be responsible for identifying and including the appropriate leaders from your organization to form a successful internal implementation team. When considering who should be included, think broadly about which departments will be impacted by implementing an onsite health center. Your team should include:

• • Key decision maker/sponsor – This will often be a senior leader, but they likely won’t participate in the day-to-day work of the implementation process. Their role will be more focused on providing input on critical decisions.
  • Project manager or lead – While it’s typical to choose a single project manager, an implementation is an extensive project with many components. Choosing co-leads could be a strategic decision to drive a smoother process. Whoever you choose should have a level of authority at your organization, be able to make decisions, and coordinate the right resources to keep the implementation moving smoothly. After your center opens, this person could also be a good fit for the day-to-day contact between your company and your onsite health partner.
  • Human resources/benefits – A worksite health center is a valuable benefit for your employees and dependents, which is why you’ll want your HR representation involved on your implementation team. They’ll need to work through the process of gathering claims data and eligibility files to gain insights on how your health center can drive the most value and be incorporated with your organizations’ benefit plan design.
  • Facilities – Your facilities team will be crucial to get things ready to go live. Whether you’re remodeling an older building, making space in your current office, or starting a brand-new build, they’ll need to be involved in the decision making. They can also play a role in the physical design, construction, and maintenance to support the new center.
  • Information technology – Don’t forget your IT team. They’ll make sure your providers have everything they need to deliver high-quality care, such as phone lines and a safe, secure internet connection independent of your company’s existing resources.
  • Marketing and communications – This team needs to be involved so they can drive awareness of the new center and effectively communicate to employees the value of it! Having a strong communications plan will help your center achieve high utilization rates and drive down your healthcare costs.

Plan an appropriate timeline

It’s expected that you want your employees to have access to your onsite health center as soon as possible, but building an appropriate timeline will get you there sooner than trying to push forward an expedited, poorly thought out plan. On average, buildout for a center takes around 180 business days, followed by four weeks to train and onboard the staff who will be providing care. If you ultimately move forward with a quicker timeline, your vendor partner should do their due diligence in explaining the risks that could arise along the way and how they may affect timing for the rest of the process.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact many industries, which could affect your timeline. There have been shortages in metal, glass, and computer chips, as well as construction delays due to major material supply line challenges and companies struggling to find workers. The Great Resignation has also been an added challenge in recruiting professional healthcare workers. Your vendor partner should be transparent with you on all these challenges and have a strategy to address them, whether it’s planning for a longer buildout or suggesting sign on bonuses to attract talent.

Toward the end of your timeline, you’ll want to coordinate any open houses or ribbon cuttings. Many healthcare partners recommend doing a “soft” go-live with an abbreviated schedule once your center is ready to see patients. This approach allows your new health center team to make a smooth transition and adapt to the workflows of the health center while learning your organization’s culture.

Expect the unexpected

In such a high-stakes project, something unplanned will happen. Don’t panic! There is always a solution to get through the unexpected. While it’s difficult to predict what challenges you may encounter along the way, some things to potentially expect include:

• • Losing a key player – Things happen. A key decision maker on your team may leave the organization, get sick, or take a leave of absence. Expect this and ensure you have several “back up” people on your team. They don’t need to be involved in every meeting but should be kept informed about the major milestones so if they need to step in, it will be a seamless transition.
  • Ease of access to the health center is challenging – What you thought would be a great location for your health center may not turn out to be true. If it appears people are struggling to find their way, invest in signage and wayfinding throughout campus. If you want your employees and dependents to use the health center, they need to be able to find and access it easily.
  • Future growth – It may not be on your radar right now, but in the future you might want to expand services or build a near-site wellness center in the community to better serve the dependent population. At Premise Health, 99% of our clients offer more than one product, so it’s important to think about what your employees may need in the future and what space you’ll have available.

Communicate for success

A worksite health center will experience much greater success and utilization when your employees are educated on the types of care available, understand the process, and have confidence in those providing their care.

Begin developing a communications campaign about your wellness center as soon as possible to build excitement for the new benefit. Consistent updates provide a good touchpoint to build awareness around what will be offered and the people who will be staffing and managing the center. Utilize your intranet as well to share renderings of the new space or videos documenting construction progress. For more senior leaders, guided tours are a great way to showcase the center and ensure they’re educated about the value it will provide.

You should also communicate with any other benefit vendors you work with. Spend time educating your onsite clinic teams about the other benefits employees have access to and let your vendor partners know what services will be provided at your center. Annual vendor summits, where all partners come together to understand how they can utilize each other, are a great way to facilitate integration and make healthcare easier for your people.

At Premise Health, once you’ve seen one of our health centers, you’ve seen one of our health centers – every component is completely customized based on the needs of each client. From net-new health centers to phased implementations to lift outs, our experienced implementations team has done it all with timelines and plans customized for each unique client. Nine out of 10 Premise implementations run at a 6.0 Six Sigma Level, and we’re the only direct healthcare company to have an evidence-based design accredited and certified architect. Let’s talk about what we can build for you.

In the latest from The Break Room, our member-facing webinar series, Premise Health’s director of behavioral health, Amanda Chase, LPC, provides tangible self-care methods to help you put yourself first and cultivate stronger mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

During “Refresh with Self-Care,” Amanda breaks down the different types of self-care and emphasizes the importance of keeping your cup full. She also describes your body’s signs to slow down, helping you become more aware of your personal needs before you feel overwhelmed.

Watch the recording below to learn more about self-care and how to add it to your routine in an attainable way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. Our goal is to help alleviate stress, not add more of it.

Why We All Need Self-Care

Self-care is what refuels our engines and helps us keep going, and with COVID-19 shifting the way we live as a society, it has become even more important to tune into our needs. Things like setting boundaries, moving the body, and scheduling quiet time can improve our state of mind and quality of life. We hope you find these techniques to be helpful, informative, and motivating.

Begin Your Self-Care Journey with Premise Health

At Premise Health, we provide whole-person care. This means we focus on your physical and mental health to help you get, stay, and be well. If you’re a member or think you may be a member, speak with your employer to learn more about the healthcare services available to you.

Employers, contact us to find out how we can help support your employees with a comprehensive range of services, such as in-person and virtual behavioral health, wellness coaching, primary care, and more. Prioritizing your people is essential to retaining top talent and making your employees feel valued, and self-care is an essential component of that.

Disclaimer: If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, please go to the nearest emergency department or dial 911. For a non-emergent mental health crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Today we’re sharing the latest from The Break Room, a webinar series created exclusively for our members to further support you in your health and wellness journey.

In the latest addition, “UnBurnout: Finding fuel when you’re feeling drained,” our very own Dr. Adam Dell, Psy.D., ABPP, HSPP, and Lesley Weiss, MSW, LCSW, discuss burnout and the effects it can have on your health. They cover the signs to look out for, coping methods, and ways to stay proactive in managing stress. It’s an important conversation that will leave you with strategies you can start practicing to better support your mental and emotional wellbeing at work and in your personal life.

Why it matters

Burnout is an extremely relevant topic due to the widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have experienced isolation from friends and family, homeschooling children, longer work hours, and an ongoing sense of uncertainty. The list goes on and on. This is all added strain on top of the usual, everyday stressors, making conversations around mental health more important than ever.

How Premise can help

If you’re a member, or believe you may be a member, reach out to your employer to learn more about the benefits available to you through Premise Health.

If you’re an employer, contact us to talk more about how we can bring life-changing behavioral health support to your people. We offer a variety of options when it comes to supporting our members’ mental health. With both in-person and virtual behavioral health capabilities, there’s an offering available to support your workforce through tumultuous times, challenging life events, or just finding the balance in everyday life.

Disclaimer: If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, please go to the nearest emergency department or dial 911. For a non-emergent mental health crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273- 8255 (800-273-TALK) or text “HOME” to 741741. 

The saying “the best defense is a good offense” doesn’t just apply to sports and military tactics – it’s also true for your health. Taking a proactive approach to health is a challenge for many men. Men’s health issues often become a cause for concern because they are statistically more likely to avoid addressing ailments. According to the CDC, women are 33 percent more likely to visit the doctor than men, and women are far better at maintaining screening and preventive care.  

The good news? Many common men’s health issues are preventable with routine care and treatable with early detection, making your annual checkup an essential wellness tactic. Whether it has been a while since your last visit or someone you love needs a gentle reminder, start implementing healthy living decisions today and together we can help reduce the stigma of men seeking care by providing applicable ways to start prioritizing health.

Get screened for the most common cancers

Living a healthier life and being there for yourself and your loved one takes a lifelong commitment. But you don’t have to do it alone. Scheduling regular check-ups with your healthcare provider can help with early detection and make issues easier to treat. Proactively screening for certain cancers is especially important in men. The most common cancers include:

• Colorectal cancer: A screening can detect polyps before they turn into cancer. Men over the age of 45 should be screened every year.
• Prostate cancer: Screenings may include a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test and a digital rectal exam (DRE). According to American Cancer Society, there are about 175,000 new cases of prostate cancer each year, making it the most common cancer among men. Screening is typically conducted annually starting at age 50, but you should speak with your provider to determine the best plan based on your risk factors. 
• Testicular cancer: The most common cancer in males ages 15-39. There is a very high cure rate if discovered early by self-examination or by a provider.
• Lung cancer: Not all males need regular lung cancer screenings. If you are 55-80 years old, have a history of heavy smoking or are high risk for any other reasons, your provider may recommend yearly low-dose CT scans to check for cancer. 
• Skin cancer: People of all ages should request an annual skin exam as a preventive tactic to catch skin cancer before it spreads, especially if you notice any new or abnormal spots or moles on your skin.

Stay Fit

Getting regular physical activity and making healthy choices is crucial for all of us. It can improve sleep and reduce the risk of many chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease – a leading cause of death in men. Studies have repeatedly indicated that some of the most common chronic conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or some cancers, are caused or made worse by lifestyles of poor nutrition and physical inactivity. To improve the statistics, make healthy choices that will last, such as improving your nutrition and incorporating regular physical activity. Check out these five recipes for heart health that you can start incorporating today. Consistent exercise can help control weight, strengthen your bones and muscles, prevent disease, improve mental health, and more. Adhering to a physical activity schedule can be tough, but it doesn’t need to be. You can add simple exercises from the comfort of your home to your routine to help you feel your best.  

Address Mental Health

Along with prioritizing regular healthcare provider visits and incorporating fitness into your routine, mental health is just as important as physical health. A study from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that men with mental illness are less likely to have received mental health treatment than women in the past year, however, men are more likely to die by suicide than women.  First, it is important to know that if you or someone you know is having thoughts about hurting themselves or committing suicide‚ please seek immediate help.  If you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed, know that behavior change does not happen overnight – it is a gradual process. Consider aligning your goals with the seven pillars of lifestyle medicine, a holistic approach to healthcare that promotes healthy behavior change. Lifestyle medicine focuses on nutrition, sleep, emotion wellbeing, movement, getting outdoors, living a life free from substances, and maintaining healthy relationships. As the number of people experiencing burnout or battling a mental health issue continues to rise, don’t ignore your emotional wellbeing. Focus on positivity, meaningful relationships, and surround yourself with a healthy community. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late – let’s break the stigma of men seeking care together. Be proactive and make sure you’re up to date on all recommended health screenings, create healthy habits, and prioritize your mental health.

Healthcare only works if people use it – so, how can employers overcome the hurdle of getting busy employees through the wellness center doors? In order to engage associates in their health, employers need to look outside the box to make offerings innovative and exciting. They need to find a better way to provide continuous, holistic care on campus and create a culture of wellness.

As reported in this success story, Premise understands the importance of getting associates engaged in their health and partnered with this industry-leading client to build a robust fitness and wellness program that drove utilization and foot traffic to the wellness center.

Our client has made an impressive investment in the health of their associates and thanks to its partnership with Premise, the effort continues to deliver returns. Read more here.

Let’s talk about what we can do for your organization. Get started.