Case Study: Nonprofit keeps a close eye on health costs so it can continue helping others
It’s no secret that managing health costs is a make-or-break proposition for businesses today. For nonprofits, where resources are scarce, there’s even less room for error. The upper Midwest’s largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing has seven locations and no small mission to undertake — providing thousands of economically disadvantaged Americans with a steppingstone to success. Because unexpected costs could be disastrous, the organization needed a way to closely monitor and regulate its health care costs.
The Key to a Fit Health Program
Making the decision to implement a wellness program was simple. However, this nonprofit needed an application that would allow it to track program participants and award incentives, measure the aggregate population health scores and provide each employee with a secure way to view their personal data. The Viverae Health Management System (VHMS) met each of these needs. With VHMS, the organization was able to track and report from the corporate side and to provide its employees with an easy-to-use web portal.
Viverae’s Account Management team helped to create an incentive program that was built around employees earning a discount on their health care premium. The nonprofit provided services that include biometric screenings and personal outreach, in which a Viverae Health Specialists or Clinical Specialists would reach out to each member based on their personal Health Score.
Achieving results:
The nonprofit’s employee population made significant gains in heart health, physical activity and tobacco use.
- In the high blood pressure and high cardiac risk categories — precursors to heart disease and heart attacks — the organization saw a combined decrease of nearly a quarter of its workforce (23 percent).
- The number of employees who do no physical activity — a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers — decreased 11.5 percent.
- Many employees stopped using tobacco, as the nonprofit recorded a drop of 8.8 percent in this high-risk behavior.
