In six months, Prisma Health cut employee MSK pain and likely surgeries in half
Their digital MSK solution has resulted in a 3.6x ROI
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Outcomes
At Prisma Health, outstanding patient care depends on pain-free employees
Team member well-being is a top priority
South Carolina’s largest healthcare organization
A private, nonprofit company with 18 acute and specialty hospitals, and 320 practice sites
Approximately 29,309 team members serving more than 1.5 million patients annually
Over 5,400 employed and independent clinicians across the clinically integrated inVio Health Network
Like most health systems, cost savings is a primary objective
Quality patient care depends on healthy employees who are pain-free
At Prisma Health, outstanding patient care depends on pain-free employees
Team member well-being is a top priority
South Carolina’s largest healthcare organization
A private, nonprofit company with 18 acute and specialty hospitals, and 320 practice sites
Approximately 29,309 team members serving more than 1.5 million patients annually
Over 5,400 employed and independent clinicians across the clinically integrated inVio Health Network
Like most health systems, cost savings is a primary objective
Quality patient care depends on healthy employees who are pain-free
“I am so thankful for this program. I went on a cruise right before Christmas and had very little to no pain in my foot! It would have been a miserable cruise with the pain I had been having daily for months prior to joining the program and doing the exercises.”
– Prisma Health employee and Hinge Health participant
About Prisma Health
Like most healthcare organizations, many Prisma Health employees have physically demanding jobs. Team members move patients and manipulate equipment around the clock. As a result, it’s common for employees to experience strains and MSK pain.
From an expense perspective, MSK is a significant cost driver for Prisma Health’s benefits plan. Part of Prisma Health’s strategy is to prevent less acute events from turning into severe pain or a surgery.
"[Being] an organization of caregivers means that employees tend to put themselves last, even in the case of their own health," says Antell Mitchell-James, Vice President, Total Rewards & Employee Health, Prisma Health. "We take care of patients, so we can’t not take care of employees. We need to deliver care in a way that engages employees, is accessible, and meets them where they are."
Prisma Health’s workforce and benefits challenges
Prisma Health’s employees have busy and stressful lives. Many have children and some are single parents. Some members rely on public transportation.
Unless healthcare is convenient and easy to access, people may ignore non-acute strains and MSK pain. This can lead to acute conditions that often require costly surgical interventions. And it has.
"MSK is a significant cost driver in our benefit plan," says Mitchell-James. "That’s no surprise when team members lift and move patients every moment of the day and manipulate equipment so we can get the best test results for our patients.”
Although Prisma Health has its own in-house physical therapy (PT) services, many employees and health plan members can’t get to in-person appointments because their schedules don’t align with the PT team’s hours of operation.
Minimizing increases in health plan costs is a high priority for Prisma Health, since the organization is faced with narrow margins like so many healthcare organizations.
"If you can reduce the cost of your health plan, that’s incredible," says Mitchell-James. "A 9% increase in your medical plan year-over-year isn’t sustainable in healthcare. You can’t shift that cost to team members. You need to stay affordable so they can get the care they need.”
Solutions are one thing, but using them is another. In general, healthcare employees can be slow to adopt new programs. Communicating with members about new approaches to MSK pain and engaging people are challenges for the organization.
Prisma Health’s MSK benefits program implementation
The Hinge Health implementation at Prisma Health went smoothly. The benefits team appreciates that Hinge Health assists with member communications, such as periodic home mailers. Prisma Health also uses engagement tools like videos of team members who have successfully used Hinge Health and team member newsletters.
Member adoption and feedback have been positive. At Prisma Health, Hinge Health has a 9.2/10 member program satisfaction rating.
In less than one year, over 2,000 members have engaged in Hinge Health and 35,650 exercise therapy sessions have been completed. Average weekly interactions per participant year to date include:
3 to 4 exercises therapy sessions
2 to 3 care team interactions
1 to 2 education articles read
“Hinge Health was an access play for us," says Mitchell-James. "A single mom or dad can’t take PTO to get to physical therapy. They want to save it for sick kids and they may need to be home at a certain time to care for children.”
Prisma Health’s Hinge Health participants report:
50% reduction in pain in the first 90 days
81% achieved minimal clinically important differences (MCID)
55% reduction in anxiety
42% reduction in depression
50% reduction in surgery likelihood
53% improved productivity