“By helping patients engage with their recommended preventative care measures and better manage their chronic conditions we are able to improve their health outcomes.”
Since CMS rolled Chronic Care Management (CCM) out in 2015, healthcare providers have struggled to adopt the solution at scale. The resources required to establish and deliver a CCM program to their patients is more difficult than originally anticipated and once patients are enrolled, they do not stay engaged for long. CMS cites the average length a patient stays on the CCM program is four to six months. Wellbox has been working with health systems, independent healthcare providers, and their patients to develop a robust care management platform that drives long-term patient engagement. This enhanced patient engagement has delivered measurable clinical and financial results including an increase in preventative care measures, a decrease in emergency care and hospitalizations and an average decrease in total cost of care by 5.6%.
In 2015, when CMS rolled out the new CCM codes, the founder and CEO of Wellbox, Nathanial B. Findlay, was already working side-by-side with primary health providers at the Canadian company Myca Health.
The opportunity to help these same healthcare providers operationalize a CCM program turned into Wellbox, which spun out from Myca in 2016. In 2018, Wellbox transitioned to a fully turnkey business model, making it the only CCM solution to provide a truly end-to-end service from data analysis through billing and collections.
According to Wellbox, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Within the chronically ill population, catching new health concerns or complications early can make a big difference in the outcome for the patient. Good CCM programs provide consistent care between a patient’s regularly scheduled office visits. This consistency helps patients increase their focus on their health and develop good habits while providing healthcare providers greater visibility into the health status of the patient outside of the walls of their practice. During those visits a focus on proactive preventative measures is key. “By helping patients identify and act on personalized preventative care measures we are able to improve their health outcomes while improving practice compliance with value-based care measures,” says Nathanial. “All CCM is provided via remote communications. This lowers the barriers to adoption and ongoing engagement by making it easier to access healthcare resources on a consistent monthly basis.”
Wellbox takes a pragmatic and comprehensive approach by partnering with healthcare systems and independent providers to deliver a superior care management experience to its patients. The quality of the program shows in the 90%+ patient satisfaction rate, as well as the documented clinical and financial results of the program. When providers partner with Wellbox, their team takes great care to act as an extension of the practice. All care provided is documented into the EHR of the practice utilizing the same workflow as the in-office staff. Wellbox is able to submit all CCM claims directly to Medicare on a daily basis, removing the burden from the practice staff. The CCM program has been designed specifically to drive engagement and value to patients. Unlike many other CCM providers, the team of care coordinators at Wellbox, all of whom are experienced registered nurses, go far beyond the minimum expectations of CMS. Instead of completing an assessment or “asking the same questions every month”, Wellbox offers a robust care management program delivered by highly qualified clinical staff.
Wellbox is always looking for ways to improve the health of high-risk, high-cost populations. “In 2019, we began partnering with self-funded employers – focusing on helping employees manage their chronic illness(es) as part of their corporate benefits package,” adds Nathanial. “We have seen some amazing initial results and plan to continue to expand our services into that market.”
