Karen Utterback, RN, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club's March 16 meeting. The subject of her presentation was Vigilant health which is an organization dedicated to reducing employers' health costs by managing their employees' health. Depending on the employer, Vigilant can work to manage diabetes care costs or offer an on-site clinic for the employees. For example, Vigilant works with the State of Mississippi to manage its employees' diabetes care. Vigilant's results have shown a 33% decrease in medical claims, an 85 % engagement rate in its clinics, 42% fewer hospitalizations, and 95% control of diabetes patients. Utterback said that Vigi;ant eliminates healthcare disparities between groups and delivers the same clinic and financial results in every group, every place, every time. she said that Vigilant ovwns the financial risk for healthcare for self insured employers, community health systems, and health plans. The differences between the Vigilant system and traditional payers are:
- Vigilant uses an Advanced Care Model, patient engagement with internal medicine type encounters, and it follows and manages population health.
- Vigilant has a track record of success in the effective use of technology in delivering and managing health care. That technology is:
- interactive real-time video,
- live audiovisual with patients and with community physicians to facilitate collaboration.
Utterback presented patient success stories and payer success stories to further support her statements. She cited the City of Vicksburg, MS with 10% savings in health plan costs which permitted 3% employee pay raises without raising taxes and Farm Bureau Insurance which stated that the company has gone three consecutive years without an increase in health plan premiums. Both organizations experienced improved health outcomes
We thank Utterback for her presentation and for the work that Vigilant is doing. A video of her presentation and the entire meeting can be seen at the following link https://vimeo.com/525654380.
The following photo is of Utterback during her presentation.
