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In 1999 Med MatRx partnered with Georgia Power Company (GPC),
Pfizer, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Georgia Urology, PA and Cardiovascular
Specialists, PC. This pilot program combined on-site Physicals.
Using the health fair concept, we were able to reach all employees
in the form of a corporate house call by our medical consultant,
company nurses and specialists in cardiology and urology. This is
a more comprehensive approach to healthcare for the approximately
1500 employees who participated. We identified five employees with
prostate cancer, two who required bypass surgery, two others required
a cardiac cath procedure, 39 with abnormal thyroid tests, 410 with
elevated cholesterol, 105 with elevated blood glucose, as well as
nine employees newly diagnosed with diabetes and many with high
blood pressure.
There was a great impact on indirect costs.
- Urology indirect cost: 15 minutes of lost productivity
per employee screening for onsite verses 90 minutes off-site
- Cardiology indirect cost: 30 minutes of lost productivity
per employee screening verses 120 minutes off-site
Two Actual Examples of Cost Savings at Georgia Power Company
(GPC) through early detection screening through the Switch to (even
better) Health program
National Costs estimates (assuming employee undergoes full prostatectomy)
Early detection
Treatment -- $16,000/employee
Lost Productivity - 30 days/employee
Late detection
Treatment -- $81,000/employee
Lost Productivity - 44 days/employee (best case) or LTD/terminal
National Costs estimates (assuming employee undergoes cardiac bypass
surgery)
Early detection
Treatment -- $20,000/employee
Lost Productivity - 30 days/employee
Late detection
Treatment -- $52,000/employee
Lost Productivity - 60 days/employee (best case) or LTD/terminal
Prostate (5 actual early detection)
$325,000 savings to medical plan
70 lost workdays avoided (best case) or 5 LTD/terminal cases 650
lost workdays (worst case)
Cardiac (4 actual early detection)
$128,000 savings to medical plan
120 lost workdays avoided (best case) or 4 LTD/terminal cases 520
lost workdays (worst case)
Savings to medical plan: $453,000
Savings to productivity: 190 workdays
In 1999 we partnered with Southern Company, Pfizer, Inc., Diabetes
Association of Atlanta to pilot an on-site diabetes education program.
A study was designed with a control and an intervention group using
a pharmacist for the one-on-one counseling and data collection.
At the beginning of this six-month project, each group was given
educational information, blood pressure check, weight, urine test,
fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1-C, lipid profile, kidney function
tests and one-on-one counseling. Bruce W. Bode, MD, a leading endocrinologist,
consulted with the pharmacist to oversee the project. The intervention
group was given nutritional instructions at a lunch-and-learn program
and an additional one-on-one counseling session. At the end of six
months, all tests were repeated. The results were:
| Diastolic blood pressure: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 9% |
| Control:
|
reduced 3% |
|
| Diastolic blood pressure: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 11.5% |
| Control:
|
reduced 2.4%
|
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| Fasting Blood Sugar: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 10.5% |
| Control:
|
reduced 2.1% |
|
| Hemoglobin A1-C: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 1.1% |
| Control:
|
reduced 0.7% |
|
| Total Cholesterol: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 6.2% |
| Control:
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reduced 3.5% |
|
| Triglycerides: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 20.2% |
| Control:
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reduced 15% |
|
| HDL: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 8.59% |
| Control:
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reduced 6.9% |
|
| Systolic blood pressure: |
| Intervention: |
reduced 10% |
| Control:
|
reduced 4% |
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Summary data showed improvement in both groups, but greater improvements
in the intervention group. A primary endpoint of our study shower
a reduction in the Hemoglobin A1-C levels. A recent study showed
that an increase of HDL by 6 percent - regardless of the triglycerides
reduction - resulted in a 33 percent reduction in cardiac events.
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