Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic already has a Centers of Excellence program with Walmart, but through a new collaboration, it is making another move into the workplace health space.
Mayo has teamed up with Premise Health, a Brentwood, Tennessee-based company that provides primary care, occupational health, pharmacy and wellness services to large employers. Employees of these large companies can receive care at Premise’s onsite or near-site clinics, or through Premise virtual care.
Now, as part of this collaboration, these employees — otherwise known as Premise members — and their dependents can access Mayo Clinic services. This Center of Excellence approach will be particularly useful for patients with high-risk diagnoses and patients who haven’t been able to receive answers from other providers.
Additionally, Mayo and Premise intend to use technology to bring Mayo Clinic knowledge to Premise providers at the point of care.
Overall, the aim of the alliance is to increase individuals’ access to quality care and lower healthcare costs.
In an email, Premise Health president Jami Doucette said the collaboration will reduce costs by making it easier for members and dependents to learn if a certain care path is appropriate. If it is, they can then receive better quality care than they might usually get.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“Given neither Premise nor Mayo providers operate under the volume-based incentive that drives much of the rest of the healthcare industry, we will help members avoid many of the misdiagnoses, complications, duplicative tests and other issues that drive up the cost of care,” Doucette added.
Via email, David Hayes, medical director of provider relations at Mayo, said there isn’t money flowing between Mayo and Premise at this time.
“When a member engages with Premise, that engagement falls under the contract with the client,” he said. “When a member engages with Mayo, that engagement falls under the client health plan and is paid out as one would normally if they were visiting any specialist or hospital.”
As for Premise, Doucette said his company will continue to be paid by clients on a per-member, per-month basis or a cost-plus basis.
Through Mayo’s work with Walmart, the retailer’s employees and their dependents enrolled in certain health plans can receive care from Mayo Clinic. Eligible participants include individuals with blood cancers, breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and rectal cancer.
Other participants in Walmart’s Centers of Excellence program include Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Geisinger Medical Center and Mercy Springfield in Missouri.
Picture: NanoStockk, Getty Images
