Vera Whole Health Blog

Lie 3: Wellness Programs Only Reduce Costs For Those Who Are Involved In Them

Written by Vera Whole Health | Aug 30, 2018 3:00:00 PM

The following post is an excerpt from our new white paper: 7 Lies We’ve Told Ourselves That Prevent Us From Fixing Healthcare. Download the white paper now to learn more.

What if we told you that the entire population sees a cost decrease when only a portion of them use their benefits?

In our most recent analysis of client cost savings, we found that when a Vera clinic was installed by an employer, the cost trend for the non-engaged population — the people who never used their Vera clinic once — dropped as well. 

We call this the halo effect. Sometimes, these drops reversed a trend increase more than five years long. The largest drop we saw was from a trend increase of 39.76% to a 5.91% decrease. The smallest was from a 1.51% increase to a 9.36% decrease. Both drops are impressive.

The data doesn’t allow us to claim cause and effect, but it does show an undeniable correlation between a Vera clinic and the decrease in costs across the entire population, regardless of whether people used the clinic or not. And it showed this across all our clients.

This finding is powerful because it demonstrates that a whole community is changed when barriers to effective primary care are removed.

To learn the rest of the 7 lies we tell ourselves that prevent us from fixing healthcare, download our latest white paper today.

This blog is part of a three part series: