Name: Mike Hylant
Title: Chief Executive Officer and Regenexx Patient
Headquarters: Toledo, OH
Number of States Operated in: 7
How important is standardization of care when it comes to introducing an innovative treatment to your employers?
Assuring the provision of clinically appropriate, high-value, evidence-based care is core to our mission of serving self-funded employers. The importance of this cannot be overstated. There are many orthopedic surgical procedures routinely being used to treat musculoskeletal conditions that have very little in terms of a rigorous clinical evidence base. The Regenexx network includes a select group of carefully screened providers who are required to undergo an extensive training and certification program. Regenexx maintains a patient registry and transparently makes outcome data available on their website. Unfortunately, this kind of transparency is sorely lacking in most segments of healthcare.
How important is utilization of services inside of all of your intervention strategies?
We have learned that it is critical to first decide on the interventional strategies and more importantly, ensure that our care is exercised at the employee level. This is a challenge for all healthcare providers in the US. A dual approach has provided the best results. The first is an education program and the second is adding steerage into the plan design. Without employees exercising these strategies at the point of care, the results are unrecognized. We have seen a significant positive impact to the care provided and the cost of that care.
How do you encourage your employers to strategically attack orthopedic care as a top expense category?
We encourage a multifaceted approach to managing expenses related to major orthopedic conditions. Before Regenexx, employers lacked the benefit of additional innovative solutions in this area of care. Rather than going straight to orthopedic surgery, the Regenexx orthobiologic program can now be an option for many patients– better outcomes coupled with less risk, cost, and downtime. Regenexx is one of the first innovations we’ve seen that can have this level of impact in the orthopedic space.
How effective is adding Regenexx as an interventional approach for one of the most expensive diagnostic categories?
Employers increasingly are moving into the driver’s seat to proactively control healthcare costs and improve outcomes. Because surgery for musculoskeletal disorders represents a significant and growing component of employers’ health care and workers’ comp spend, the addition of a high quality interventional orthopedic benefit is a slam dunk. Until now, when it came to orthopedic conditions, employers had no good options beyond conservative care other than costly, invasive surgery. Employers and patients now have a choice with the addition of Regenexx.
How has the Regenexx Corporate Program helped advance your utilization strategies?
Regenexx was an essential part of the team that reviewed and improved our musculoskeletal model. They were the experts in how to identify the potential employee subset that typically seeks surgical care for an orthopedic event, as well as helped us implement a key steerage plan. They also developed the communication strategy to share the Regenexx option which lessened any burden on us. Once the communication plan was in place, they developed the incentive model to direct employees and incent appropriate care.
Can you share your health plan model?
Hylant gives employees a choice of a traditional PPO plan or a High Deductible Plan with an HSA. Regenexx is part of both plan designs. It is the responsibility of the employer to be creative in their plan designs to provide the best possible outcomes. Our broker supported this addition through exploration and information sharing and we were successful in modifying our SPD. The Regenexx team has been great to work with in getting the word out to our employees.
What additional steps did you take to feel comfortable that Regenexx was the right innovation to add?
Exploration and information sharing were key in our decision. We knew that this would be something that not many other employers offer – that can set us apart. The fact that I had personal experience with a provider that was part of a well-known and reputable hospital network made the decision much easier as well.
