$3,600 In Spend, $600K In Savings at Pennsylvania’s WellSpan

WellSpan Health, a York, Pa.-based system with nine hospitals and more than 250 care locations, saved seven patients $600,000 in healthcare costs by allocating an extra $3,600.

The organization’s mission is to be the safest place for patients to receive care and for employees to work, according to Michael Seim, MD, chief quality officer at WellSpan. One facet of that mission is improving life expectancies and removing disparities for its 900,000 annual patients.

Within seven miles on one road in southeast Pennsylvania lies a 20-plus year difference in life expectancy, Dr. Seim told Becker’s. WellSpan works on numerous health equity programs — one of which recently won an American Hospital Association award — with many projects focused on health screening efforts.

One of these was a $3,600 salary expense for interpreters to contact Spanish-speaking patients who have delayed screenings. After successfully connecting with about half of the targeted population, WellSpan employees found seven new breast cancer cases.

“If you look at what the cost would be for delayed presentation — if they would advance one stage further [without being screened] — we calculated it would cost about $600,000,” Dr. Seim said.

That return on investment is more than a 20-fold increase.

The projected savings depend on each case, including whether patients have insurance or what type of insurance they have, he said.

Through targeted interventions, WellSpan has screened an additional 23,000 patients for breast and colorectal cancer in the last 18 months. The outcome was about 375 patients helped and 4,000 years of life added.

“Whether they’re in a value-based program or not, [with] the importance of screening and early detection, you can make a total financial argument that it’s a good place for health systems to invest,” Dr. Seim said. “And, it’s the right thing to do.”