DENVER, CO – February 26, 2021
Company’s collaborative COVID response in onsite direct primary care centers has allowed essential workers to keep working safely and companies to stay afloat
Everside Health (formerly Paladina Health, Activate Healthcare and Healthstat), one of the country’s largest providers of direct primary care, has been approved to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in 22 states. With pending approval in another 10 states, the company will soon administer vaccines in all 32 states where it has centers. As an approved administrator, Everside is currently working with more than 90 different local and state health departments to ensure that eligible patients are receiving vaccines in adherence with the CDC’s phasing guidelines which prioritize eligibility.
“Patient safety and compliance are top priorities for us. As a long-established national healthcare provider, we employ highly sophisticated, HHS-compliant information systems and certified electronic medical records that allow us to accurately track patient backgrounds, eligibility and potential risk factors,” said Dr. Tobias Barker, chief medical officer for Everside. “Such intimate patient knowledge, which is an inherent advantage of working in a direct primary care setting, partially explains why nearly half of patients surveyed by the Primary Care Collaborative indicated that they felt safer receiving the vaccine in their doctor’s office.”
Despite all the excitement around the new vaccines, medical experts agree that they represent only one part of the solution in helping Americans move past the pandemic and return to a more normal lifestyle. Masks, social distancing and contact tracing are still necessary. But even these precautions by themselves were not enough to safely keep America’s essential workers on the front lines and allow companies of all sizes to keep their doors open.
Everside has been partnering with its employer and union-based clients since the inception of the pandemic to help maintain employee health and confidence. Within six weeks after the first COVID case was confirmed in the U.S., Everside (through its legacy companies) leveraged its cloud-based technology and Johns Hopkins risk stratification data to identify more than 80,000 patients with co-morbidities that put them at greater risk for COVID complications. The company aggressively reached out to these patients to monitor their health and encourage them to stay current with medical visits, treatments and medications.
The company invested heavily to upgrade its telehealth services so that patients could feel safe and confident in being diagnosed and treated. Since the onset of the pandemic, Everside has collectively seen more than a 2,000% increase in its number of telehealth visits in the form of online, phone and text communications.
“Our employer-based, direct primary care model positioned us favorably to respond quickly to the COVID crisis and prepared us for the many challenges it created,” said Chris Miller, CEO of Everside. “Through our hundreds of onsite and near-site health clinics, complimented by our growing virtual care presence, we were able to work closely with our clients to develop safe Return-to-Work protocols and flexible responses to the continually changing CDC recommendations. We have since heard from many of these clients that, because of our early efforts, they were able to keep their businesses running effectively throughout the pandemic.”
Miller additionally credits the same-day and next-day appointments offered at Everside clinics as being critical in helping employers and employees quickly identify issues and treat them effectively. The value of such quick response was especially evident by the clinics’ ability to administer rapid COVID tests onsite.
As the pandemic lingered and depression and anxiety set in, Everside responded with enhanced mental and behavioral health programs. Building on its existing offering, the company introduced an online assessment tool to help identify patients most at-risk for mental health problems, including unhealthy behaviors and addictions.
“COVID has highlighted the need for more innovative, responsive healthcare options,” said Miller. “We continue to receive frequent inquiries from employers who seek partners to help them navigate the complexities of the COVID environment. In the coming months, more remote employees will be returning to work and employers need proven solutions and technologies to help them safely screen and monitor their workforces. Our direct primary care model was already helping employers pre-pandemic to improve the health of their employees while also significantly reducing their total claims costs. The pandemic only served to strengthen that value proposition. As we supplement our clinics with our virtual care model, we believe the unparalleled access we bring to our members will further improve their health outcomes while lowering their costs.”Interested in how an Everside Health partnership would look for your company? Reach out today at sales@eversidehealth.com.