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Value Based Purchasing for Back Pain
Starbucks was an early adopter of information technology, implementing systems like wireless payment and mobile ordering before other companies. They saw technology as key to improving the customer experience and operations of their stores. While other retailers were slow to embrace new technologies, Starbucks used IT to gain a competitive advantage through innovations that made their business more efficient and customers' experiences more convenient.
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Value Based Purchasing for Back Pain
- 1. Starbucks did ITfirst
- 10. Saw a physicaltherapist within 48 hours Compared to: Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
- 11. Completed treatment in21 days Sun Mon Tue Wed Compared to Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Editor's Notes
- #2 I’m not talking coffee… Starbucks had a problem in their health care spending. They believed they were spending way too much money on one particular problem that is very, very common.
- #3 Back in 2004 a solution was defined. The solution was brilliant… it was innovative… it took a few years of meetings and negotiating to make it happen because it was so outside of the box.
- #4 At times, desperation leads us to choose to do things differently. The first ones doing the unimaginable are the pioneers – especially if the unimaginable is successful.
- #5 Starbucks is a pioneer in solving the back pain problem. In my book, they are known for more than just coffee. Perseverance and tenacity were key in achieving the solution.
- #6 Starbucks had a vision, but in order for the vision to be implemented, they needed to collaborate with Aetna and Virginia Mason Medical Center. I highly doubt every company has the patience or stamina to collaborate with an insurance company and a health care system to implement a desired solution with no guarantee the solution would have the projected outcomes.
- #7 Have you seen this before? Isn’t this something you’d value? How much better can it get? Treating and managing low back pain doesn’t require an expensive, high-tech approach. It doesn’t require procedures or treatment management that has inherent risks. In this particular situation, changing the process changed the results. The simplified process led to substantial cost reduction. The only change incorporated patients with recent onset of back pain seeing a physical therapist first.
- #8 Do you believe that could happen? This is what I do every day. I work with lots of people who have back pain. I enjoy spending time with someone who has back pain. It’s great to be a part of their back pain experience and to be a part of making their back pain become a distant memory. Those who respond the quickest to physical therapy services are generally the ones who haven’t been playing the waiting game. The waiting game of going through the medical system from doctor to follow up to stronger medications to follow up to diagnostic testing. As these patients wait, because they hurt and can’t see their back, they begin to focus on their pain and their disability. They haven’t been told when to worry or what they can do to help alleviate their symptoms. This creates challenges for me by the time they do come to me for physical therapy services IF they are referred for physical therapy services at all.
- #9 They say it takes 10 years for research to be used in practice. This isn’t necessarily so in the business world. Savvy companies replicate aspects of business that work and save money. In 2009 Intel jumped on the Starbucks/Aetna/Virginia Mason Medical Center results.
- #10 Intel spearheaded the Hillsboro collaboration. Two healthcare systems and an insurance company initially began collaborating and then the Public Employees’ Benefit Board joined the partnership.
- #11 As I mentioned… the waiting game. The new process had patients seeing a physical therapist quite a bit sooner. Remember that waiting game? That game no longer existed.
- #12 If you were counting down the days til you were done with any treatment… which would you want? Would you rather check off 21 days or 52 days? If you are the one paying for treatments, which would you prefer?
- #13 The results of simplifying a process for addressing low back pain don’t have to reside within a Starbucks or an Intel island. There are plenty of physical therapists outside of the Virginia Mason Medical system and the Providence system who can deliver just as astounding results. All it takes is shifting a clinical pathway to include a physical therapist first.
- #14 Believe it or not, implementing physical therapists first for low back pain won’t require a money tree. The current processes involved in managing low back pain has to change – there are no money trees. You already know the cost low back pain is hurting your company and your employees. You can resolve this problem by creating an island…
- #15 You can be an innovative pioneer in this upcoming trend and reap the benefits of creating your island sooner or you can wait until the islands are connected across the nation. In most cases early adopters assume a higher level of risk. Speaking as a physical therapist, there isn’t a risk in this situation in choosing to be an early adopter. Your company, like all others, is scrambling to reduce health care costs. Your company has its own back pain story and chapter… your company has an opportunity to change the ending. Is your company ready to change the ending?