About our project
The problem we solve: Research published by the American Journal of Managed Care estimates that an average primary care visit takes around 121 minutes, including 37 minutes of travel time and 84 minutes of clinic time. "Of those 121 minutes, patients spend only 8-12 minutes face-to-face with their doctor." The average wait time for a new patient appointment with a primary care doctor is 24 days (in larger cities, it is 32 days).
About our solution:
An onsite clinic (at a company) will give a positive return-on-investment (ROI), with employees receiving immediate care, which quickly identifies disease and pre-disease states, thereby allowing prompt diagnosis and treatment of that condition; which will in turn reduce missed days from work for chronic disease and hence, a loss in a company's productivity. Employees having access to an onsite provider for yearly health screenings decreases the incidence of employees going without a primary care provider, and also quickly identifies disease and pre-disease states, thereby allowing prompt diagnosis and treatment of the condition (which will in turn reduce missed days from work for chronic diseases and loss of productivity). Lastly, creating a company wellness program that is able to be customized for the individual is key to employee engagement and success, since everyone's health blueprint is unique and different.
Progress to
date:Thus far, REM is contracted with four businesses providing onsite health services. One of these companies is a Fortune 500 company and the other has yearly revenue in the billions each year. Several more contracts are in discussion with other smaller businesses, mostly in manufacturing facilities.
About Our Team
Creator: Alicia Kelch
Location: Wisconsin
Education: Duquesne University
Bio: Alicia is the owner and founder of REM. She is a 2005 graduate of Duquesne University's physician assistant studies program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She started her career in emergency medicine at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) and then worked in family practice at one of Milwaukee's Federally Qualified Health Centers, working with the medically underserved patient population. In 2013 Alicia started working in occupational health. She has worked extensively with over 40 different types of companies, from manufacturing facilities, foundries, to food/agriculture industries. In 2016 she was published in Property Casualty 360 Magazine, and then in 2017 she was nominated for Wisconsin's PA of the Year, and placed in the top 5 in the state. Alicia's dedication to health and wellness is evident at home as she is an avid sports/exercise enthusiast and takes great pride in educating her patients on the best ways to help them be their healthiest both at home and on the job.
Title: Physician Assistant
Advanced Degree(s): PA-C
About Our Company
REM Occupational Health & Wellness Inc
Location: S10240 Meadow Circle
BIG BEND, WI 53103
Founded: 2019
Website: https://rem-health.weebly.com
Product
Stage: In the Market
Employees: 1-2
How We Help Patients
By engaging employees in their health and wellness journey, we can work together to mitigate injuries in a multi-generational workplace, allowing the employer to obtain the highest return on investment. By providing onsite occupational health services, injuries/illnesses can be evaluated quickly and efficiently, thereby decreasing the need for outside hospital system usage, which can be quite costly due to substantial mark-up of services. Employees having access to an onsite provider for yearly health screenings decreases the incidence of employees going without a primary care provider, and also quickly identifies disease and pre-disease states, thereby allowing prompt diagnosis and treatment of the condition (which will in turn reduce missed days from work for chronic diseases and loss of productivity). Lastly, creating a company wellness program that is customizable for the individual is key to employee engagement and success, since everyone's health blueprint is unique and different. THIS is what makes REM truly innovative.
Innovation Details
Intellectual Property Summary
mobile app in the works
Clinical Information
n/a
Regulatory Status
n/a
How we will use the funds raised
Aside from the two REM onsite clinics at the large companies, the other smaller companies have required REM to cover all clinic start-up costs (medical supplies for a fully functioning acute and episodic care clinic runs about $2500-5000 per start-up). The money earned from the generosity of supporters would be used to fund the start-up of these onsite clinics that are within the companies who contract with REM to provide onsite services. Any other money raised would be spent on professional website design, marketing materials, and a professional video for REM's website.
Thank You
45% of people ages 18-25 do not have a primary care provider, citing reasons of "not convenient, too expensive" and "takes too long to get in to see a provider." Furthermore, "...despite the importance of regular primary care visits, research published in the American Journal of Managed Care estimates that an average appointment takes around 121 minutes, including 37 minutes of travel time and 87 minutes at the care facility. Of those 121 minutes, patients spend only 8-12 minutes face-to-face with their doctor. That’s less than 10% of the total time patients invest in seeking care.” According to the British Medical Journal, shorter consultation times with your provider has been linked to poorer health outcomes.
Providing onsite health allows employees to spend as much time as necessary with their clinician and eliminate, or significantly reduce, travel and waiting time. Convenience also means not having to wait weeks to get on a provider’s schedule, which means health conditions are being promptly diagnosed and treated (and lessens the utilization of urgent cares and emergency departments).
By providing onsite occupational health, injuries/illnesses can be evaluated quickly and efficiently, thereby decreasing the need for outside hospital system usage, which can be quite costly due to substantial mark-up of services. Employees having access to an onsite provider for yearly health screenings decreases the incidence of employees going without a primary care provider, and also quickly identifies disease and pre-disease states, thereby allowing prompt diagnosis and treatment of the condition (which will in turn reduce missed days from work for chronic diseases, and loss of productivity). Last year, employers lost roughly $530 billion due to employee absences from illness. Furthermore, creating a company wellness program that is customizable for the individual is key to employee engagement and success, since everyone’s health blueprint is unique and different.
REM will help provide ease and accessibility of healthcare services to the employees, containing costs, but with personalized medical evaluation and treatment. REM plans to offer the following ON SITE services: work-related and not work-related injuries/illnesses, international travel medicine consultations and vaccines, DOT examinations, acute/episodic care, health/wellness integration into lifestyle, annual physical examinations.
Long term, REM would like to be able to coordinate Corporate Wellness retreats for companies and their teams. Excessive workplace stress causes a staggering 120,000 deaths and results in nearly $190 billion in health care costs each year, which account for 5% to 8% of national health care spending. REM recognizes that "emotion inspires action, and action inspires emotion" which will in turn, inspire the employee to be reinvigorated inside and outside of the workplace.
