Eliance Health Solutions: Making Businesses and Their Employees Healthier

The topic of healthcare is important for employers. Health-related costs are one of the largest expenses employers face, and it’s not just the costs related to medical benefits that impact employers. The health of employees also affects workplace productivity.

The need to address these topics led to the formation of Eliance Health Solutions. Eliance Health Solutions was established by Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health based on the idea that good health is mutually beneficial for employers and employees – and the greater community.

Eliance Health Solutions is a local self-funded health plan for Lancaster County businesses that have 15 or more employees. “Our goals are to reduce employer health plan costs and to improve employee health,” says Dr. Thomas Overholt, Medical Director for Eliance Health Solutions and a hospitalist with Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.

“With many healthcare costs tied to preventable conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease, tackling those issues before they become big problems benefits everyone,” says Dr. Overholt.

The Eliance plan offers a variety of benefits designed to save businesses money and improve employee health, including: discounts on services at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, Wellness and prevention programs and controls on drug costs. The program is also driven by population health initiatives. It gives employers access to a clinical team dedicated to analyzing population health data and helping employers make positive changes in their workplace based upon the data.

“One of the biggest advantages for local businesses and their employees is that Eliance is a local health plan and includes a local network of selected high quality providers supported by a local team of healthcare professionals,” says Dr. Overholt.

“Being a local network allows us to work closely with employers to really improve the health of their employees,” he states. “An employee might see their primary care provider occasionally, but they see their employer every day, so it makes sense to incorporate Wellness initiatives into the workplace,” he noted.

One example of this is the development of a pre-diabetes program for at-risk employees. Preventing an employee from developing diabetes will not only improve their long-term quality of life but also cut long-term healthcare costs for their employer.

“We are not just about providing a health plan option and making sure people pay their bills. We work with employers to help their teams get healthy and make sure they are getting enough care. Are they meeting goals? Are we doing things to prevent cardiovascular disease?” Dr. Overholt says. “It’s very exciting to look at a population of people and see what we can do in terms of quality, in terms of Wellness and in terms of cost of care.”

To learn more about Eliance Health Solutions, please call 717-869-3877. To read the full article where our team discusses this concept with LancasterOnline please click here.