Dr. Bob Gorsky, President2020 has profoundly driven this home with sudden shifts of focus to survive, stay safe, remain open and address other vital needs- both at work and in the homes - of those working, learning and living in new and challenging ways. This is in addition to managing medical, workers comp, disability, absenteeism and other health-related costs relying on ongoing insights from relevant data (HR, benefits, claims, risks, research) to understand patterns and identify gaps, risks, goals and progress. 2020 has broadened the scope of new considerations and changes in strategy needed by employers for this period in time.”
These thoughts are shared by Dr. Bob Gorsky, President of HPN Worldwide (HPN) who has a spirit-driven calling to assist leaders wanting to navigate the issues, connections and opportunities that can improve the health and wellbeing of their organization by helping employees and families improve their health, safety, and wellbeing.
This calling is fuelled in part by his extensive expertise in population health, health risk management, loss control, and human performance. It’s also been shaped by years of experience assisting leaders, workforces and families of over 1,000 employers and other groups with their goals. Gorsky shares, “the most common goal has been to control health costs, which is ideally accomplished in ways that avoid regrets regarding prevention, early detection, use and quality of care, healing and wellbeing.“No regrets healthcare” is where people are empowered with the right knowledge, skills, and support for decisions about self-care, when to seek care, questions to ask, test and treatment options, health teams (providers, family, others), benefits and other resources. All of these can help to improve use and quality of care, outcomes, satisfaction and related savings. The benefits of “no regrets” can be applied to prevention and many other goals in life and work and have driven HPN’s mission and the support we provide.
HPN is an information technology (IT) company specializing in population health, risk management and wellness support solutions to help employers and other groups, small and large (30 to over 60,000 employees),with a wide range of goals mentioned earlier. We support health systems, manufacturers, schools, municipalities, technical and other businesses across the country. What we bring to the table for leaders and groups are in-depth understandings and experiences in this broad area of population health and wellbeing, and how they can optimize success with goals, many of which are shared by the organization, employees and families.
Since 1983, HPN has focused their R&D efforts on resources and solutions that assist with population health-related goals. As information and methods shifted to online tools and resources over the years, we leveraged systems, tools, e-learning and other resources to meet the wide range of ever changing needs and goals of our clients, especially during these current times with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In an interview with Manage HR Magazine, Gorsky shares HPN’s products and services and how they help build strengths, reduce risks, improve health, wellbeing, health cost savings, quality of life and other goals arising from 2020 and future years.
Could you please throw some light on your product offerings and services?
At a high level we currently provide: over 500 secure, HIPAA compliant websites (portals) and tools for employers, their employees and families related to issues, decisions and goals spanning health, prevention, early detection, quality of care, work/family life, wellbeing and related health cost savings; wellness screening, risk assessment and immunization support solutions; e-learning and other training resources; and other support services –e.g., communications, R&D, IT solutions, analytics and consulting.
The websites involve a strategic mix of resources including a learning management system with over 1400 e-lessons and URAC-accredited information, 500+videos, and other decision tools on over 5,000 symptoms, illnesses, conditions, tests and treatment options, and wellness topics. Each site also contains content and tools for early detection, wellness screenings, health risk assessments, the use and quality of care, and dimensions of wellbeing(physical, social, emotional, work, financial, other). Other options include wellness incentive and reward programs, challenge campaigns and scheduling functions for screenings, flu shots and the COVID-19 vaccines. Websites can be customized for any group considering their culture, targeted risks, goals and other factors. They can vary widely in design and display (what people see in addition to their personal information) according to client protocols.
Wellness screenings can be done through on site screenings, local patient service centers and direct providers. We have established relationships with national and local labs and screening companies with daily imports of results for personal reports which are accessible online and can also be mailed to homes. Personal reports include health power scores on germ resistance, stress and resilience, injury prevention and other strengths, insights and tips for success. These also provide talking points about results, concerns and goals for visits or calls with providers.
What we bring to the table for leaders and groups are in-depth understandings and experiences in this broad area of population health and wellbeing, and how they can optimize success with goals shared by the organization, employees and families
Our hard-copy guides and tools on battling germs and infections, early detection, prevention updates, stress and other topics have been distributed to entire workforces reporting back how they have helped with many goals. We understand the relevant research, data and opportunities to help an employer, their workforce and families in a much broader, deeper and more meaningful way than just a wellness program.
How has the company aligned itself to help individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic?
All sites have the most recent COVID-19 guidelines, links, videos and e-lessons with options to add other resources. We’ve assisted leaders with COVID-19 testing details, recommendations and available options – antibody testing via providers, blood donations and wellness screenings. Our battling germs and infections series of e-lessons were updated to include COVID-19. New lessons have been released nearly every month related to masks, working remotely, staying safe, smart and open, and other topics. For the hospital groups we support, their sites and scheduling system were adapted to assist with COVID-19 vaccinations available for staff.
How do you customize support to meet the needs of clients and individuals? How can it help in driving maximum client engagement?
We don’t try to force clients to use turnkey programs because there is no “one size fits all” in wellness. Instead, solutions are tailored to meet the needs of each group considering their population, culture, logistics and other factors. This results in tailoring the website, applicable incentive programs, wellness screening options and other resources – e.g., considering those at worksites, others working remote and spouses. Our approach is to ask good questions, listen, share best practices and examples from other clients and work together for solutions that work best for everyone. We have an incredible team, a proven platform and key resources that can be customized almost an unlimited number of ways which is valued by all we serve.
Well-designed and pertinent wellness incentive and rewards programs, challenges, and a strong communications strategy are important to maximizing expected benefits. When executed well, these elements can boost the use of the website’s resources, improve participation, and increase other ongoing engagements helping achieve many personal, family and organizational goals.
Could you please describe an instance where HPN Worldwide has helped a client accelerate their employee engagement rates?
In 2003, we were approached by an employer reeling from a terrible experience with wellness screenings done by an inexperienced vendor. The results for many participants had errors and were misleading, disrupting trust. We worked with their leadership team to understand the pain points and concerns and developed a strategy that started with employee-wide training in medical self-care, early detection, and other core topics. In addition to completing wellness screenings, the website, newsletter and annual meetings with leadership teams were among other key components.
Trust was restored, evidenced by over 97 percent of their employees and spouses participating in the wellness screenings, risk assessments, incentive program and other actions every year since 2003. As predicted, high cost claims dropped and stayed low. For 16 years in a row, health costs remained lower than in 2003 on a per person basis, while out-of-pocket expenses decreased and new benefits were added.
How have your current strategies helped HPN Worldwide to envision its future?
We’ve been a quiet company, working behind the scenes, focusing on our clients and ongoing R&D. We suspended direct marketing the past 5 years, shifting time and investments in resources and other core changes for scalability, keeping sites and data safe, compliant, and secure, and other capacities to support our clients growing in size, complexities and needs.
In 2021, marketing has begun again so we can help more groups – employers, health systems, unions, benefits consultants, channel partners and others –benefit from what we know, have developed and are seeing that works well for others.
