Every person drives the overall health of the community. Regional One Health is committed to helping our community achieve its healthiest state. A focus on population health requires us to deliver care in a different way, and we’re rising to the challenge.

A study by the Kaiser Foundation reveals that the health care a person receives will impact his or her personal health by about 10 percent. Another 20 percent is attributed to social and environmental conditions and 30 percent to genetics.

However, behavior and choices have a 40 percent impact on a person’s health. Individual behavior is the largest contributing factor to poor health that can lead to premature death.

For you and for all of us, Regional One Health is leading the way in health care innovation to build a healthier Mid-South. Our solutions go far beyond the walls of the Regional One Health system. We have new models of care that not only treat patients’ illnesses, but are designed to keep them healthy and out of the hospital.

Bret Perisho, vice president of corporate finance and strategic business development at Regional One Health, spends his days focused on identifying new programs or delivery models to address population health issues. Once identified, they move into what’s known as the “incubator” stage.  During this stage, these ideas are nurtured and developed until they’re self-sustaining and viable to ensure successful implementation.

A one-stop shop for health care

“We’re developing new programs and models of care that make Regional One Health more competitive in the marketplace,” says Bret. “One example is our East Campus, which helps patients with all their medical needs at the same place, sometimes in the same day. There is no other place in the Mid-South offering this model of care.”

Regional One Health’s East Campus includes a multispecialty care clinic that’s grounded in internal medicine, but also houses cardiology, endocrinology and rheumatology specialists.

Susan Cooper, chief integration officer and senior vice president of ambulatory services for Regional One Health, says, “At our East Campus, we bring care to the person instead of making the person go to care. We take into consideration the patient who might not have frequent access to transportation, the patient with a busy work or family schedule or the patient with limited mobility.”

Think about a scenario in which a patient might visit the clinic to see an internal medicine practitioner, who then recommends a cardiologist. At multispecialty care, instead of being handed a referral to an offsite specialist, the patient has the option to see the specialist that day in the center, without having to leave the building. That patient also can get a prescription filled without leaving the building. And a full-service imaging center is now in the incubation process with plans to open in June 2016 to allow patients to get X-rays, MRIs and CT scans without leaving the building.

All the necessary services combined in the same clinic make health care more accessible to patients. They no longer have to drive to different locations to address one health issue. They don’t have to take additional days off work for more appointments with offsite specialists. Instead, they have a team of highly skilled physicians in one location working toward the same goal: improving their health. The convenience is matched by an environment that’s wholly centered on “person care.”

“In health care, we may think of people as patients; but with our new model of care we’re truly thinking of patients as people,” Susan says.

» To find out more about how Regional One Health is meeting the needs of the Mid-South read Population Health: Part 2.

» It takes all of us working together to improve the health of our community. Be a part of seeing this vision become reality by making your online donation today.