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How Vail Resorts tackled the pain of high musculoskeletal spend and opioid misuse

A Hinge Health Webinar

Published Date: Jun 12, 2019
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  3. [Webinar Recap] How Vail Resorts tackled the pain of high musculoskeletal spend and opioid misuse

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, such as back and joint pain, consistently rank as a top spend category for employers due to overutilization of surgeries and drugs.

As an employee benefits leader, you may be wondering what you can do to help reduce unnecessary surgery and opioid use in your workforce.

The answer lies with the 3 pillars of best practice MSK care: exercise therapy, behavioral health, and education.

Hinge Health’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jeff Krauss, Chief Medical Officer at Hinge Health and Grady Arnold, Director of Benefits at Vail Resorts, teamed up to discuss:

  • Why flawed MSK treatment is linked to increased risk of opioid dependence and depression

  • How evidence-based MSK care can reduce the need for surgeries and drugs

  • And how Vail Resorts tackled their MSK spend across their 10,000 members by addressing both MSK pain and opioid use.

Get access to the full recording of their discussion to learn how Vail Resorts addressed high MSK spend and opioid misuse—and saved over $1.5M in one year.

Questions asked by participants that we didn't have time to answer:

1. How did you measure the mental health outcomes? Did you have a clinically validated questionnaire, medication use, or just general question?

We used clinically-validated questionnaires, the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire) for depression and GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) scale for anxiety.. We do not use medication usage as a measure of mental health outcomes.

2. Has anyone extended this program as part of a safety program or to workers compensation claimants?

We are exploring these populations but have not deployed with them yet.

3. Once the program is completed, does the participant keep the device?

Yes! Participants keep the app, tablet, and wearable sensors so they have full access to their library of patient education and exercises

4. What size employer group does this program scale down to?

Hinge Heath’s target client is a self-funded employer with 5000+ covered members in the US which is typically 2000+ employees.