Adding individualized preventative care programs as part of primary care management can reduce overall healthcare costs and improve patient wellness, according to results of a study published in Population Health Management.

In recent years, many employers have instituted wellness programs and other health initiatives in an effort to cut down on excessive health expenditures and promote healthy lifestyles (and increased productivity) among employees. But installing similar programs at the point of primary care could prove to be even more valuable to patients in the general population, according to Shirley Musich, PhD, and her colleagues from Advanced Analytics in Ann Arbor, Mich.

“Health care professionals, especially [primary care providers], can motivate patients under their care to implement lifestyle modifications,” they wrote. “Research has shown that adults who recalled receiving advice from a physician or health care professional were more likely to change their eating habits, exercise, maintain a healthy weight, and/or reduce sodium and alcohol intake.”

Musich and her team set out to assess the effects of a personalized wellness program administered in the primary care setting on healthcare utilization and expenditure trends. To do so, they analyzed the results of more than 10,000 patients enrolled in the MD-Value in Prevention (MDVIP) program—which entails an annual physical/primary care appointment, diagnostics, personalized coaching, online tools for nutrition and a monthly membership fee—as compared to a control group of 10,000 non-participants from the general population over the course of three years.

They found that those enrolled in the program had significantly lower rates of emergency room and urgent care visits during all three years of the study, resulting in substantial cost savings. Additionally, despite an initial increase in healthcare costs, the preventative care plan saved participants money over time, with younger patients most likely to achieve savings by the third year of the program.

“These results demonstrate that a model of personalized preventive care focused on wellness and prevention and augmenting the physician-patient relationship can improve health management and reduce health care utilization and expenditures within populations of employees and their spouses,” wrote Musich et al. “Personalized preventive care programs, such as that offered by MDVIP, provide an alternative primary care model that can help individuals achieve these health goals.”

MDVIP sponsored the study, and co-author Andrea Klemes, DO, currently serves as CMO for the company.