James J. Hummer wants to change the way the health care
game is played. He believes that one of the biggest negative
impacts on the health industry is a lack of information sharing
between employers, employees, health insurers and health care
providers. So in 1991, he founded Whole Health Management
Inc. with a dedication to improving the fitness and health of his
clients’ employees. For the past two decades, the company has
created and operated cost-effective, integrated, on-site employee health programs, clinics and fitness centers.
The company contracts with self-insured employers with more
than 1,000 employees at a site to set up and manage on-site clinics
so that employees don’t have to set up appointments at traditional doctors’ offices. Instead, it’s all on-site, so they can get in during
work hours to address problems.
This model also helps prevent future ailments because traditional doctors’ offices require the doctor to see about six
patients an hour in order to cover overhead costs, but the
Whole Health model only requires two patients in that time.
When employees can spend more time with the doctor, more
questions and better communication can occur and the doctor
can get at preventing diseases instead of just treating them.
Hummer knows that in order to run a healthy business, you
have to have healthy employees, and he’s helping make that happen. Whole Health Management now has nearly 70 on-site corporate health
and wellness centers, serves nearly 200,000 employees at organizations including Fortune 500 companies.
“We’ve experimented; we’ve seen what things work and what things don’t, and we’ve tweaked that approach over the years,” the president and
CEO says. “It’s not like one or two big things that we do. It’s a thousand little things. When you add up all those little differences, it makes the difference
in the total client experience.”
HOW TO REACH: Whole Health Management Inc. (216) 589-9400 or www.wholehealthnet.com
