Preventive Care: Q&A with Kailey Meitzler, MPH, CCWS & Kyle Wojciechowski, MSN, RN, NE-BC, OCN

Tell us more about your professional background.

Bachelor’s Degree in Communications/Journalism from Temple University
Master’s Degree in Public Health from Liberty University
Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist (CCWS)
Professional Member of the American Public Health Association (APHA)

What are the key responsibilities of your role?

No two days look the same, but the needs of my clients and their employees are always my primary focus. Whether it’s meeting with leaders from employer groups, researching and designing wellness programming for organizations, supporting clients in implementing wellness campaigns and health education resources, or speaking with employees about ConnectCare3’s clinical services, the majority of my day is spent supporting employers in developing and implementing wellness initiatives and driving employee utilization of ConnectCare3’s clinical services. I also enjoy research and being creative, so you can also find me collaborating with our clinical team to develop, design, and review educational and marketing materials.

Thinking about the topic of “preventive care”, do you have any good advice on how to best manage this?

Preventive care is crucial to maintaining our health; catching health problems early when they are easier and generally less costly to treat has a considerable impact on health outcomes. Many individuals don’t get the preventive care they need due to barriers such as not having a primary care provider (PCP), a lack of awareness about recommended preventive services, cost, and a shortage of time.

If you’re an employer, make sure that you’re communicating to your employees about the importance of preventive care; this is something our Wellness Solutions team can assist you with. We have education pieces on the importance of a PCP, tips for choosing a PCP, and a general preventive health-screening schedule that can easily be shared with your employees. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that most health plans cover recommended preventive services at no cost to the individual; make sure that employees understand the preventive care benefits they have through your health plan and what services are covered at no cost to them. Also, consider allowing employees to take paid time off to get their annual exams and preventive care services.

What do you like most about ConnectCare3?

I love how individualized ConnectCare3’s approach is, not only for patients utilizing our 1-on-1 clinical services but also for employers working with our Wellness Solutions team. Health communication is not one size fits all; ConnectCare3’s individualized approach allows health and wellness campaigns to be effective because they aren’t just based on what we’re communicating, but also on who we’re communicating with. When our team works with employers, one of our first goals is to learn more about their organization – their employees, demographics, type of work environment(s), health issues they’re facing, and how they most effectively communicate with their employees. This allows our Wellness Solutions team to determine the ideal mode, frequency, and formatting of health messages to effectively keep employees informed about their health and empower individuals and workforces to improve their wellbeing.

I also like that my role at ConnectCare3 has allowed me to use my background in both communications and public health to assist employers in designing health and wellness initiatives specific to their unique populations. The workplace may not be the first thing people think of when they hear ‘public health’, but the average individual will spend one-third of their life at work,¹ and it’s a very important setting for health promotion and disease prevention programs. For employees, workplace wellness programs have the potential to impact their health behaviors, risks for disease, and overall health and well-being.² For employers, workplace health programs have the potential to impact areas such as health care costs, absenteeism, productivity, recruitment/retention, culture, and employee morale.² Employers, employees, their families, and communities all benefit from health promotion in the workplace,² and it’s rewarding to play even a small role in that.

Last (but certainly not least), one of my favorite parts of ConnectCare3 is the wonderful team of people that I am blessed to work with each day. I am fortunate to collaborate with and learn from a compassionate group of people that have such a diverse range of education and expertise in various areas of health.

Thinking about the full suite of services that ConnectCare3 offers, are there any common misconceptions that you encounter in your daily work?

Employers may be hesitant to reach out to us if they haven’t yet delved into workplace wellness, but I would encourage each group to connect with our Wellness Solutions team. We strive to meet each employer wherever they’re at on their wellness journey and to make workplace wellness as easy as possible. We can assist you in accomplishing a wide range of goals, which can be as straightforward as developing an employee engagement strategy and providing ready-for-use educational tools, or as expansive as building a wellness committee and creating a 3-5 year strategic wellness plan. We look forward to working with you and meeting you wherever you’re at!

Tell us more about your professional background.

I completed my associate degree in nursing through Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences.  At that point, I began my career as a Registered Nurse in the emergency department at Lancaster General Health.  While working in the emergency department I completed my bachelor’s degree through the University of Texas at Arlington.  From there I continued to oncology and medical infusion services, eventually becoming the manager of the department.  I continued to grow my career through multiple leadership opportunities including the Assistant Nurse Manager of the Emergency Department and the Nurse Manager of the Inpatient Oncology Unit.  While working in the leadership capacity, I completed my master’s degree through the California University of Pennsylvania.

What are the key responsibilities of your role?

I oversee and support our clinical team.  Daily, I work with our patient advocates, nurse navigators, a nurse educator, chronic disease management and prevention nurses, health coaches, and registered dieticians to ensure they have what they need to provide great care to our clients.  I also collaborate with the Wellness Solutions Team to ensure we are continuing to grow our services to meet the needs of our clients.  Further, I partner with our clinicians and wellness solutions consultants to help offer wellness solutions to groups that will meet the needs of their teams.

Thinking about the topic of “preventive care”, do you have any good advice on how to best manage this?

The focus of healthcare has been to treat illness for a long time.  We have this amazing opportunity to flip the script and start to make promoting wellness the new normal.  I think it is important for everyone to realize that doing a little bit of preventive care today will potentially decrease the need for a great deal of reactive care tomorrow.  Take for example diabetes, if you invest in yourself (in this case, just time with the ConnectCare3 team for the pre-diabetic) you can prevent yourself from continuing to become a diabetic, and you can avoid all of the comorbidities and complications that can come with the disease, let alone the cost (physical and financial).

What do you like most about ConnectCare3?

We have the opportunity to promote wellness within the lives of so many people.  We provide access to a team of great clinicians that all have the same focus, YOU.  Our team works collaboratively with one another to ensure every client gets the individual care that is needed.  From the first point of contact, our patient advocates, clients know that there is a team waiting to help them customize a plan to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Thinking about the full suite of services that ConnectCare3 offers, are there any common misconceptions that you encounter in your daily work?

I believe it is important to remember that anyone under the health plan is eligible for the services offered by ConnectCare3.  We are able to assist plan subscribers, spouses, and dependents.  Our team comes from many different clinical backgrounds which lend to us being able to help so many different groups of people effectively.  Our services come at no charge to the subscriber so the only thing you have to do is commit time to better yourself.  Whether it is a nurse navigator helping you find a second opinion on a new diagnosis or our health coaches and dieticians trying to help you make healthy lifestyle choices, the team will always make sure they present options that work best for you.

Do you have a success story from working with a group or patient that you can share?

In the short time that I’ve been here, I’ve seen our team have so many great successes with our clients.  The nurse navigators have helped individuals get a second opinion to land on the correct diagnosis, and in some cases have life-saving procedures.  The dieticians and health coaches have helped diabetics decrease their HbA1c, clients lose weight to be eligible for needed surgeries, and overall increase the wellbeing of countless clients.  Our patient advocates have helped clients locate qualified providers all over the country.  For me, our successes continue to come because we are always keeping our client’s needs as our focus.