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The Central New York Business Journal269 West Jefferson StreetSyracuse, NY 13202

HealthCare

Electronic-device overuse can cause injuries, Rome

therapist saysSTORY, PAGE 2

Health-Care People-on-the- Move newsPage 5.

Upstate Medical unveils IHP expansionPage 6.

The List: Commercial Clinical-Testing Labs Page 7.

INSIDE

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROME MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

TAKE IT EASY ON THE TEXTING

October 25, 2013

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Occupational Therapist Michelle Madore, of Chestnut Commons Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Center in Rome, enjoys sending text messages as much as anyone. Because she knows the damage that can be done to joints and muscles from holding a cell phone or other electronic device improperly, Madore says she is careful to keep her wrists in a neutral posi-tion when texting. In a neutral position, your wrists are straight with no pressure on the joint, ei-ther downward or outward.

• HealthCare Provider October 25, 2013

ROME — Today’s work-ers, especially the young, often seem tethered to smartphones, tablets, and laptops. When combined with use of video-gaming devices at home this can cause overuse injuries such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and bur-sitis, an area health-care professional says.

Michelle Madore, an occupational therapist at Chestnut Commons Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Center in Rome, says these common devices can lead to pain from injuries of muscles and joints in the hands, arms, and upper body, accord-

ing to a news release from Rome Memorial Hospital, parent of Chestnut Commons.

According to the release, occupational therapists have seen

an increase of young patients with these repetitive-motion injuries since the overuse

of electronic devices is common among young people. Most patients that come in with overuse injuries are in their mid-20s, Madore said in an email.

These injuries were previously typically developed over time from work-related ac-tions such as typing or operating machin-ery and it is important for young people to understand that too much continuous texting or game play can lead to physical problems, Madore said in the release.

Madore explained that common injuries from overuse of mobile phones and gaming devices involve the thumb, which can limit the use of the hand.

“In my opinion, the worst devices would be the video-gaming systems,” Madore said in the email. She explained that the controllers for those gaming devices are designed to encourage wrist flexion and the buttons force repetitive use of the thumb in all directions.

How bad can it get?“I had one patient that came to me for

carpal tunnel symptoms; she admitted that she is often on her phone or laptop and tab-let, and upon further evaluation I found that she had nerve impingement up to her neck from her poor posture,” Madore said.

Madore suggests taking frequent breaks when using electronic devices because hours of continuous use can take a toll on

joints in the hand, elbow, forearm, shoul-ders and neck. She also recommends changing positions frequently and using light pressure when operating any device.

“If you notice any pain or stiffness, you should stop immediately and rest your hands,” Madore said in the news release. “If the pain continues, you should take a break from all devices for a few days,” she said.

If pain continues even after a break from use, medical treatment may be required to prescribe anti-inflammatory medicines, brac-ing of the affected areas, or physical and oc-

cupational therapy, according to Madore.Madore said she is careful with how she

uses her own electronic devices. “I am aware of how common these is-

sues are, so I take [preventive] measures to avoid problems,” she explained. “I try to be more aware of how I hold onto devices; a neutral position is the best position for your wrist.”

A neutral wrist position means the wrist is straight, not bent backwards or down, and there is no force on it, according to Madore.

“If you are using something like a laptop or tablet, you should place several pillows on your lap to rest your arms on. Ideally, the screen should be at eye level. This will allow for a more neutral neck position by not having to look down significantly,” she said in the release.

She also recommends sitting in a chair with good back support when using any device. “Positions that could cause injuries include slouching on the couch, looking down into your lap and holding the device or game controller close to your body,” she explained.

But in the end, it’s all about moderation.“It is important to not use these devices

constantly; I see it all the time, a group of people at a restaurant and everyone has their nose in their phone or tablet when it isn’t likely a necessity at that point,” Madore said in the email.

Chestnut Commons Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Center, located at 107 E. Chestnut St., is the rehabilitation cen-ter of Rome Memorial Hospital. Chestnut Commons is one of the largest outpatient rehabilitation centers in the area, according to its website.

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Overuse of electronic devices can lead to injuries, Rome therapist says

ANGIE N. TORIBIO

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROME MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Occupational Therapist Michelle Madore, of Chestnut Commons Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Center in Rome, says it’s important to have a straight wrist when holding electronic devices.

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A New York City–based not-for-profit home health-care organization has received state approval to expand its Medicaid managed long-term care plan to 24 counties out-side of the city — includ-ing several in the Syracuse and Utica areas.

The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) is moving on plans to spread its VNSNY Choice Medicaid Managed Long Term Care plan to Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, and Onondaga counties. That’s after the state approved the market expan-sion in September.

The managed long-term care plan is tar-geted at seniors and individuals with chron-ic illnesses and disabil-ities who cannot live

independently at home, but do not want to move into a nursing home. It’s a voluntary option for Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries that provides nurse-care managers who visit members’ homes and coordinate the health-care services they receive.

News of VNSNY Choice’s expansion follows New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ac-cepting recommendations from a Medicaid Redesign Team in February. The redesign lifted a moratorium on the extension of existing Medicaid managed-care plans, ac-cording to Christopher Palmieri, president of VNSNY Choice Health Plans, who also acted as an adviser to the state during its Medicaid redesign. VNSNY has been open

to the option of growing its service area since before that moratorium was lifted, he adds.

“We’ve been interested in expanding our service area since about 2003,” he says. “It was something that we’ve been working on for the entire year. We started our process to apply for market expansion in the early part of 2012.”

VNSNY Choice isn’t the only Medicaid managed long-term care plan that will be growing into Central New York and its sur-rounding areas. Fidelis Care, a Catholic health plan based in Rego Park in the New York City borough of Queens, announced in August it was expanding its Fidelis Care at Home managed long-term care program into 11 counties in and around Central New York.

Numerous plans have applied to the state for expansion, Palmieri says. VNSNY Choice wants to offer its plan to all eligible New York residents eventually, he contin-ues.

“Our organization felt that we should be offering our coordinated care through managed long-term care across the state,” Palmieri says. “[This] expansion was one step toward becoming a statewide health plan and serving all 62 counties in the state.”

MV/CNY expansionVNSNY Choice has opened a Utica–area

office at 2 Ellinwood Drive in New Hartford and hired three employees to start building relationships with senior centers, nursing organizations, and hospitals that could be-come part of its network. Palmieri expects to hire more employees in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley in the future, although exact timelines and staffing levels are not set.

“It is safe to say that we’ll have a major

presence in Oneida County, Herkimer County, and Onondaga County, and we’ll look at whether we need an office in Madison County,” he says. “A lot of our work force is field based.”

VNSNY Choice has hired its own nurse care managers in New York City. It could follow that model in upstate New York, or it could turn to subcontractors if they seem like a good fit, Palmieri says.

“Those care managers have a direct relationship with the patients today,” he says. “When there aren’t those opportuni-ties, we’re happy to build the infrastructure ourselves.”

The Medicaid managed long-term care plan does not have any members in Central New York or the Mohawk Valley at the mo-ment. It could sign up interested members today but will likely make a push at the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013, according to Palmieri.

VNSNY Choice doesn’t know how many members it will sign up, and it’s not clear how many competitors it will face in the up-state market. It has nearly 14,000 managed long-term care beneficiaries in New York City, Palmieri says.

Rough estimates show the plan will re-ceive about $18,500 per member per year in Medicaid revenue. Those payments will vary by hundreds of dollars in different state rating regions, however.

“Around the first of the year is when we’ll have a formalized business plan based upon what we’ve projected and budgeted,” Palmieri says. “The challenge we have right now is, because there has not been a man-aged long-term care delivery system for this type of long-term care in the past, it’s going to be tricky to get the rates right.”

VNSNY Choice has 1,470 total employ-ees. It offers Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid long-term care plans, and a health plan for individuals with HIV/AIDS and their children. It forecasts premium revenue of about $1 billion in 2012 — about $550 million of which will come from man-aged long-term care plans. Palmieri didn’t

have estimates of premium revenue for 2013, but says top-line revenue is estimated to be about $1.8 billion in 2013.

The managed long-term care plan has existing operations in New York City’s five boroughs and previously received state approval to grow into Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties.

More recent state decisions have given it approval to expand into Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, and Onondaga counties, as well as other counties. They include Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Saratoga, Schoharie, Warren, Washington, and Monroe counties.

VNSNY Choice has hired seven people in Fishkill in Dutchess County to spearhead its efforts in the Hudson Valley counties. It leased a 3,000-square-foot office there.

Palmieri is no stranger to the Mohawk Valley. He’s a Utica–area native who helped build Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare’s Senior Network Health managed long-term health-care plan in the late 1990s, he says. q

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UTICA — St. Joseph Nursing Home Co. of Utica, Inc. on Oct. 17 announced it has agreed to sell its facilities and transfer its operations to URNC, LLC and URNC Realty, LCC, subsidiaries of Personal Healthcare, LLC.

Personal Healthcare describes itself as a health-care organization focused on provid-ing personalized care to seniors through the operation of skilled nursing and rehabilita-tive care facilities.

St. Joseph Nursing Home didn’t release financial terms of its transfer agreement.

The transfers are contingent upon the approvals of the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Supreme Court, processes which will take “a

number of months to complete,” St. Joseph

Nursing Home said in a news release.The facility will operate “business as

usual,” St. Joseph Nursing home said.The organization believes Personal

Healthcare, LLC share its views on patient care and “devotion to personal attention,” Michael Calogero, who chairs of the board of directors of St. Joseph Nursing Home, said in the news release.

The facility’s board and members spent “considerable” time and effort formulating a long-term strategy for continuing the care at St. Joseph Nursing Home, Calogero said.

The organization believes Personal Healthcare is “best suited” to continue serv-ing the needs of the St. Joseph community and to carry out its mission of providing “quality” care for the aged and infirm in a home-like atmosphere, he added.

“Given the ever changing regulatory en-vironment and costs associated with main-taining our quality of care, we believe the transfer of operations to another quality nursing-home operator with a proven track record such as Personal Healthcare’s allows the facility to continue to operate as a nurs-

ing home, and maintains the beds and jobs in the community,” Calogero said.

Personal Healthcare looks “forward” to serving the Utica community for “many years to come,” Ephraim Zagelbaum, CEO of Personal Healthcare, LLC, said in the news release.

“We are excited to take over operations at St. Joseph’s Nursing Home and continue to provide the high quality care patients have been used to for many years,” said Zagelbaum.

Personal Healthcare currently owns and operates seven nursing facilities in New York and Massachusetts, all ranging in size from 80 beds to 183 beds, the LLC said.

St. Joseph Nursing Home Company of Utica, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, is a

120-bed facility operating at 2535 Genesee St. in Utica.

The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm have served at St. Joseph Nursing Home since its inception in 1971.

“While the decision of the members and board has been a long and difficult one, the process has been carefully thought out, and we are all confident that Personal Healthcare and its owners represent values that are consistent with St. Joseph Nursing Home’s culture of dignity and respect,” Mother Mark Louis Anne, superior general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said in the release.

Contact Reinhardt at [email protected]

Personal Healthcare, LLC to acquire St. Joseph Nursing Home in Utica

ERIC REINHARDTJOURNAL STAFF

PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH NURSING HOME

The exterior of the St. Joseph Nursing Home, located in Utica.

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SYRACUSE — Crouse Hospital of Syracuse on Oct. 15 announced it is providing “visiting con-sultative services” at Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton.

The services, intended for patients in the Hamilton area and Madison County, are part of Crouse’s affiliation with Community

Memorial Hospital, Crouse said in a news release.

The medical ser-vices include gener-

al-surgical consultations, vascular care, gastrointestinal care, and obstetrical/gyne-cological care, Crouse said.

Syracuse–based physicians represent-ing Central New York Surgical Physicians, P.C.; Vascular Care of Fayetteville; Syracuse Gastroenterological Associates, P.C.; and CNY Women’s Healthcare are offer-ing the services on specific weekdays at Community Memorial Hospital, according to Crouse.

“Our partnership with Crouse Hospital enables us to provide the highest level of specialty medical care services to the residents of Hamilton and our surround-ing community,” Sean Fadale, CEO of

Community Memorial Hospital, said in the Crouse news release.

Community Memorial, which employs nearly 450 people, expects to add other vis-iting specialty services in the near future, according to Fadale.

Crouse and Community Memorial hospi-tals formalized an affiliation in 2012 as part of Crouse’s “strategic focus on developing a more coordinated and comprehensive network of care delivery,” according to the Syracuse hospital.

Crouse’s partnership with Community Memorial also includes joint projects focus-ing on enhancing the information-technol-ogy infrastructure at the Hamilton hospital

and establishing a more “seamless level of connectivity” between the two facilities, Crouse said.

The effort also included the formation in 2010 of Crouse Medical Practice and its ac-quisition of Internist Associates of CNY, the area’s largest internal-medicine practice, according to Crouse Hospital.

Crouse Hospital employs about 2,700 people total and generated $360 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, ac-cording to the Business Journal 500 publica-tion.


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Crouse Hospital to provide services at Community Memorial in Hamilton

ERIC REINHARDTJOURNAL STAFF

Crouse Hospital of Syracuse on Oct. 15 an-nounced it is providing “visiting consultative services” at Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton.

PHOTO COURTESY OF COMMUNITY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL


CAYUGA HEART INSTITUTE

Amit K. Singh, M.D. has been named to the top post of medical direc-tor of the Cayuga Heart Institute. He joined the Cayuga Medical Center medical staff and Ithaca Cardiology Associates in 2003. Singh has spe-cialized training in car-diac catheterization, nuclear cardiology, and transesophageal echocardiography. Under his leadership, Cayuga Medical Center was certi-fied by the Society of Chest Pain Centers in 2009 to be an accredited chest pain center. Singh, who earned his doctorate in medicine from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, served his residency in internal med-icine at Bassett Health Care in Cooperstown and a fellowship in cardiovascular disease from Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and nuclear cardiology. Singh is a clinical instructor in medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

CAYUGA MEDICAL ASSOCIATES

Cayuga Medical Associates (CMA) an-nounced a regional neuromedicine initia-tive with the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and the addition of James Metcalf, M.D., to pro-gressive neurosurgery of CMA. He received his pre-medical degree from Presbyterian College in South Carolina and earned his medical doctorate from the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta. Metcalf complet-ed his internship at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. and his residency at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He is board-certified by The American Board of Neurological Surgery and is assistant profes-sor of neurosurgery at URMC.

RODNEY S. AND MARJORIE FINK INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH

ON AGING

The Rodney S. and Marjorie Fink Institute of Research on Aging has appointed geriatric psychiatrist Nanette M. Dowling, D.O. as its first research director. She will assume re-sponsibility for the applied-research agenda of the Institute, which is housed at Menorah Park of CNY and focuses on geriatric mental health. Dowling, also serving as an attend-ing psychiatrist and associate professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University in the Department of Psychiatry, is board-certified in psychiatry with a sub-specialty in geriatric psychiatry. She completed her psychiatry residency at SUNY Upstate and a geriatric fellowship at Columbia University and the Greater Binghamton Health Center. Dowling also holds a master’s degree in health policy and administration and received a doctor of osteopathy degree from Touro University.

SLOCUMDICKSON MEDICAL GROUP PLLC

Jana Podzimek, D.O. has joined Slocum-

Dickson Medical Group in the specialty of oto-rhinolaryngology. She is board-certified in oto-rhinolaryngology and facial plastic surgery. Podzimek completed her otolaryngology, head, neck surgical residency at Flint Osteopathic Hospital in Flint, Mich., and her general surgical residency and intern-ship at Garden City Osteopathic Hospital in Garden City, Mich. Podzimek received her medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo.

ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL HEALTH CENTER

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center has ap-pointed Vincent J. Kuss director of development. He brings more than 11 years of health care and higher-education devel-opment experience to his position. Kuss has held development positions at two major universities and most recently, served as executive direc-tor for the College of Medicine Foundation at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Kuss earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from SUNY Cortland, his master’s degree in higher-educa-

tion administration from Syracuse University, and an MBA from Le Moyne College.

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center has appointed Mary Jo Vona, RN to director of nursing talent acquisition and retention. Specializing in nurse recruitment and reten-tion, performance improvement and coach-ing, she has 28 years experience within crit-ical-care nursing and nursing recruitment. Vona has helped cre-ate leadership develop-ment programs and has been instrumental in delivering organization-ally aligned recruitment strategies in her role as manager of nursing recruitment and reten-tion, a position she has held at St. Joseph’s since 2007. A graduate of the St. Joseph’s College of Nursing, she holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Le Moyne College and is scheduled to complete a master’s degree in nursing administration from Le Moyne College in December 2013.

The following individuals joined St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center’s medi-cal staff. In the surgery specialty, Naveen Duggal, M.D.; in emergency, Etan E. Eitches, M.D., and Kathryn L. Watson, M.D.; in radiology, Sivan Golan, M.D. and Shain Wallis, D.O.; and in internal medi-cine, Maria C. Srinivasan, M.D.

St. Joseph’s has added the following new members to its active medical staff. In the spe-

cialty of internal medicine: Nelly Y. Kazzaz, M.D. and Michael P. Kenney, D.O.; in OB/GYN: Michelle J. Auerbach, D.O.; in fam-ily medicine: Erika Hegland, D.O.; in emer-gency medicine: Kathryn C. Schlegel, M.D.; in surgery: C. Melinda Stevens, D.O.; and in anesthesiology: Jacob A. Vella, M.D.

SYRACUSE ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALISTS

Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists recently hired Naven Duggal, M.D., to join its foot and ankle team. He is an American board-cer-tified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon specializing in the di-agnosis and treatment of foot and ankle prob-lems. Prior to joining Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists, Duggal was the chief of the or-thopaedic foot and ankle service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He performed his research in biomechan-ics at the Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies at Harvard Medical School. Duggal is on the editorial board for the journal Techniques in Foot and Ankle Surgery and the journal Orthopedics.

HEALTH-CARE PEOPLE-ON-THE-MOVE

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SYRACUSE — The State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University on Oct. 21 for-mally opened its more than 158,000-square-foot Neuroscience Research Building (NRB), an expan-sion of Upstate’s Institute for Human Performance (IHP).

The one-block long, five-story addition, which is adjacent to the IHP, cost $72 million, Upstate Medical said in a news release.

The facility is located on a two-acre site bounded by Harrison and Madison streets, and Crouse and Irving avenues in Syracuse.

The expansion is designed to help bring the researchers at Upstate Medical University together to study the brain, said Rosemary Rochford, vice president for re-search at Upstate Medical, in speaking with reporters following a tour of the facility.

“We’re bringing all the scientists from dif-ferent parts of the campus together. We’re bringing our clinical researchers and our

basic science researchers to really begin to look at … basic functions of the brain and also how the brain doesn’t go so right some-times in disease,” Rochford said.

The researchers at Upstate Medical, who are already focused on studying the brain, will move into the facility next April, Rochford said.

The expansion also seeks to speed the pace of scientific discovery and to strengthen Upstate’s research enterprise, projected this year to total $34 million, the medical school said.

“It is a vital part of our mission, that being research and new knowledge. It’s also vital for the region … and that, of course, is the new knowledge-based economy,” Dr. David Smith, president of Upstate Medical, said in his remarks during the ceremony.

The formal opening preceded a public lecture that featured three of the country’s leading names in brain-research science. They included Susan Hockfield, Nicholas Spitzer, and Dennis Choi, who discussed how present-day research is leading to new advances in the prevention, treatment, and cures for disorders of the brain.

Hockfield is president emerita and profes-sor of neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Spitzer is director

of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind and professor of neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego. Choi serves as director of the Institute for Advanced Neurosciences and professor and chair of the department of neurology at Stony Brook University.

The building designThe Boston–based architecture firm

Goody Clancy designed the expansion to achieve the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) silver desig-nation from the U.S. Green Building Council, Upstate Medical said.

The building also features a parking garage for 51 vehicles, mechanical space, loading dock, and space for a future cyclotron (a type

of particle accelerator). The structure also has a combination of 31 wet/dry, open/closed laboratories, and laboratory support that in-cludes microarray, microscopy, and phenotyp-ing cores, offices, and administrative space.

It also includes a two-story atrium provid-ing gathering space, conference rooms, a lounge, and a physical connection to the exist-ing building, Upstate Medical University said.

About the researchInterdisciplinary research at the IHP is

currently devoted primarily to human activ-ity and rehabilitation.

The NRB will house investigators from

Page 10 • HealthCare Provider February 8, 2013

With Wellness: You Don’t Have to be a Big Business to Achieve Big ResultsWellness is a state of mind and body. It’s an individual thing. So, when it comes to employee participation, let’s not get lured into the misconception that well-ness only works in large numbers, and therefore is more fitting for a sprawl-ing Fortune 500 company than it is for a small busi-ness with 25 to 100 em-ployees.

Wellness today is for all employers and all of their employees. Even back in the 1980s

when I was consulting with small businesses, some of them had a well-ness program in place, and didn’t even realize it. When break time came, the employees of one

particular small business would take a walk around the block. Walking together during business hours was built into this com-pany’s culture. The only difference between then and now is today we would count the steps with a pedometer clipped to our belt

and walk with iPod buds stuck in our ears as opposed to a Sony Walkman. But the results remain the same.

But when it comes to getting companies to implement a wellness program into their corporate culture, it all comes down to get-ting them to practice what you preach. And what I found to be effective is utilizing the old KISS system with a slight modification — Keep It Simple Sells.

This is not to suggest that a good insur-ance agent doesn’t know that having a solid health and wellness plan in place will benefit his/her client. But sometimes the litany of objections from the employers — “There’s nothing I can do about health-care costs going up,” “It’s too expensive,” “We don’t have the facilities for exercise,” “My employees won’t want to do it” — can be overwhelming.

John Basten of The Mid-State Group in Lynchburg, Va. says employers are frustrat-ed with the ever-increasing cost of health premiums, and thus turn to brokers for solutions, which often include delivering “wellness” by implementing disincentives and benefit-design changes in an effort to change behavior. It’s a concept that Basten says doesn’t work.

“It’s only through education that you can guide employers to better understand the risks and obstacles they are facing,” he ex-plains. “Essentially, step one is to help them

identify the specific health factors within their company, because when real data drives the decision, one can plan for the expected re-sults.”

York International, a large regional bro-ker in Harrison, N.Y. derives about 25 per-cent of its $10 million in revenue from benefits serving the middle-market employ-er of 50-2,500 employees. For the past five years, York has been focusing on drawing employee benefits and wellness resources and capabilities from much larger busi-nesses to bring to smaller firms.

“The Fortune 1000 or 5000 have been practicing engaging employees in health beyond the financing of sickness for many years and we think that there is a tremen-dous opportunity to continue to do that with these middle-market companies,” ex-plains Mike Bodack of York International. “When our point of entry is who we call the ‘user buyer’ of insurance for their company, we try to engage the ‘economic buyer’ as well. It is not often the same person, but it does happen on occasion.”“When we deal with that economic buyer, we find that it is easy to focus the conversa-tion,” he adds. “Certainly, some folks will have their head in the sand. But the ones who are intelligent, rational human beings understand very quickly. Because in the end, it’s just a math problem.”

When employers perceive wellness as an added cost instead of an added benefit, bad things happen. Or nothing happens at all. Basten of the Mid-State Group has fought that battle for years.

“Employers are frustrated with the ever-increasing cost of health care and are look-ing for viable strategies to reverse the trend,” he says. “Many are looking for quick fixes which end in employers spending excessive funds in areas that don’t have long-lasting effects. Our specific focus is to educate the employer on how wellness should be defined as an employee benefit. We educate our clients that identifying the specific risk factors affecting their employee group is an essential and foundational step in creating an effective wellness program, starting with getting a minimum of 90 percent of their employees to complete a health-risk assess-ment without providing incentives.”

Getting the employees behind a well-ness program can often be the fuel that jump-starts an employer’s decision-making process, as now he/she sees what was per-ceived as a potential expense reaping poten-tial dividends in increased employee morale and decreased employee sick days.

As York International’s Bodack sees it, it’s all about the employee kick-off. “We’ve received tremendous response from our kickoff meetings,” he says. “The delivery of the health-risk assessment to an employee is a measure of control all by itself. When an employee takes the 10 minutes to read it, it may be more information than they get about their health from their own doctor. And, an annual health-risk assessment of-fers the employee a grand picture of his or

her health, year after year.”He adds, “When employees have some-

thing personalized, such as their HRA, and see directives they can look at year after year, it provides a tremendous level of control and a heightened awareness. We routinely reach 85 percent or 90 percent involvement from employees who review their Health Risk Assessments.”

One point that Bodack and Basten agree on as wellness experts is that employers should not rely on incentives for employee involvement in the program. And, converse-ly, neither should they be penalized for not participating.

“Employees are already struggling with family pressures and an uncertainty about the future,” says Basten. “The last thing em-ployees need is a work environment where they are told what not to do and being penalized for doing so. This doesn’t create a thriving corporate culture. Wellness should be offered solely as a benefit and not as a ‘reward,’ and delivered to the employees as such. Only then will the employer get the proper participation they need for the program to be successful.”

Mark Nantz of Knapp Miller Brown Insurance Services in Salem, Ind. says a key component of a successful wellness program, which he has used many times, is the shared clinic model, a benefit which also includes wellness coaches. “The shared clinic model allows smaller employers to use the clinic model, as long as there is a larger employer to act as the anchor,” says Nantz. “Think of a shopping center with the large big box store as the anchor tenant. A large employer can have its own clinic and it can act as an anchor for surrounding com-panies to share its on-site clinic. On-site clin-ics can also pull out employees with chronic illnesses and focus on wellness initiatives for those folks.”

It has become increasingly clear that workers’ compensation, employee benefits, and wellness are the three faces of employ-ee health, and the cost of that health means insurance producers must be equipped to bring a unified approach to employers. With the new health-care reform legislation, em-ployers will have an enormous need for expert advice on benefits and wellness. The insurance agents of the future are quickly arming themselves with new ways to at-tack the true root causes that are driving up health-care costs. And if employers can make their employees healthier without cutting benefits or shifting more premium costs to their employees, where is the down-side? q

Preston Diamond is managing director and co-founder of the Institute of WorkComp Professionals (IWCP), based in Asheville, N.C. In 2010, IWCP created a sister orga-nization, the Institute of Benefits & Wellness Advisors, that trains, tests, and certifies ben-efit and property & casualty insurance agents in wellness and employee benefits. Contact him at [email protected]

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Upstate Medical unveils IHP expansion, targeting neuroscience research

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construction is finishing up on upstate Medical’s newly expanded neuroscience research Building.


THE LISTResearch by Nicole Collins

[email protected] (315) 579-3911

Twitter: @cnybjresearch

NOTES

1. Lab did not respond with updates. Data is from 2012.

ABOUT THE LISTInformation was provided by representatives of listed organizations and their websites. Other groups may have been eligible but did not respond to our requests for information. While The Business Journal strives to print accurate information, it is not possible to independently verify all data submitted. We reserve the right to edit entries or delete categories for space considerations.

WHAT cONSTITUTES THE cNY REgION?Central New York includes Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cor-tland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Tioga, and Tompkins counties.

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COMMERCIAL CLINICAL-TESTING LABSRanked by No. of Tests Performed in 2012

Types of Tests Performed

Rank

NameAddressPhone/Website

TestsPerformed in

2012—

PatientContacts in

2012

No. ofCNY:

Employees—

Locations

Markets servicedbeyond own

patients—

Licensed NYSClinical Lab Laboratory Director(s)

1.Laboratory Alliance of Central NewYork, LLC1304 Buckley RoadSyracuse, NY 13212-4302(315) 453-7200/laboratoryalliance.com

10,300,000—

2,000,000

445—16

Y—Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Michael R. O'Leary, M.D., CEO &Director of Laboratories

Karen Carter, CFOGeorge Popp, CIO

Anne Marie Mullin, SVP

2.UHS Laboratory33-57 Harrison St.Johnson City, NY 13790(607) 763-5780/uhs.net

4,264,605—

327,311

169—19

Y—Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Jagmohan Sidhu, M.D., LaboratoryMedical Director

Patricia Stone, LaboratoryManager QA/QM

3.SUNY Upstate Medical UniversityDept. of Pathology750 East Adams St.Syracuse, NY 13210(315) 464-4460/upstate.edu/pathology

2,590,129—

312,000

232—3

Y—Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Robert J. Corona, Professor &Chairman of Pathology/Laboratory

Medicine

4.St. Elizabeth Medical CenterLaboratory2209 Genesee St.Utica, NY 13501(315) 798-8294/stemc.org

858,800—

69,663

82—12

Y—Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Muzaffar N. Khan, M.D.,Laboratory Director

5.Cayuga Medical Center at IthacaClincal Lab101 Dates DriveIthaca, NY 14850(607) 274-4474/cayugamed.org

729,121—

100,000

84—4

Y—Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Anntoinette Burger, Admin.Director of Laboratory Services

Daniel Sudilovsky, M.D.,Laboratory Medical Director

6.Oswego Hospital Lab Services110 W. Sixth St.Oswego, NY 13126(315) 349-5591/oswegohealth.org

662,602—

245,619

84—10

Y—Y

Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Ahmad Al-Salameh, M.D.,Laboratory Medical Director

7.Quest Diagnostics, Inc.200 Gateway Park DriveNorth Syracuse, NY 13212(315) 458-5592/questdiagnostics.com

460,000—

188,000

50—11

Y—Y

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Rafiqa Fazili, Medical Director,Laboratory

8.Cortland Regional Medical Center

(Labs)1

134 Homer Ave.Cortland, NY 13045(607) 756-3618/cortlandregional.org

410,700—

9,000

50—3

Y—Y

Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y Vickie Walczak, Technical Director-Laboratory Services

9.Rome Memorial Hospital ClinicalTesting1500 N. James St.Rome, NY 13440(315) 338-7044/romehosp.org

358,000—

106,000

36—5

Y—Y

N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Y N Christian N. Ezidiegwu, LaboratoryMedical Director

10.Bassett Healthcare Network -

Herkimer Laboratory1

321 East Albany St.Herkimer, NY 13350(315) 867-2700/bassett.org

250,000—

21,500

14—1

Y—Y

N N N Y Y Y N N N N N N N N William F. Streck, CEONicholas Nicoletta, CFOBertine McKenna, COO

11.Lifecare Diagnostics Inc.1991 Balsey RoadSeneca Falls, NY 13148(315) 539-8058/lifecarefp.com

170,000—

20,000

6—1

Y—Y

N N N Y Y Y - Y N N N N Y N William H. Dean, M.D., Director

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various disciplines whose studies involve disorders of the nervous system, such as behavioral disorders like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), diseases of the eye, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or what’s known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease), Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s, according to Upstate Medical.

The building is designed to allow scientists and researchers to easily move between dif-ferent labs, and not confining them to a single “cubby hole,” Rochford said.

“So, that fosters interaction,” she said.Upstate Medical is also using state funding

to invest in “cutting edge” technology in the

NRB, Rochford added.“We’re going to get microscopy and this is

a way to look inside the brain, so you get bet-ter visualization of what the brain is actually doing,” she said.

Upstate Medical is investing in next-generation sequencing technology as well, Rochford said, referencing the scientific map-ping of the human genome and noting that Upstate researchers will use the technology in their study of the brain.

“Understanding people’s genetics and why they’re susceptible to different types of diseases, and in this case, neurological dis-eases,” Rochford explains. q


NEUROSCIENCE: Building also features a parking garage

Continued from page 6


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