Clients using Vitality’s ‘premier’ consultant service last year spent less time in hospital and were less likely to be readmitted, which consequently reduced the overall cost of their treatment, according to the insurer.
Vitality started offering this ‘premier consultant’ service on its core cover plan in 2021. The consultants used on this panel are assessed against a range of data metrics that evaluate quality and efficiency.
This data, included in Vitality’s forthcoming health claims and insights report, finds members using one of these consultants are nearly a third less likely to be readmitted to a hospital than those not, and their overall length of hospital stay is on average 9 per cent shorter than other patients. It says this equates to a 15 per cent reduction in overall claims costs to the provider.
Vitality Health managing director Keith Klintworth says: “Against a backdrop of underlying ill-health, and high healthcare demand, it is critical that as an industry we ensure our products are delivering excellent patient outcomes in a sustainable and effective way.
“The emergence of more sophisticated data on consultant outcomes together with our investment in digital pathways have been key routes to achieving this, giving us a unique service and offering through our premier consultant panel.”
Vitality members can choose a premier consultant when booking their care through Vitality’s online Care Hub. The platform provides members with a choice of consultant, ranked according to location, specialism, and premier consultant status. Vitality revealed that members claiming through online channels are over 20 per cent more likely to see a premier consultant compared to those coming through a traditional telephonic route.
