| | JUNE - 20238UTLOOKHealthcare Tech IN MY OPINIONLeveraging Community Health for a Healthier WorkforceBy Corey Cronrath, Service Line Medical Director, Occupational and Employee Health, Marshfield Clinic Health SystemPlease give a brief overview of your roles and responsibilities at your current organization and your journey in the industry so far.As a board-certified physician executive in Occupational and Aerospace Medicine with a Master's in Public Health and in Business Administration, I'm currently, the Service Line Medical Director (SLMD) for Occupational and Employee Health with Marshfield Clinic Health System.Marshfield Clinic Health System is an integrated health system serving Wisconsin since 1916. The system contains several hospitals and many clinics at 60 locations in Wisconsin, as well as a medical research institute and an education division, and employs more than 1,200 doctors and other clinicians.Occupational health is a revenue-generating stream for hospitals that are externally facing and focused on providing the services to organizations required to meet OSHA regulations. At Marshfield Clinic Health System, we work on two fronts, one where we support the hospitals to facilitate the organizations to help manage workers' compensation cases or the treatments of injured patients. The second front is the clinical side, or rather the employee health side. I switch my responsibilities to being an employer and only being privy to employer data and management on the safety and prevention of injuries, working with our workers' compensation insurer on case management. As the SLMD, I'm also part of the clinical care and operational leadership team, which looks at overall system issues, from strategy to finance to organizational goals.Before joining Marshfield Clinic Health System, I served in the US Army for many years as a staff officer, Brigade Surgeon, 10th CAB Battalion. How have you seen the industry evolve?I have observed an encouraging trend of employers being concerned with the health of their workforce and going beyond the traditional respirator fit testing, drug testing, and different OSHA requirements for injured workers to a more holistic approach to the wellness of their workforces.Employers are not just looking at access to healthcare but also at the social determinants of health like transportation, environment, family, homes, and social support. In the past seven years, I have observed, employers have diverted their attention from workforce transition to partnering with the overall health of the community. They have realized that workers come in and leave the organization, and they must make up for that attrition from the community itself. If you are hiring and your hiring pool is not healthy, then it's much harder to correct the root cause. As an employer, this may increase your expenses and adversely affect the productivity of your workforce.What project initiatives are you currently working on?Looking at the social determinants of health and workforces, the organizations or employers are willing to engage with the state of Wisconsin for partnering together for the overall development of the community. The Wisconsin Economic Development Association is also willing to engage with community leaders and individual employers on how to address these burning issues, like better public transportation, sports, and health arenas for physical activity, and shopping malls for easy access to household items.Planned infrastructure facilities are being developed as a result of this joint effort, and one can see walking trails and Corey Cronrath
< Page 7 | Page 9 >