Focusing on Community-Driven Health Care: The WellConnect Model

There is a sense of urgency to provide accessible and comprehensive care services to proactively address health disparities and streamline navigation within the intricate health care system in the United States.

WellConnect—a community-based initiative that offers scheduling services and navigation assistance to patients—is making an impact in this area. ​In a presentation during the SHSMD 2023 Connections annual conference, held last September in Chicago, Joel Philippsen, MBA, the director of marketing and WellConnect at Columbus Regional Health, in Indiana, and Beth Dawson, the manager of marketing and WellConnect, delved into the details of WellConnect’s operations, its role within health care, and its outreach to local and diverse communities.

Evolving With the Needs of the Community 

WellConnect was originally developed in 2013 as a prototype Health and Wellness Center in downtown Columbus, Indiana to provide wellness classes, general health care guidance, and urgent care services to a diverse patient population.

“Columbus has over 50 different languages spoken in our school system,” Philippsen explains in describing the original idea behind WellConnect. “We have people from all over the world living in Columbus, in large part due to Cummins Inc. having their world headquarters here. Many of these individuals new to the United States aren’t really familiar with the health care system or how health care is delivered in the United States. We saw a value in augmenting the human-centered navigation of the health care system, specifically for individuals not accustomed to it. For instance, people from other countries might not be used to having a primary care provider or needing referrals to OB/GYN services or specialty care.”  
Over the first few years of learning and iteration, WellConnect’s focus evolved with a focus on personalized concierge scheduling and insurance navigation services for patients, WellConnect became strategically aligned within the health system—Columbus Regional Health—streamlining key processes and prioritizing critical areas.

“In 2016 or 2017, Columbus Regional Health launched a new electronic medical records system,” Philippsen recalls. “It presented a prime opportunity to do personalized scheduling across the system for patients. For the first time, we had the ability to have a centralized team scheduling new patient primary care appointments across multiple locations.”

Connection Specialists: Making Connections

WellConnect team members are called Connection Specialists. Although these team members are not clinical health care professionals, they undergo a separate certification process to become cadence trained in Epic and are certified insurance navigators. Connection specialists facilitate appointments with primary care providers for new patients, ensure personalized referrals to community and health-system resources, and assist patients in navigating insurance options, including Marketplace, Medicare, and Medicaid plans (Figure).

Connection specialists also manage transitions between primary care providers and specialists, ensuring continuity of care and alleviating any identified gaps during this process.

“Connection specialists are the front door to our health care system,” Dawson says. “Our primary focus is new patient appointments—trying to make that connection for the patients and making sure it’s the right connection for our patients. Our second most important service is insurance navigation. We felt like this was an important service because there are individuals that don’t establish a primary care provider because they don’t have insurance. They don’t know how to get insurance. They don’t even know what’s available to them. For some insurance navigation appointments, our connection specialists will spend an hour or two with an individual.”

Its commitment to scalability has been evident in WellConnect’s continuous expansion. Initially starting with three connection specialists, WellConnect has doubled its workforce to six—a growth that reflects the increasing demand for its services and the needs of the local community.

Community Outreach and Community Needs

To cater to diverse patient populations, WellConnect employs bilingual staff and engages in targeted outreach initiatives. Dawson emphasizes the need for personalized, knowledgeable team members who connect with patients on their level and in the comfort of their specific area within the community.

“One of the gaps that we identified was not being able to easily assist and provide proactive care for our Spanish-speaking population,” she notes. “We have translation services throughout our health care system that anyone can use in any of the offices and departments, but we didn’t have anyone that was that warm voice on the end of the phone that could very easily speak their language. However, once we started sharing that we have a bilingual, Spanish-speaking connection specialists, our call-in numbers increased very quickly. Our bilingual connection specialists can very easily communicate with patients and meet them where they are.”

Since their original presentation at the SHSMD Connections Conference, WellConnect has added a second bilingual connection specialist and a separate Spanish phone line to meet demand and provide a direct and easy connection for them.

Educating the local community about its services is crucial for WellConnect’s success. Initially, WellConnect conducted a broad marketing campaign, highlighting the availability of health care support and encouraging community members to seek answers to their health care–journey questions.

As the initiative progressed, WellConnect adopted a more targeted approach: tailoring messaging to specific populations and their unique needs. For example, WellConnect placed advertisements in the bulletin of a local church to reach Spanish-speaking community members and regularly attends outreach events and presents topics such as “Medicare 101” that has been popular for those transitioning between insurance plans and preparing for retirement. The combination of broad and targeted outreach ensures that WellConnect reaches a diverse spectrum of the community in need of support as well as supporting strategic growth initiatives.

WellConnect's connection specialists actively engage with the community by participating in outreach events and educational initiatives.​ By attending community events, WellConnect has the opportunity to display the organization’s services and provide valuable information about the health care system as a whole.

Direct interaction with the public builds trust and credibility, as individuals appreciate the opportunity to engage with knowledgeable professionals who can guide them through the intricacies of the health care system.

Continuing to Evolve and Make an Impact

In early 2024, Columbus Regional Health opened a new multi-specialty facility in partnership with the City of Columbus and the Parks and Recreation department, called NexusPark. NexusPark is a multi-use facility focusing on health, wellness, and recreation in Columbus. Over the past five years, this facility that used to be the community shopping mall, has been completely revised and renovated into a destination for community members and regional interests around health and wellness, recreation, and sports tourism.

Columbus Regional Health recognized the value WellConnect has built over the past decade and repositioned the team directly near a main entrance of the facility so that community members could easily access the services offered through the team. As part of that move, the team has added services that include welcoming and answering questions visitors to the facility may have, and offering assistance with wayfinding throughout the facility. A new role on the team was developed to accommodate these additional services called a WellConnect Ambassador.

Ensuring Health Care Accessibility and Community Engagement

WellConnect’s commitment to scalability, coordination with practices and services lines, and targeted community outreach have made it a valuable asset in the health care landscape.​ By providing a welcoming and personalized experience through scheduling and navigation support, the organization ensures that individuals have access to the care they need.

​Furthermore, its proactive engagement with the community helps bridge gaps in health care knowledge and fosters a sense of trust and reliability.

WellConnect’s success serves as a model for other organizations seeking to improve health care accessibility and community engagement.