President: Michael Dees

Year founded: 2014

No. of employees: 53

 

Founder

Michael founded Alternative Health Solutions (BluMine Health) to bring employers the solutions to improve health outcomes and savings through a Direct Primary Care platform. Previously Michael was a large account employee benefit consultant for 23 years. His focus was on data analytics to help employers build strategies yielding healthier outcomes and overall cost savings to health plans.

Mission / Vision

We believe that people and their employers will thrive due to personal, effective healthcare that disrupts a broken system of high costs. Employee healthcare is one of a company’s greatest challenges.  Efforts to design the right health plan continue to see costs increase.  Month to month, the fear of large claims looms overhead.  Access to better and clearer information assists employers and employees in seeking out the best value in health care options. Equipped with better information, employers can address utilization rates and outcomes, coverage options and control costs.

 

Awards​

  • Chief Medical Officer receives Healthcare Heroes 2021 Award 

Describe BluMine Health.

BluMine is a healthcare cost solution that helps employers elevate employee health without trauma to their bottom line.  BluMine has a proven track record of building healthier workforces, reducing employees’ out-of-pocket expense, and adding significant health care savings to the employer’s bottom line.   We operate employer-sponsored clinics with no co-pays or deductibles in most cases and reduced medication costs. Our clients pay a flat fee monthly that covers services provided by the clinic.  BluMine serves companies with self-funded insurance programs working seamlessly with, and independently from, the corporate health insurance provider.   In 2019, BluMine Health and Baptist Health formed a strategic alliance to deliver BluMine Direct Primary Care (DPC) model to the Baptist Health markets.

How did BluMine begin?

Born out of a desire to cultivate data and turn it into healthier outcomes for employers, CEO Michael Dees teamed up with a group of investors based in Kentucky to put the plan in place.  BluMine built an ROI Analysis engine to show employers a better path to true cost savings and data-based results in chronic condition management.

What is one thing you wish others knew about BluMine?

In an industry of failing programs that over-promise and under-deliver, we’re the unicorn; the last advantage available to lowering your healthcare costs. BluMine is centered around concierge primary care delivered by veteran nurse practitioners with the quality and clinical oversight led by a physician based medical direction. Multiple avenues of design strategies, state of the art medical analytics, and wellness plan integration has allowed BluMine Health to positively impact our patient employee’s, their families, and the companies that employee them.  Depending on employment size, clinics can either be onsite or near site.

What makes BluMine different from competitors?

By bringing your very own primary care center to your people, we know how to out-smart and out-maneuver a broken system of rising healthcare costs.  We perform an ROI Analysis based on claims history then introduce a plan to optimize your ROI and assess an ideal clinic model that will best fit your company. The right model isn’t something off the shelf. It requires us to understand your business and your numbers, your people, and your culture. BluMine provides online telemedicine, patient record keeping and data tracking via its EMR application. State of the art technology and medical metrics go hand in hand with BluMine’s care delivery.

Have you had to pivot strategies over the years?

We have stayed true to our platform from the beginning by focusing on primary care, delivering quantifiable results, and measurable improvement in chronic condition patients.  During last year’s pandemic, we focused on telehealth services and outreach to members ensuring they didn’t miss critical follow up and medication management.  Statistically, most who skipped annual primary care visits didn’t reschedule and will wait until next year.  To overcome this obstacle, BluMine clinicians took action through outreach bringing members back to the clinic and preserving the quality of care.

What makes Louisville a good home for BluMine?

Louisville, Kentucky provides BluMine the perfect venue to create and build an entrepreneurial healthcare company in a business environment that has very little competition for its model.  We saw a need for this service and a void in options especially for shared site care clinics.  While Louisville has its share of large employers, many are in the 50 – 1,000 range and nearly all companies and business owners we approach about Direct Primary Care (known in the industry as “DPC”, BluMine’s model follows the DPC delivery of primary care and wellness) are open to the concept.  We defined our services to meet the demand of our local market.

In addition to providing DPC to an underserved business group, BluMine was able to engage and explore the next level of care relationship with a major hospital system.  Many vendors in the DPC industry did not see the value in healthcare system relationships however we looked at continuation of care beyond services in the clinic and benefits to our employer members.  Headquarters in Louisville gave BluMine the ability to build a strategic alliance for referrals and a holistic approach to care. In summary, Louisville, Kentucky was the perfect geographical and economic location for BluMine to call home.