Healthcare and business thought leaders from across the Southeast will be taking part in the first WellSpent conference later this month.

With its successful origins beginning in 2018 in Mississippi and evolving to South Carolina in 2020, WellSpent aims to educate and influence business, healthcare, and economic development leaders to collaborate around improving the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare as an economic driver. WellSpent’s first regional conference will be held on January 28 and includes leaders from Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama.

“We strive to establish clear lines of communication across economic development and healthcare throughout the Southeast,” said Dr. Randy Vogenberg, board chairman of Employer Provider Interface Council  (EPIC) of the Hospital Quality Foundation, which is the agency leading this effort. “We want to improve or increase opportunities for business and community of each Southeastern state.”

To register for this free, online event, go to https://wellspentsoutheast.eventbrite.com.

WellSpent will realize success by developing public-private partnership in advancing state economic development, healthcare for population health, and healthier business and economic growth through shared vision, values and measures,  said Murray Harber, Executive  Director of the Mississippi Business Group on Health and Founding Board Member of EPIC.

“Wellspent will realize it's success by bringing together professionals across the Southeastern states to have meaningful discussions and create public-private partnerships in advancing improved employer, healthcare, and economic development collaborations which will drive economic growth and improved value in healthcare,” Harber said. 

Some of the key categories to be discussed in the conference include:

Employers/Business 

• Employers who follow best practices demonstrate growth in stock price. 

• Public employers who follow best practices demonstrate tax dollar savings that can be redeployed for other areas. 

• Employers who follow best practice demonstrate improved health, productivity, and outcomes and positive financial impacts. 

• Employees who are healthier are less absence, more productive, and higher performing. 

State and Local Economic Development Community 

• Employers select locations based on the health of the population, the community, and the economic growth prospectus. 

• State government create higher tax revenues due to better performing businesses. 

Why Healthcare 

• Employers select locations based on high quality of health of healthcare. 

• Healthcare manufactures and distributors realize business growth. 

• New healthcare companies are being launched to fill needs and solve problems in the current system.

“In the Southeast we have the highest rates of chronic disease such as obesity and diabetes as well as the lowest scores in community and personal wellbeing which drains our economic resources. We are building connections and fostering collaborations to boost employer health, healthcare value, and economic impact across the Southeast,” Harber said.

The plan is to host quarterly seminars across the region along with events in each state being held in between the main events. 

“We learned a lot in the first year of WellSpent,” Vogenberg said. “One of the key was that we needed to be discussing and sharing ideas across state lines.”