Case Study: General Electric achieves improved workforce health and reduced ER visits with Vitality

General Electric - Customer Case Study

General Electric (GE) turned to community-level action to address rising medical costs and gaps in prevention, chronic care and care coordination. In Cincinnati—home to about 27,000 GE‑insured lives—GE launched the Healthy Communities Initiative (2009–2012) to invest in primary care (patient‑centered medical homes), build interoperable information exchange, strengthen chronic‑care quality, gather consumer feedback, and explore value‑based payment models. Vitality documented this effort in its Beyond the Four Walls report.

Vitality highlights GE’s multi‑stakeholder solution—forming a Stakeholder Council, piloting PCMHs, supporting HIE infrastructure and commissioning RAND for evaluation—and the measurable impacts achieved. PCMH pilot patients had 3.5% fewer ER visits and 14% fewer admissions (2008–2012); pediatric asthma saw 14 fewer ER visits per 1,000 patients; diabetes HbA1c testing rose ~5 percentage points to 80% with fewer complications (–0.7% vs +0.2% elsewhere); and work absences fell (an estimated 7,281 fewer sick calls). Vitality notes these early wins helped secure selection for federal primary care initiatives and broader state investments.

General Electric