MANAGEMENT Cary Silverstein

Guided by core values

Vivent Health pivots, grows during COVID-19

IN THE MIDST of the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisconsin has a regional nonprofit organization that is delivering health care to an underserved community in an efficient manner.

What started 35 years ago as a response to the exploding HIV epidemic in our country has grown into an organization serving 10,000 individuals with HIV in four states. Vivent Health, once known locally as ARCW (AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin) has become a force driving health care in Wisconsin, Colorado, Missouri and Texas. Their patient-focused approach has permitted them to successfully confront a 20% increase in demand for food and a 15% increase in requests for pharmacy services during this health crisis, while meeting their organization’s financial and budget needs.

Under the steady leadership of CEO Michael Gifford and his management team and board, Vivent Health quickly pivoted and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by reaching out to their clients and meeting them where they are at. Vivent has reached out to this very vulnerable population and provided both tele-med and telebehavioral health appointments. In addition, they delivered food, medicine and home HIV kits to their patients and clients.

They were able to accomplish these objectives while completing a merger with a $10 million, 97-employee ASO (AIDS Service Organization) in Austin, Texas in March.

Vivent’s goal is to continue to roll out their proven service model until they serve 25,000 in-

dividuals with HIV by 2025. This will still only account for a small percentage of the 1 million individuals who suffer from HIV in the United States.

I posed a number of questions to Gifford regarding the organization’s expansion strategies and the challenges that they have and will encounter. He explained the driving force behind these strategies is their mission, “A world without HIV.”

Another major driver of his efforts is the fact that ASOs from 26 states have sought Vivent’s guidance and support to improve HIV care, prevention and treatment in their communities and states. Their nationally renowned HIV Medical Home model provides unfettered access to care, achieves some of the highest clinical outcomes and reduces health care costs. These goals are accomplished in a number of distinct ways: • Addressing the social determinants of health (such as homelessness, mental health or alcohol and drug abuse issues) so that people have fewer health issues and do not end up in the

ER unnecessarily. • Providing comprehensive health care so people know they can turn to Vivent. • Working to address other chronic conditions like smoking and diabetes to reduce health care costs.

An independent study showed that their model works. Vivent patients were in the hospital 52% less, in the ER unnecessarily 48% less and have hospital stays that are 10% shorter.

One of the greatest challenges Vivent faces is the ability to generate the resources needed to support its national expansion, beyond its financial needs. The organization created both a business development team and a five-person integration team to collectively source opportunities, fully assess and evaluate them and then select the best partners. A key success criteria is organizational and community support for the merger. Any candidate must meet these criteria for integration.

It became obvious that Vivent needed to stay true to its model of care, using opportunities to expand access to HIV Medical Home rather than modifying it based on organizational norms of new partners. Any future merger would be carefully evaluated because it takes 14 to 18 months to complete a merger and stabilize the site.

I inquired if he had any concerns that the rapid expansion would dilute Vivent’s efforts in its current locations. His response was, “With four mergers in the last three years, this had been a concern but not a reality.” He went on to say that Vivent had increased services in each of its geographical areas while also expanding to new ones.

I finally asked what obstacles were posed to Vivent Health by the COVID-19 pandemic. Michael responded: Be the organization you are, stay true to yourself and rely on your core values.

“Finally, agility. We must be able to change direction and priorities as the conditions change,” he said.

The future is bright for Vivent as there are still many locations in our country where the target population is underserved and would surely benefit from Vivent’s proven HIV Medical Home model. n

CARY SILVERSTEIN

Cary Silverstein, MBA, is a speaker, author and consultant, a former executive for Gimbel’s Midwest and JH Collectibles, and a former professor for DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School. He can be reached at csilve1013@aol.com.