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MSK Risk Looks Different Across Your Workforce. Your Benefits Strategy Should Too.

Most employer MSK strategies were designed with one kind of worker in mind. For organizations with mixed workforces, that assumption leaves a significant portion of the population underserved, and the costs show up in claims, adherence rates, and attrition.

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Industry Insights

Why MSK Cost Variability is Forcing Health Plans into Value-Based Care

As medical costs climb and scrutiny around care quality intensifies, health plans are under pressure to evolve. MSK conditions affect nearly 40% of members and drive enormous, unpredictable spend—often through fragmented care. Physician-led, value-based MSK models promise a better way forward, aligning cost control with better clinical and member experiences and outcomes.

Industry Insights

Why Health Benefits “Business as Usual” Is About to Get Expensive for Employers

Employer healthcare costs on the rise, with more of that burden increasingly shifting to employees through higher premiums and cost sharing. As MSK conditions remain a major and inefficient cost driver, leading employers are adopting physician-led MSK care to control spend, improve workforce outcomes, and strengthen their long-term benefits strategy.

Industry Insights

The Era of the Unified Musculoskeletal Care Delivery Ecosystem: Redefining Value, Access, and the Patient Experience in 2026

As we approach 2026, the landscape of musculoskeletal (MSK) care is poised for transformation. These shifts will fundamentally redefine how value is delivered and how millions of patients access treatment for back pain, joint issues, and mobility challenges. Vori Health CEO, Jessica Landin, shares her strategic outlook and what to expect in the pivotal year ahead.

Industry Insights

What Comes After the Weight Loss? Protecting Strength and Function in Medicare Advantage Members on GLP-1s

Rapid muscle loss from GLP-1s can create new risks among Medicare Advantage (MA) members. Vori Health helps members improve mobility and quality of life.

Industry Insights

New Vori/Harris Poll: What Americans Really Want from Back and Joint Pain Care

A nationally representative survey, The Harris Poll, reveals that trust hinges on fast access, hybrid options, and physician-led teams—especially when surgery is on the table.

Industry Insights

5 Questions About MSK Pain Only a Physician Can Answer

When pain strikes, getting the right answers can mean all the difference between recovery and dangerous delays. And when it comes to back and joint pain, only a specialty physician can provide the full picture to prevent any delays, unnecessary procedures, or missed diagnoses.

Industry Insights

HEDIS 2025: Why Health Plans Need a Physician-Led MSK Strategy

Rising HEDIS standards demand bold action, not incremental fixes. Learn how Vori Health's nationwide, physician-led MSK care model transforms multiple HEDIS measures while slashing costs—the high-impact intervention health plans need now to distinguish themselves in an increasingly demanding healthcare landscape.

Industry Insights

Unnecessary MSK Surgeries: A $2 Billion Crisis Demanding Immediate Action

Every eight minutes, another unnecessary back surgery is performed in the U.S.—amounting to over 200,000 inappropriate procedures and two billion dollars in Medicare waste. As healthcare costs continue to rise, this systematic overtreatment of musculoskeletal conditions represents a crisis employers and health plans can no longer ignore as traditional approaches continue to fail patients and payers alike.

Industry Insights

2025 Trends and Predictions in MSK Care

Vori Health's co-founders unveil the game-changing forces transforming musculoskeletal care—from GLP-1s and AI to the rise of hybrid solutions. As value-based care raises the stakes, discover essential insights on how leading health plans are positioning themselves to win in this pivotal year for MSK care.

Industry Insights

Muscle Loss and GLP-1s: Why It Matters and How To Address It

Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and other glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s) have become household names in a short span of time. Yet, what many herald as a “miracle drug” for chronic conditions and weight loss is now increasingly associated with negative side effects—one of the latest of which is muscle loss, or sarcopenia.

Industry Insights

The Future of Telehealth and First Dollar Coverage

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth was often treated as a secondary form of care, especially for services that extended beyond basic consultations and preventative services. It wasn’t until the public health emergency that telehealth rose to fame as the premier solution to the lack of in-person care. However, what began as a stop-gap measure was soon recognized as a long-term care optimization solution—especially in high-cost, high-utilization specialties like musculoskeletal (MSK) care.

Industry Insights

How Hybrid Care is Helping Employers Overcome Pain

Virtual care exploded on the scene at the onset of the pandemic, offering a critically necessary detour for healthcare delivery. However, as the world shifted back to in-person engagement, patients didn’t always follow suit. As the post-COVID healthcare paradigm continues to take shape, hybrid care is quickly evolving into the leading solution that offers the care employees both want and need.

Industry Insights

Can GLP-1s Break the Vicious Cycle of Mental Health, MSK Pain, and Obesity?

The GLP-1 craze is shedding light on the overlooked link between obesity, chronic musculoskeletal pain, and depression. And for individuals suffering from all three conditions—achieving healthy progress can feel almost impossible.

Industry Insights

The Ripple Effect of Mental Health on Pain and Productivity in the Workplace

Every employer has witnessed firsthand the detrimental impact that musculoskeletal (MSK) pain and mental health conditions have on workplace productivity—but what happens when an employee suffers from both? The answer is clear: higher healthcare costs and lower quality of work.

Industry Insights

Defining and Optimizing Member Engagement in MSK Care

Every musculoskeletal (MSK) care initiative aims to boost member involvement, yet achieving sustained, quantifiable upticks in utilization and member contentment remains elusive for most. The path to enhancing engagement commences with establishing a connection between benefits and members, fostering trust along the way.

Industry Insights

MSK Savings: 5 Reasons Why Medical Doctors Are the Missing Piece

Despite various targeted solutions designed to alleviate rising costs caused by inappropriate MSK care, employers have yet to see a significant shift in their MSK spend—leaving them puzzled. The missing piece? Physician-led care at the forefront.

Industry Insights

Women and Pain: Disparities in Treatment and Experience

While pain may be a universal human experience, numerous studies consistently show that women face a higher likelihood of experiencing chronic back and joint pain, yet they are less likely to receive adequate treatment that truly addresses their needs.

Industry Insights

Searching for the Truth in MSK ROI Calculations

With healthcare costs continuing to balloon into the new year, employers and plans should challenge their vendors and solutions to determine the true value of their programs. While improvements in program satisfaction and qualitative outcomes are helpful indicators, the only way to perform a concrete analysis is by tracking return on investment (ROI).

Industry Insights

Closing the Value Gaps in Medicare Advantage Plans

As cut points rise and star ratings fall, the next step for MA plan leaders is to identify low-hanging fruit where measure-level improvements can drive a significant increase in plan value. In order to move the needle, providing members access to high-quality MSK care is an excellent first step.

Industry Insights

New Validation Institute Report Affirms Vori Health Care Model Reduces Surgery While Improving Outcomes

When you solve a problem at its root, you get better outcomes. We built our award-winning, patient-centered care model for MSK conditions upon this premise, and we are thrilled to report the revalidation of its clinical outcomes from the Validation Institute.

Industry Insights

2024 Trends and Predictions in MSK Care

2024 is fast approaching, meaning it’s time to look back and reflect on the wins, losses, and emerging trends that defined 2023 and will shape the musculoskeletal (MSK) industry in the coming year. Read on for what value-based care strategies Vori Health co-founders, Ryan Grant, MD, and Mary O'Connor, MD have to share.

Industry Insights

Freeing an Aging Population from Pain

The United States population is aging quickly—a change driven by a booming segment of older adults (age 65 and above), which recorded the fastest growth rate in the past 10 years since the late 19th century. This shift has huge implications for healthcare. The industry must quickly determine how to handle dramatic upswings in utilization rates stemming from age-related conditions.

Industry Insights

Quantifying the Total Savings of Telehealth for Employees

Telehealth has proven to be a significant cost-effective care model for not only employers, but employees as well. With the right virtual solution, employers can bring significant savings and effective MSK care right to their employees’ fingertips.

Industry Insights

The Role of Virtual and Hybrid PT in the Future of MSK Care

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s the importance of high-value, accessible healthcare. By shifting visits from offices to online platforms, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth and opened doors to a different kind of care—one that prioritizes member satisfaction above all else.

Industry Insights

Improving Satisfaction & Star Ratings with Accessible MSK Care

As the healthcare industry shifts to more value-based and patient-centered care, the issue of access to medical services has surfaced as a critical concern for many Medicare Advantage plan members. To bolster Star ratings in the coming years, MA plans must take swift action to implement solutions that improve access to needed care—especially when it comes to treating back and joint pain.

Industry Insights

3 Ways to Cut the Path from MSK Pain to Opioid Addiction

In honor of Pain Awareness Month and Opioid Awareness Day, Vori Health and Ophelia are teaming up to spread awareness of the connection between chronic pain and opioid addiction. Opioid-related overdose deaths have more than doubled in the last six years. The trend is expected to continue, especially as many patients with opioid addiction have struggled to access FDA-approved medications for treatment such as buprenorphine.

Industry Insights

To Lower MSK Costs, First Drive Value to the Patient

Value-based care initiatives can only be sustainable if patient outcomes are a top priority. By carefully assessing the impact of solutions on patients, the healthcare industry as a whole can work towards reducing the cost of care while delivering meaningful value.

Industry Insights

Managing Low Back Pain to Improve Productivity in the Workplace

Low back pain affects millions of people worldwide and is projected to continue to grow as a leading cause of disability. This increase in prevalence rates leads to a negative impact on employee well-being, workplace productivity, and healthcare utilization—creating significant harm to an employer's bottom line.

Industry Insights

Destigmatizing Pelvic Floor Dysfunction with Digital Health

Pelvic floor health is an often neglected aspect of musculoskeletal (MSK) care – leaving individuals with chronic pelvic pain without adequate treatment. To drive change, employers and payers must understand the scope of the issue, bringing the right care to those who have waited decades for relief.

Industry Insights

The Surge of Elective Surgeries: Do People Really Need Them?

The COVID-19 pandemic caused healthcare system strain, leading to shortages and delays in elective surgeries. Orthopedic surgeries, like knee and hip replacements, were impacted the most. Now that surgeries are resuming, it's important to consider if there are alternative, cost-effective approaches to improve patient outcomes.

Industry Insights

Evaluating the True Cost of Self-Diagnosis in MSK Care

The explosion of internet accessibility opened doors to endless opportunities for learning and discovery. However, what began as an effort to improve healthcare literacy grew into what we now know as “Dr. Google”—a search-engine-based framework fueling self-diagnosis.

Industry Insights

Do Older Adults Embrace Digital MSK Care?

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions are the top causes of physical disability around the world and can impair function at any stage in life. But as the risk of developing muscle and joint pain increases with age, older adults make up a disproportionately large part of the affected population.

Industry Insights

Sensors vs. Sensorless: Which Tech Wins at Member Engagement?

Conflicting responsibilities and inconvenient timing top the list of reasons countless patients cite for skipping in-person PT sessions. Without easier access to a consistent physical therapy program, patients position themselves for suboptimal outcomes which often lead to long-term, higher-cost care.

Industry Insights

How Effective Health Benefits Keep Your Team Happy

While 2021 may have been labeled the year of the “Great Resignation,” 2022 proved to be a more volatile year for employers across the nation. Over 50 million employees quit their jobs in 2022, topping 2021’s record-breaking resignation rate by nearly 3 million employees—and this trend is only expected to continue. Now more than ever, employers must evaluate the key internal forces pushing their employees to either stay in their current roles or leave in the hopes of finding a better position.

Industry Insights

In Search of Health Equity: How Digital Health Measures Up

Digital health solutions stand at the center of many of health equity discussions. The ability to connect with the right clinicians from home ungates convenient, cost-effective, and high-value treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients who normally would struggle to access care.

Industry Insights

Driving More Value in MSK with Integrated Hybrid Care

As the tides of healthcare shift to value-based care, Integrated Practice Units, or IPUs, are being viewed with increasing interest and optimism. And for good reason. Studies show this model of healthcare delivery—which brings an interdisciplinary care team together under one roof to treat a specific medical condition—can drive value for a spectrum of clinical conditions from low back pain to Parkinson’s disease.

Industry Insights

What is the Total Cost of MSK Care and Why Does It Matter?

As the U.S. healthcare system grapples with near-astronomical levels of medical spending, all eyes are turning to musculoskeletal (MSK) care as a top driver of these costs. While many concerted efforts have been made to decrease MSK spend, such as the shift to outpatient surgical facilities, reference-based pricing, centers for excellence, travel surgery programs, and in-home patient care, the best approach may be one that gets back to the basics. How do we accurately identify each key player contributing to the total cost of care and leverage that data to inform our cost-saving strategies?

Industry Insights

Why Your Benefits Strategy Needs Healthcare Personalization

The healthcare system currently operates on a one-size-fits-all model that typically treats symptoms, not the person as a whole. This narrow focus neglects the integrated nature of the body, leaving countless individuals with inadequate and unnecessary care. Employers who rely on these care models not only feel the downstream impact of rising healthcare costs, but also growing benefit dissatisfaction among team members. As benefits teams tackle this problem head-on in a tight labor market, it's clear that some solutions make this task easier than others. Personalized healthcare solutions not only help teams support the unique needs of their diverse employee populations while maintaining uniformity in benefits—they also boost outcomes and lower costs.

Industry Insights

New Report from Validation Institute Independently Validates Vori Health Outcomes

When you solve a problem at its root, you get better outcomes. We built our award-winning, patient-centered care model for MSK conditions upon this premise, and we are thrilled to report validation of its clinical outcomes from the Validation Institute.

Industry Insights

B is for Back Pain: The Impact of Musculoskeletal Issues on Teachers

Teaching is one of the most honorable professions in society. Educating our children to become productive members is one of the keys to our society’s success. But this tremendous effort takes a toll. To do their jobs, teachers face a startingly high risk of developing both physical and mental health conditions. And, many times, these two tolls compound each other.

Industry Insights

Founder's Story: Building the Future of Better Care

I have often been asked why I left the comfort and security of my successful career in academic medicine to co-found Vori Health with my amazing partner, Ryan Grant, MD. The answer is simple: I am a doctor committed to helping people lead healthier lives, and I often struggled to do this in our traditional healthcare system. As an orthopedic surgeon, I like to fix broken things. But repairing such substantial flaws in our traditional system required building something new—something better.

Industry Insights

Lowering the Cost of MSK Care with Telemedicine

Over the past three years, the healthcare industry has experienced several paradigm shifts that have fundamentally reshaped our approach to medical care. One of these key shifts is the rise of telemedicine. What started as a necessary alternative to traditional in-person care during the pandemic has now become a staple in the healthcare system.

Industry Insights

How Employers Can Cut the Costs of MSK Care

As national healthcare expenditures balloon into the trillions, a closer look reveals musculoskeletal (MSK) care to be a leading contributor to skyrocketing costs.In 2019 alone, MSK care totaled almost $253 billion nationwide, pushing employers to contribute even more to employee health plans.That same year, MSK care accounted for approximately 31 percent of total employer medical expenses, according to a National Business Group on Health report.

Industry Insights

Why I Stopped Operating to Fix the Way We Treat Patients

I became a neurosurgeon because I love making things better. Since founding my first company as a teenager, I have always pushed to make the world a better place. I developed and patented medical devices, founded and advised companies, and pursued years of medical training to improve healthcare. As a neurosurgeon, I was awestruck by modern medicine’s ability to make things better—to ameliorate the sick, reverse paralysis, and help an individual in a true time of need. But I also saw how modern medicine can make things worse, especially when it comes to treating back, neck, and joint pain.

Industry Insights

Fixing Musculoskeletal Pain Without Addictive Opioids

Musculoskeletal pain is the leading contributor to disability in the world, including missed days of work. Musculoskeletal pain is also the primary reason opioids are prescribed, often inappropriately. Despite well-published guidelines encouraging non-opioid treatments, 21.5% of patients are currently prescribed opioids at their initial visit for musculoskeletal (MSK) pain.

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