We are a mission-driven company.
For 25 years, IWP has built its foundation on one simple belief: injured workers deserve an advocate.
We are fortunate to take care of patients who genuinely need us while simultaneously providing for ourselves, our families, our referral sources, and our investors. While there are many organizations that might make a similar claim, IWP is unique in the landscape of for-profit healthcare companies for two reasons: first, we are truly patient advocates; and second, we’ve been doing this for a long time.
As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of IWP, it’s important we step back and recognize what a truly momentous achievement it is to have served so many patients for so many years. Perhaps equally important, we should remind ourselves of what it truly means to be a patient advocate. It's not limited to one department, one title, or one interaction. It shows up every day in the decisions we make, the problems we solve, and the way we support one another in service of injured workers.
If we wish to be around for another 25 years, we’ll need to redouble our efforts to support injured workers, partner with referral sources, and work together as colleagues to fulfill our promise to be one of the precious few entities in the workers’ compensation system that places the patient at the center of everything we do.
So, what does it really mean to be a patient advocate at IWP?
When you’re tired—and maybe even frustrated—at the end of a long day of meetings in your sales territory, but you make that one last visit, return one more referral source text, or go the extra mile out in the field to get that one document the claims team needs from a doctor’s office… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’re supporting the sales team by ensuring they have the tools, data, and direction they need to succeed in a competitive marketplace that spans over thirty different geographies and that IWP’s presence is polished, professional, and focused on our mission... you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’re juggling outbound enrollment calls with inbound return calls and trying to help as many injured workers as possible to enroll them without skipping a single critical step in our process—all while 150 new referrals show up in a single day… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’re dedicated to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our employees and the building in which many of us work, all while ensuring that each IWP employee has the required resources, physical space, and work environment for each of us to be operating at our best… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you pay attention to the details as a caring clinician (be it as a pharmacist or a technician) or as a patient care representative to ensure each patient receives care that is safe, timely, and effective… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’re focused on finding and recruiting talented individuals to be a part of our organization and ensuring our employees have the training they need to succeed, the support they need to thrive, and the benefits their families need to feel safe… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you start your day early and end your day late worrying about our information security, the next RxCon release, fixing Jayne’s laptop, or helping chart our technological path forward… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’ve analyzed the financial metrics and other key performance indicators critical to our success to the nth degree, but still find yet another way to depict performance, uncover opportunity, or otherwise make sense of 25 years’ worth of data… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’re researching regulatory trends, working to pass (or kill) a piece of legislation, keeping up with the onslaught of industry headlines, and highlighting the failures of the work comp system over and over… you’re being a patient advocate.
When you spend your days ensuring not only that we keep our promise to patients but additionally do so in the right way through measuring and managing quality across our processes or by maintaining the policies, procedures, and our code of conduct to safeguard our mission... you’re being a patient advocate.
When you’re fearlessly engaging an adjuster who doesn’t care about the injured worker nearly as much as they care about not paying bills for needed medications… you’re being a patient advocate.
We are all patient advocates. That’s what makes us the patient advocate pharmacy.
No one else does it as well as we do. No one else has done it as long as we have.
Keep up the good work.
Here’s to the next 25 years.
MG