UVM Cares Builds Culture of Wellness
Faculty and staff members at the University of Vermont are known for their dedication to helping their students and communities learn, grow and thrive. But when stretched between work commitments and family life, it’s all too easy for personal health to slip through the cracks. Now, a new service called UVM Cares, a partnership between UVM Health Network and University of Vermont, will support university employees as they navigate their health care and provide additional resources to help them lead their healthiest lives.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for our faculty and staff members and their families to get the care they need,” says Chris Lehman, UVM’s chief human resources officer. “UVM Cares is about enhancing care, resources and support for our employees and encouraging a broader culture of wellness across our community.”
Building a Culture of Wellness
UVM Cares launched on March 31, 2025, for all UVM employees and their dependents who use UVM’s medical insurance – about 7,000 people in total. At its core, UVM Cares is a service for self-insured employers that emphasizes proactive, preventive health care to help people stay healthy and reduce hospital visits, manage any chronic health conditions and ease the anxiety of navigating the complexities of health care.
In many ways, UVM Cares exemplifies UVM Health Network’s approach to improving health: the most effective medicine often isn’t a pill or procedure but a conversation, a timely reminder or a personalized coach guiding someone towards their best health. By weaving proactive services—routine preventive screenings, chronic disease management, immunizations and stress management techniques—into everyday life through resources available on campus, UVM Cares seeks to prevent health concerns from escalating into serious health events.
“As we build UVM Cares, our goal is to bridge gaps in people’s health care before they develop into barriers to better health,” says Christina DeGraff-Murphy, assistant general counsel of population health & strategic partnerships at UVM Health Network. “By embedding a dedicated team for personalized care navigation into the day-to-day life of university staff, we aim to help them get the right care at the right time and in the most cost-effective way.”
A Team-Based Approach to Care
Preventive care isn’t just a doctor’s appointment. It’s a team-based approach to care that brings together experts from every corner of health and wellness to support a patient. UVM Cares uses this team-based approach to care, supporting UVM employees and their family members with health coaches, dietitians, pharmacists and care managers, among others. A dedicated care guide is available to work with individuals to understand their needs and book appointments, untangle benefits questions or even suggest support resources in the community.
Critically, UVM Cares recognizes that sometimes, trips to the emergency room or hospital are inevitable. That’s why it offers services to help members recover more smoothly from an acute health problem, stay healthier in the long run and head off return hospital visits in the future. After any hospital or emergency room visit, the dedicated team reviews discharge instructions, reaches out to the member to answer questions, sets up any follow up appointments and makes sure a person’s medications are safe and easy to manage.
Meanwhile, care managers are a central point of contact for members with complex needs. They can coordinate referrals and follow-ups and can help to uncover and address barriers—like transportation or homecare needs—and watch for patterns in emergency visits so they can tackle root causes before they escalate, reducing the chance of return trips the hospital or ER.
“We know that by focusing on the whole individual, we can help them spend less time and money on health care and more time going about their lives and doing the things they love,” says DeGraff-Murphy. “There is so much potential, and we’re really looking forward to helping this partnership grow.”
