Case Study: The Merchant Marines

The History of IIM and the Merchant Marines

The relationship between IIM and the Merchant Marines (American Maritime Officers or AMO) began in 2005 when the manager of AMO’s Health and Wellness program, Jan Davenport, attended a presentation by Dr. Veltmann at the annual American Association of Integrative Medicine meeting in Orlando, FL. In that talk, Dr. Veltmann described his data showing how functional genomic testing was used to decrease the recurrence of breast cancer among women. Ms Davenport and Dr. Veltmann discussed how functional genomic testing could benefit the officers of the Merchant Marines and reduce the union’s healthcare costs.

Dr. Veltmann was then invited to AMO’s headquarters in Florida to meet with Steve Nickerson, the organization’s executive director. As a result of that meeting, a pilot program was initiated to investigate IIM’s program and benefits.

During the first year more than 75 people were enrolled, progress tracked and health outcomes evaluated. The results, benefits and cost savings to the plan are found in the drop down tab labeled “Results and Benefits.”

Based on success of the first year, AMO expanded the program and enrolled another 200 people. Functional genomic testing is now a vital part of AMO’s Health and Wellness program and will continue to expand. Member feedback has been extremely positive and healthcare savings to the plan have been in the magnitude of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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