What are some of the services your worksite clinic should be offering to employees?
Employees may see on-site health clinics as a place to go for emergency services, flu shots, or other one-time needs. However, many worksite clinics operate as full-service primary care facilities. A survey conducted by Mercer in 2015 found “29% of employers with 5,000 or more employees provided an onsite or near-site clinic offering primary care services.”
The survey also found that immunizations and screenings are the most common services provided by employer clinics, but that most of those clinics provide many more services to employees. Additional services and the percentages of clinics that offer those services include:
- Urgent care – 73%
- Preventive care exams – 71%
- Chronic disease management – 63%
- Pharmacy services – 38%
- Mental health / Employee assistance program (EAP) counseling – 26%
- Biometric screenings – 77%
- Face-to-face chronic condition coaching – 60%
- Smoking cessation programs – 50%
- Weight management programs – 56%
Your worksite clinic should consider offering these services as part of a medical home for employees, which, according to Mercer, “allows employers to offer a greater level of care to the higher-risk, medically challenging employees and dependents who typically account for the largest portion of health care spending.”
In the 2015 survey, 26% of the respondents used the worksite clinic as their medical home and another 11% were considering it. In addition, “about half the respondents (49%) say that members are allowed to select the clinic as their primary care provider.”
Employees enjoy the convenience of access to healthcare services at an onsite clinic. Another service that would prove beneficial to employees is the use of electronic health records (EHRs). Offering employees that convenient access to their medical information and to communication tools that enable them to ask questions and receive further instructions can further engage them in their healthcare plans and outcomes.
