What employers want from on-site clinics
An on-site clinic is a healthcare facility that is located at an employer’s physical location. The on-site clinic offers employees easy access to basic primary care services and, in some cases, additional services such as pharmacies and fitness centers. The clinic setting can range from a single healthcare provider offering immunizations and well checks to a fully-staffed facility equipped with multiple options available for employees and their families.
Generally, an on-site clinic has as its goal, “easy access and immediate attention, at little or no cost, for a host of services and products that an employee would normally have to leave the worksite to obtain.” What are the top priorities for employers who offer their employees the convenience of access in an on-site clinic?
According to the 2016 Healthiest Employer® “Onsite Workplace Clinic Survey” of employers, brokers, and vendors, employers want two basic outcomes from their on-site clinics. Their top priority is employee health and productivity. In fact, many employers are expanding the basic immunizations and preventative primary care services to include wellness centers, life management programs such as smoking cessation, and other services designed to help employees improve and maintain their quality of health.
Employers’ second most important priority when offering employees on-site clinic services is healthcare cost reduction. Healthcare costs are rising, for employees and employers. On-site clinics can help keep some of these costs in check. In addition, the convenience of access to healthcare encourages more employees to visit a physician when they are ill or to prevent becoming ill. As a result, absenteeism and presenteeism (showing up for work when feeling ill and possibly contagious) are reduced significantly.
The study also found that those employers who do not offer on-site clinics have somewhat different priorities. According to its findings, “fewer than half of employers without onsite clinics have invested in disease management or smoking cessation, and barely half have invested in health coaching or weight loss interventions.”