Ongoing healthcare legislation continues to motivate business owners to innovate when it comes to providing their employees with optimal and cost-effective health and wellness options. This week on unsuitable on Rea Radio, Dave is joined by Rick Pipes, a partner at PiPES insurance, an independent insurance agency headquartered in New Philadelphia, Ohio, to discuss onsite medical facilities. Rick explains the benefits associated with this option as well as how the results will reflect on your bottom line.
According to Rick, installation of an onsite medical facility begins with a relationship between the company and an independent healthcare company. The employer goes on to select their medical staff, which would include a physician, a nurse practitioner and a health and wellness coach. These staff members would be paid hourly. In these types of onsite facilities, the employer and the third party administrator design specific plans and employees set behavioral health goals, while physicians can get back to what they love – helping, serving and caring for patients regarding their health.
This unique healthcare option, Rick explains, has plenty of opportunities. About 40-50 percent of the U.S. population does not have a general practitioner. As a result, these employees look to urgent care staff to manage their health. This behavior does not give patients the ability to manage their long-term health needs, because they are only concerned with any immediate health concerns they may have. In contrast, onsite medical clinics help to focus on patient preventive care, thus reducing backend, long-term health costs down the road – which create larger volume claims. Advantageously, onsite medical facilities such as this give employees healthcare convenience, with quick, easy, and timely appointments, and much needed quality-care time with their facility physician.
Rick states that this kind of onsite care is applicable to smaller companies starting at 250 employees with 400 member participants, including family members. Smaller companies also may join regional clinics, whereby plan designs are customized with higher deductibles, saving premium costs, and employers pay a per member (employees and their family) flat rate for medical appointments at the clinic, where services are free.
This kind of “intimate’ employee care, Rick states, shines a positive spotlight on the employer by granting immediate access to a credible physician who serves each employee and their family. Additionally, onsite care programs work to help employers attract, hire, and keep potential employees. Rick argues that on site medical clinics offer less liability for the employer, as a third-party administrator and the medical staff are a separate organizations such that employees’ information is not being shared with the employer’s HR department, thus further insulating the employer from any healthcare risks.
The session discusses that the function of onsite clinics is much like a general practitioner, focusing on health and wellness, common colds and flus, and maintenance of chronic conditions such as diabetes and COPD, as well as supplying prescriptions, and administering blood tests, etc. Issues outside the scope of a general practitioner would be referred to an outside healthcare specialist.
Rick states that onsite clinics combine the clinical side, the health & wellness side, and the data collection of healthcare into a balanced package that educates employees about their health and health maintenance. And if you are thinking that an onsite medical clinic won’t work for you, think again. Rick says, an employer in Southern Kentucky has had 20 of its employees stop tobacco use since the rollout of its onsite medical clinic. Furthermore, 98 percent of this company’s employees reportedly utilize their “in house” doctor.
Want to learn more about your healthcare options? Visit the more resources page for this episode at www.reacpa.com/podcast. And don’t forget to show this episode some love! Like it, comment on it and share it. We will be eternally grateful!
And you can learn more about PiPES Insurance at http://www.pipesins.com/pipes.