Employer Healthcare Strategies

To attract and keep top talent, it’s no secret that leading employers offer a healthy mix of benefits – great pay, ample time-off, opportunities for continuing education, and rewarding culture. And speaking of healthy, companies are investing in the health and wellness of employees now more than ever.

Nearly 68% of employers have some type of wellness program, and there isn’t any wonder as to why. Wellness programs have the power to promote awareness, incentivize positive behavior change, and address rising healthcare costs – it’s a win-win for waistline and bottom-line.

Are you serious about getting started with an employee medical clinic? If so, you or your Broker may prefer to utilize a formal RFP process.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a tool that helps organizations clearly communicate what they are looking for from an ideal on-site medical clinic vendor.

Successfully selecting a vendor requires a clear understanding of your goals, expected outcomes, deliverables, responsibilities, and schedules.

The result of putting time and effort into a well-crafted RFP? Attraction of quality vendors who will put their best foot forward to win your business.

Before you go off and make your RFP P-U-B-L-I-C, there are a few things you need to know, and some pointers to help you attract quality vendors.

Thinking about investing in a worksite clinic? Many companies are. As more Americans gain coverage and the shortage of primary care providers intensifies, more employers are investing in worksite clinics. Among employers with 5,000 or more employees, 29% have a worksite clinic that provides primary care services, up from 24% in 2013 according to a recent Mercer survey.

While worksite clinics have been in existence for nearly 30 years, new medical management and business models have emerged over time. Most contemporary vendors offer nimble medical management services with technologically advanced tools and programs to assist patients throughout the continuum of care. The result is quality, cost-effective patient care that yields savings.

So what should you consider when choosing an onsite clinic vendor? Here is a list of five questions to help you field vendors and determine which will provide quality service and real savings.

As designers and researchers who have spent the better part of two years creating systems of healthy living for a large national populace, Cortney Rowan and Karuna Harishanker identify the unique power workplaces have on reframing the very mindset of health itself in their Harvard Business Review post, “What Great Corporate Wellness Programs Do.”

As part of a joint project with the Department of Defense, the pair recently researched over 20 award-winning and leading workplace wellness programs implemented by visionary companies.

Owning the responsibility to change how everyday people view healthcare has lead to incredible changes that neither government or healthcare organizations have been able to achieve. 

Instead of paying pricy premiums to insurers, self-insured companies pay claims filed by employees and health care providers directly and assume most of the financial risk of providing health benefits to employees. To mitigate significant losses, self-funded companies often sign up for a special “stop loss” insurance, hedging against very large or unexpected claims. The result? A stronger position to stabilize health care costs in the long-term. No wonder self-funded plans are on the rise with nearly 81% of employees at large companies covered.

Despite the rise in self-insured companies, employers are uncertain as to whether they’ll even be able to afford coverage in the long-term given ACA regulations. Now more than ever, employers (self-insured or not) must understand that wellness is a business strategy. High-performing companies are able to manage costs by implementing the most effective tactics for improving workforce health.