Advanced Primary Care Networks Offer Solutions for Small Employers

Advanced primary care (APC) solutions allow employers to offer their workforce access to high-quality healthcare services while lowering costs for the organization and its employees. But this valuable employee benefit often requires a high headcount to opt in. And the build-out costs of an onsite or nearsite health center can be cost-prohibitive. 

With its Network delivery model, Marathon Health empowers small to midsize employers to offer big benefits. 

"Marathon Health's Network health centers are a turnkey solution for businesses to support the health and well-being of their employees,” says Marathon Health CEO Jeff Wells. “Employers don’t have to build a new health center to offer its employees and their families employer-sponsored value-based care and access to personalized medical appointments.”

What is the Marathon Health Network? 

Marathon Health’s open-access APC network consists of 100+ health centers nationwide. When employers opt in, their staff gains access to same-day or next-day appointments at any of these health centers. 

All Marathon Health centers operate within our complete care model. This means patients benefit from access to primary care, mental health services, onsite labs, medication dispensing (where state law permits), virtual access, and more.

Network Benefits

With access to a network, advanced primary care for smaller companies becomes attainable. There are no build-out costs or headcount requirements, and implementation is turnkey. A company can get plugged into the Marathon Health Network within 90 days. 

The City of Kalamazoo in Michigan didn’t have the budget to build a health center from scratch, so it joined the Kalamazoo Network, offering high-quality care access to employees, as well as their spouses and dependents. 

“The Network was definitely the way to go,” says Kristine Cunningham, Human Resources Director for the Kalamazoo County Government. “Our center is right off the freeway, and it’s very obvious.”

Employees can visit any Network location, whether it’s near home, the office or on the road for members who travel frequently. And when there’s not a center nearby, members have access to virtual care.

“With the Network approach, it really allows them [spouses and dependents] to access the health center without coming onsite to their spouse’s work,” Cunningham says. “Now, they can drive at their convenience. They can pick up their kid from school and take the child to these network facilities.” 

With providers incentivized for outcomes versus volume, members benefit from longer appointment times, which allows for more personalized care, better management of chronic conditions and a high employee satisfaction rate (95% on average for Marathon Health Network centers).

Because Network health centers operate independently of insurance carriers, employers and their workforce experience savings from avoidable referrals and medical waste. On average, employers utilizing the Marathon Health Network see annual savings of $1,800 per engaged employee. 

Scalable Solution

With 100+ health centers across 46 metropolitan markets, Marathon Health operates the most extensive advanced primary care network in the nation. In addition, the Marathon Health Network adds locations in step with growing employee populations to provide care within a 10-minute drive of 90% of a company’s workforce and their families.

“Access to Network centers helps us bring our model to more clients  — especially smaller organizations or those with a large, distributed workforce — which furthers our core purpose to enable millions to live their healthiest life,” Wells says. “Our unique model offers extensive Network access for self-insured employers and labor unions of all sizes, from large municipalities and school systems to manufacturers, and is generating broad interest from health insurance plans.”