What Does an Onsite or Nearsite Health Center Really Do?

Employer-sponsored health centers, whether onsite or nearsite, are exclusive to the people the employer chooses to include, which may range from only employees who participate in the health plan, all the way up to all employees, spouses, dependents and retirees. Who is included, and the full scope of services, is ultimately determined by the sponsoring employer.

The employer dedicates the health center to its employees (and families) to make it easier to get top quality primary care, wellness services and prevention services. The goal is to offer the right care at the right place at the right time to the right patient. At Marathon Health, many services are available online and through virtual care, in addition to the onsite health center setting.

Our employer-sponsored health centers offer

An employer-sponsored health center helps by providing easier access to services, which in turn makes it easier for people to get the medical testing, coaching and advice they need when they need it. Feedback can be more immediate and personalized, helping the patient clear their own unique hurdles in making lifestyle changes and sticking with a treatment plan that works for them. It’s easier to get an appointment in a Marathon Health center, and it doesn’t take half the day to keep it. It’s onsite or nearsite to the workplace, and we aim for a wait no longer than 5 minutes.

Where patients do spend time is in with the health centerian. They are encouraged to ask questions, understand diagnoses and treatments, and share in decision making. At the onsite health center, patient empowerment is the watchword of the day – every day. The usual barriers to care – time, cost, fear – are lowered. With improved access comes improved outcomes. From a big picture perspective, Marathon proactively manages the health of your employee population, closing gaps in care and providing patient outreach services. The result is better controlled health risk seen in key indicators like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index.

Onsite & nearsite health centers for employers are growing in popularity across all industry types. Among organizations with 500+ employees, employer-sponsored health centers are most commonly found in the healthcare, government and manufacturing sectors (42%, 33% and 17%, respectively). They are also common in financial and other service industries, in wholesale/retail, and in transportation, communications, utilities, entertainment and agriculture. Employers with 1,000 or more employees are even more likely than employers with 500 to offer this benefit.

Benefits of an Employer-Sponsored Health Center

1. Save Money

• Positive ROI
• Reduce trend in medical spending
• Reduce ER and Urgent Care visits
• Reduce employee out-of-pocket costs

2. Save Time

• Reduce delays to treatment for illness or injury
• Increase timely prevention and wellness care
• Simplify access for lab testing

3. Boost Productivity

• Reduce unplanned absenteeism
• Reduce days lost from work
• Reduce presenteeism (working distracted)

4. Improve Health

• Screen for health risks
• Manage chronic conditions
• Engage and empower patients
• Focus on lifestyle medicine, healthy habits

5. Improve Care Quality

• Make appropriate specialist referrals
• Advocate and educate patients for shared decision-making
• Help patients understand and follow their care plans

6. Win the Talent War

• Attract and retain top talent
• Boost employee morale
• Create a culture of health

Why Marathon Health centers are seeing explosive growth

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When done right, an onsite health center will help wrangle out-of-control healthcare costs and make them more predictable. And it does that not by cutting back on services, but by enhancing access to the kind of services that lead to better health outcomes, allowing people to live healthier lives at home and at work. Healthier people can be more productive, taking less time off for illness and medical care, and performing on the job with less distraction and anxiety.

When you put it all together, it creates the kind of healthy workplace culture that’s attractive to top talent and lets employees know that their employer truly supports them in being at their best. That’s why employer-sponsored health centers are often described by employees alike as “the best benefit our company offers.” At the same time, it’s a benefit that generates long-term, sustainable cost savings. It saves out-of-pocket costs for employees and holds down the cost of the health plan for the employer as well.

1. Controlling healthcare costs

Employers who sponsor onsite health centers most often self-fund their health plans, using the company’s own funds to pay healthcare claims rather than paying a premium to an insurance company to assume the risk. Since the money for claims comes directly from the employer, they have a vested interest in making sure there’s real value to each dollar being spent. Marathon Health is a value-based model. We succeed by keeping people healthy and eliminating unnecessary cost from the system. We guarantee employers a return on investment from our health center programs.

Our health centers save money and deliver ROI by providing a cost-effective setting, focusing on prevention and helping each employer make smart choices about the services that will have the greatest impact on the health of their population.

2. Improving health outcomes

Just like the population as a whole, the overwhelming majority of employees have two looming health problems. First, less than 3% of US adults can check all four of these boxes:

• Get enough exercise

• Eat healthy

• Have a healthy body fat percentage

• Don’t smoke

Second, under half of us get all our recommended health screenings when we’re supposed to.

3. Boosting productivity

With easier access to the health center for illness or injury, your employees can get in for an appointment and get the treatment they need before their condition worsens. How often have we all thought, “I wish I could get in and out and get back to business?!” What’s more, you can go back to work without the worry on your mind.

And when it comes to issues bigger than the common cold or a simple strain, it’s important to remember that in every stage of life, employees bring their physical, emotional and financial well-being to the job with them. An employer-sponsored health center can open the doors to a full range of services in the health center, online and in the community to help your employees manage their overall well-being. Our purpose is to help employees bring their best selves to work!

4. Attracting and retaining top talent

The labor market has never been more competitive. In response, employers are offering more creative benefits to appeal to all the generations in the workplace without giving away the farm. Employer-sponsored health centers are a benefit that will save you money while making your employees feel like you're spending it to truly take care of them. That’s why Willis Towers Watson found that employees are more likely to say they’ll stay with their employers when they have an onsite health center. And, they more often cite the healthcare plan as an important reason for joining the organization – or sticking with it – when there’s an onsite health center.

Final thoughts

If you’re one of the rapidly growing number of organizations that wants a workforce at its very best without breaking the bank, consider sponsoring an onsite health and wellness health center for your employees. Interested in exploring how Marathon's advanced primary care might fit into your organization’s benefits offering? Contact us today to learn more.