7 Benefits of Direct Primary Care for Employers

Employers can save with direct primary care. Here's how.

Direct Primary Care · By William Kirkpatrick · November 4, 2016

Many employees consider health insurance coverage their most important benefit. In fact, many employees believe health benefits are nearly as important as salary. Health insurance isn’t the sexiest of benefits, but it’s probably the most valuable. A catastrophic health problem can bankrupt even someone making a six-figure salary, and unpaid medical bills were the leading cause of U.S. bankruptcies last year.

For employers, benefits are equally important. But as healthcare costs continue to rise and the cost of employer-sponsored coverage continues to take a chunk out of budgets, employees and employers are getting less and less value from these benefits.

The Direct Primary Care Solution

Offering direct primary care as a part of your overall healthcare benefits package can bring value back to these benefits. For a pre-set monthly fee, direct primary care offers primary care access and resolves many of the issues we all experience with primary care: long waits, untimely and inconvenient appointment scheduling, limited access, and short appointment times leading to unanswered questions and disgruntled patients (or, in this case, employees).

Here are 7 reasons why direct primary care health coverage should be incorporated into your benefits package:

It saves employers money. Direct primary care can provide substantial savings and improved cost controls for employers in managing overall health benefit expenses. This approach typically saves employers double-digits over traditional group plans, while delivering a far better care experience. It can also minimize employees’ out-of-pocket expenses and helps solve their avoidance of care for financial reasons. Employees should not have to forgo healthcare because they don’t want to pay their co-pay or because their deductible is sky high.
It reduces absenteeism and presenteeism. By taking advantage of the proactive, preventative nature of direct primary care, employees stay active in the workforce and keep out of the hospital and urgent care clinics.
It’s convenient. Direct primary care provides employees convenient and unfettered access to their primary care physician—enjoying prompt appointments, exceptional care, and easy utilization. By having direct cell phone and email access to the doctor, employees no longer have to wait hours in a waiting room to interact with the doctor to answer a simple question, get a shot of support, or even a prescription refill.
It helps employers retain their best employees. As competition for talented employees intensifies in the coming years, small businesses will have to find ways to attract and keep good workers. So, providing quality health coverage is an important bargaining chip to give you the competitive edge for attracting and retaining talented employees.
It boosts employee engagement. Whatever an employer can do to improve morale—and quality health benefits do that—makes employees feel more positive about their work and their employer.
It heightens job satisfaction. Health benefits communicate to the employee a concern for their physical well-being and shows them a desire of their employer to invest in their total well-being, helping them achieve a better work/life balance.
It sets a good example. Placing value on healthcare in the workplace can energize workers to place importance on it at home as well. This is important for busy adults who have limited free time due to job and family commitments. But when an employer places a lot of emphasis on healthcare, that helps place emphasis at home, too.

To find out what kinds of employer groups are a good fit for direct primary care practices and other ways direct primary care benefits employers and employees, read the blog post titled, FAQ: Employers and Direct Primary Care.

Total Access Medical developed corporate health programs to inspire wellness within the workplace. Your company reaps the benefits of corporate wellness in the short term, but more importantly in the long term, as well. By providing healthcare for your employees and encouraging them to take care of themselves, your company can save money from employee absenteeism. Ensuring fewer absences can boost morale and profits.