Posted: 04.01.2013
THE PERFECT STORM
Back in the 1990’s, the Kaiser Family Foundation predicted that healthcare costs were going to double in 10 years. They were proven right. Then in 2009, they predicted that the cost for health
insurance was going to double by 2019. Unfortunately, it now appears that prediction was too conservative, given the effects ofthe Affordable Health Care Act. (AHCA)
Added to the crisis of skyrocketing health insurance costs, we have another crisis looming. Our best and brightest medical students are spurning the traditional path of providing primary care and
electing to become specialists. This trend toward specialization equates to fewer primary care physicians. According to the Council on Graduate Medical Education, we will experience a shortage of 85,000 primary care physicians by 2020.
Although there will be fewer primary care physicians, there will be more patients needing primary care. AHCA will add 44 million more Americans to the patient census.
With the perfect storm of skyrocketing health care premiums,
fewer primary care physicians, and millions more patients needing care, many employers are concerned the health care delivery system as it now exists will be severely strained.
RIDE OUT THE STORM WITH AN ON-SITE CLINIC
Rather than wait until the storm swamps their boats, some employers are getting ahead of the threat by providing primary care services as an added employee benefit. This is usually done by hiring a third party that will tually provide the primary care through board-certified physicians. Although there are varied models of clinics in their design, set-up, and services provided, one thing they all have in common is improving a company’s bottom line.
More than six years ago, QuikTrip, a $10B, privately-held company, installed an on-site primary care clinic in its Tulsa, Okla., corporate headquarters. Within the first year of the clinic’s operation, the company’s health insurance claims were reduced by 21 percent. Now the company has expanded the on-site clinic program to nine of its retail outlets through partnering with CareATC.
To encourage your employees, their spouses and dependents to use the on-site primary care clinic, establish the center in a convenient location and consider waiving co-pays and coinsurance on all urgent care, primary care, pharmaceuticals, and labs when performed at the center.
When employers establish an on-site primary care clinic, not only are they helping improve their employees’ health, but also are they potentially save millions of dollars.
To find out how you can establish an on-site primary care clinic in your place of business, contact your local Brown & Brown representative.
Jeremiah Shrack | Vice President, Brown & Brown of Central Michigan
