Primary care both improves health outcomes and lowers healthcare costs, especially for those with chronic disease.[1]— but only if patients regularly engage in services. Unfortunately, many still can’t or don’t, even those with health insurance. And while employer-sponsored solutions address most common barriers to care, many patients still struggle with an incredibly prohibitive one: time.
For employers to reap the full benefit of their investment and improve the health of their population, their onsite program should be designed to help eliminate this obstacle.
Optimizing the Operating Hours
During the optimization phase of partnership with a manufacturing employer, Proactive MD determined that slightly adjusting operating hours could further enhance impact and engagement. The client services team partnered with the employer to shift Health Center hours without incurring additional cost.
After one year of adjusting Monday and Thursday hours from 8am-5pm to 7am-4pm, this client experienced the following results:
- 26% increase in visits on days with adjusted hours
- Up to 20% more patients seen on days with adjusted hours
- 11% increase in utilized capacity on days with adjusted hours
Understanding the Outcomes
A strong onsite healthcare program means nothing if employees aren’t able to take advantage of it. The sizable increase in visits, patients, and utilization experienced by this client demonstrates the power of improving care accessibility and the importance of continuously optimizing care and operations to serve employers and patients with excellence.
[1] Lancet T. Prioritising Primary Care in the USA. The Lancet 2019; 394: 273.
