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September 08, 2010 at 08:00 PM
Onsite clinics are growing at a rapid pace throughout the United States. An idea that was long thought to be for larger employers only, it is now being used for employers with as few as 300 employees.
The challenge for brokers and benefits consultants is how to analyze this market and recommend an onsite health care company for their clients. A common mistake for brokers is to compare onsite health care companies in the same manner that you would use for insurance companies. This would be a poor approach, seeing as how the due diligence process is much different. Brokers stumble when they try and compare clinic vendors on a spreadsheet.
Most brokers will focus on three things:
- Management fee
- Lab pricing
- Drug pricing
Because clinic vendors offer such a broad array of services, simply comparing management fees on a spreadsheet is not the best use of time. The lab pricing and drug pricing is usually only plus or minus 5 percent of an employer’s total health care spend. Although saving 5 percent in these two areas is OK, it is not where the real money is found; many brokers are too focused on the three areas above.
Onsite clinics have been around for long enough that the clinic’s impact on an employer has greatly evolved. You can no longer simply build a clinic, put a doctor in it, and save money. Today, clinics are going much further, approaching things from a total health management standpoint rather than the “doc-in-the-box” model.
