Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Industry Investing in Clinics for Employees

What a great idea - on site clinics and maybe even industry owned hospitals that would cut the federal government out of the picture, and at the same time, save money while giving quality care.

Unfortunately, many doctors would migrate to these institutions leaving the general practice that would have to serve the ObamaCare (ACA) business of millions of new people coming into the system to doctors willing to be paid less and suffocated by mountains of paper work. How do you think that will work out for improving our health care?

This November 6th, make sure everyone gets equal health care by electing a leader that will make sure ObamaCare does not destroy health care for everyone.

Large Employers Look to On-Site Health Clinics to Reduce Costs and Absenteeism
Source: "Large Employers Look to On-Site Health Clinics to Reduce Costs and Absenteeism," Washington Post, October 21, 2012.

October 24, 2012
On-site health care clinics are becoming a popular avenue for employers to reduce health care costs and boost employee productivity. These facilities are being established by firms across all sectors to offer everything from urgent and primary care to biometric screenings to chronic disease management, says the Washington Post.

•Currently, 8 percent of employers across the country have such clinics.
•But among big companies, about 46 percent have on-site clinics.
•At one company, Discovery Communications, about 85 percent of the workforce visits the on-site clinic.
•As a result, Discovery Communications estimates that it will save $2.2 million.

Big businesses can afford to have an on-site clinic because the large number of employees means that there will be enough patients to justify the costs. Some even offer a surprising number of services. Discovery Communications, for example, provides services that range from Pap smears to weight management programs to infertility counseling.

The increase in millions of insured Americans under the Affordable Care Act may expand interest in employer-sponsored clinics. Insuring millions of people is likely to strain the health care system and lead to increased waiting times for patients to see doctors. Employers would be willing to alleviate that pressure to get quicker care for their workers so that they can be healthy sooner.





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