Assessing Workplace Clinic Utilization and Performance: Lessons and Implications for Care Delivery.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Health Economics
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Large employers increasingly use on-site medical clinics for healthcare cost management.
• These clinics provide preventive, urgent care, and occupational health services.
• Quantifying the return on investment (ROI) of these services is crucial for employers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the ROI of an on-site medical clinic.
• To analyze cost savings from avoided direct healthcare expenditures.
• To assess the impact of clinic penetration and employee numbers on ROI.

Main Methods:

• A multivariable linear regression model was employed.
• Data was collected over a 10-year period from an international beverage company.
• ROI was calculated based on avoided healthcare costs for various services.

Main Results:

• A significant association was found between ROI and increasing penetration rates (P < 0.0001).
• Higher employee numbers and older clinics also correlated with increased ROI (P < 0.0001).
• On-site clinics demonstrated significant and increasing cost savings over the decade.

Conclusions:

• On-site medical clinics are a valuable strategy for long-term healthcare cost management.
• The ROI of on-site clinics increases with greater employee utilization and clinic maturity.
• Continued investment in on-site clinics yields substantial financial benefits for employers.