No one likes a sick day – especially an employer. Unfortunately, health-related employee absenteeism is a common obstacle facing many organizations. In the United States, employers face an estimated $226 billion annually in absenteeism costs, approximately $1,695 per employee, according to The McKinsey Health Institute. These sky-high costs are largely fueled by chronic health conditions that could be reduced through preventive care and wellness programs.  

For employers, employee absences mean a decline in workplace productivity, greater time spent handling absence-related administration, and, depending on the industry, extra costs for substitute workers. Not to mention the fact that when employees are absent, co-workers and supervisors often have to pick up the slack. Every sick day costs your business more than just lost work hours: it impacts team morale, workplace productivity, and your bottom line. Fortunately, investing in employee health through direct primary care can reduce absenteeism and boost overall workplace performance. 

The Connection Between Health and Workplace Productivity 

Better health leads to better productivity. When chronic conditions or illnesses go unaddressed, absenteeism and presenteeism — when employees are at work but not performing at their best — tend to rise. This loss in productivity is pricey. For every dollar spent on healthcare benefits, another $0.61 is spent on illness-related absence, disability, and reduced work output, according to the Integrated Benefits Institute. 

Preventive care plays a critical role in reversing this costly trend. By encouraging routine screenings, early intervention, and ongoing care management, employers can help team members stay healthier and catch potential issues before they become serious and require expensive interventions. Investing in preventive care not only reduces sick days and healthcare expenses but also creates a more engaged, energized, and resilient workforce. 

How Direct Healthcare Reduces Employee Absenteeism 

Direct healthcare is a powerful solution for addressing employee absenteeism and improving overall workforce health. Unlike traditional healthcare models that rely on fee-for-service payments, direct healthcare often follows a value-based payment model, not volume-driven. That means the provider is held accountable to health outcomes. In other words, the direct healthcare company’s goals and the client’s goals are fully aligned, as both organizations work together to improve members’ lives. This healthcare model leads to higher rates of primary care utilization, fewer instances of hospitalization, and lower total costs. 

Some benefits of direct primary care include:  

• Same-day or next-day appointments – Quick access to care helps employees address health concerns before they worsen, reducing the likelihood of extended absences and improving overall wellbeing. 
• Longer provider visits – Extended appointment times allow providers to dive deeper into members’ needs, build stronger relationships, and create personalized care plans that lead to better outcomes. 
• Focus on prevention – Regular biometric screenings, wellness check-ins, and proactive health management are integral elements of advanced primary care. These practices help identify issues early, keeping employees healthier and minimizing time away from work. 
• Care navigation – Dedicated care navigators help employees quickly schedule specialist appointments, coordinate follow-ups, and identify high-value facilities when they have a referral. By removing these administrative hurdles, employees save time and avoid sick days. 

Together, these elements create a healthier, more engaged workforce.  

Investing in Employee Health Pays Off 

Investing in employee health doesn’t just improve wellbeing; it has a measurable impact on attendance, workplace productivity, and overall business performance. Healthier employees have fewer costly emergency room visits, return to work more quickly after illness or injury, and benefit from proactive management of chronic conditions that might otherwise lead to extended time away from work. 

Organizations that prioritize employee wellbeing also see financial benefits. Research shows a strong connection between wellbeing and stock performance: a hypothetical “Wellbeing 100” portfolio, made up of the 100 companies with the highest employee wellbeing scores according to Indeed, has significantly outperformed major stock market indexes since early 2021.  

Real-world results reinforce this connection. Occupational health clients that partner with Premise Health, a direct primary care provider, have achieved a 52% lower OSHA-recordable incident rate, meaning fewer workplace injuries, reduced absenteeism, and a more consistent, healthy workforce.  

Q&A: Your Top Direct Healthcare Questions, Answered 

Q: What is direct healthcare? 

A: Direct healthcare is care that an organization purchases and provides access to healthcare services contracted with the employer, without the requirement to go through an insurance carrier. While in a traditional healthcare setting where most services are at least partially paid for and directed by an insurance carrier, direct healthcare bypasses this intermediary and directly serves organizations and their members. Typically, the purchasing organization is a large self-funded employer or an aggregating entity such as an association, trust, Taft-Hartley plan, or labor union. 

Q: What are the benefits of direct healthcare for self-funded employers? 

A: For self-funded employers, direct healthcare offers greater control over costs, quality, and access. By removing third-party intermediaries and aligning incentives through a fee-for-value model, employers can reduce overall healthcare spend while improving health outcomes. 

Q: How does direct healthcare reduce employee absenteeism? 

A: Direct healthcare reduces employee absenteeism by making it easier for employees to access timely, preventive, and personalized care. With same-day or next-day appointments, longer provider visits, and a focus on prevention, employees can address health issues before they become serious or require time away from work. Care navigation further streamlines referrals and follow-ups, minimizing administrative delays. Together, these elements keep employees healthier, more engaged, and consistently present at work. 

By investing in direct healthcare, self-funded employers experience tangible reductions in absenteeism, improved workforce engagement, and stronger overall performance. Healthier employees are simply more productive employees. 

Ready to transform your organization’s approach to employee wellness? Learn more about how Premise Health can partner with your team to reduce absenteeism and enhance productivity. Contact us today to get started.  

Though deeply connected through tradition, culture, and resilience, many tribal communities still face unique challenges when it comes to accessing great healthcare. Between rural locations, provider shortages, cultural care gaps and more, tribal health disparities show that this population ultimately isn’t getting the care they need. But what if getting the right care was as easy as walking next door? Onsite primary care can help make that a reality. 

Barriers to Healthcare Access in Tribal Communities 

In this blog, we’ll dive into these challenges and discover five ways onsite primary care can help tribal organizations bridge the gap to better health for their people. 

Underfunded Resources 

In order to provide healthcare services to tribal communities, the federal government utilizes the Department of Indian Health Services (IHS) as the vehicle for offering care access. However, the IHS has historically been severely underfunded, addressing less than 50% of tribal healthcare needs. A significant portion of these already-limited funds are also spent on administrative overhead instead of direct patient care. As a baseline, the system itself creates gaps in care before considering the social drivers of health among the tribal population. 

Rural and Infrastructure Challenges 

Many tribal communities have trouble accessing care simply because of where people live. Over half of Native people reside in rural or small-town areas on or near reservations. With 66.5% of primary care health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) being in rural regions, this population is disproportionately affected.  At the same time, Indian Health Service facilities on average are 40 years old – three times older than most U.S. hospitals – resulting in overcrowding and limited services. These realities make it harder for people to get timely, consistent care, including their preventive needs. 

Thin Provider Base 

Even in cases when preventive care is reasonably accessible to certain tribal communities, the system is stretched thin. As of 2022, fewer than 3,000 physicians and nurses in the Indian Health Service system were currently serving the entire population, which is estimated to be 2.8 million people. With such a limited provider base, the community is facing long waits, limited appointment availability, or the need to travel long distances for basic preventive care. Many times, tribal members will resort to expensive urgent care centers and emergency rooms just to get the care they need. 

Economic Challenges 

With the rising cost of healthcare across the nation, financial barriers also play a role in limiting preventive care access for tribal communities. Native households experience poverty at double the rate of the general U.S. population. In addition, 20% of Native people under 65 were uninsured in 2022, which is the highest uninsured rate of any racial or ethnic population.  

These financial challenges can make preventive care seem out of reach and often cause delays in necessary treatment, resulting in a cycle that further widens health disparities within the Tribal community. 

Lack of Culturally Competent Care 

Building trust between primary care providers and the members they serve is critical. Many tribal communities face historic and ongoing challenges with health institutions, including differences in language, traditions, and approaches to care. Without the integration of culturally competent care, those in the community may not feel comfortable or respected in the healthcare setting, lowering engagement even when care is available.  

Onsite Primary Care for Tribal Organizations 

For tribal organizations that serve a large workforce alongside tribe members, offering dedicated onsite preventive care as part of an advanced primary care approach can address these challenges, improving both the wellbeing of their people and their bottom line. Let’s explore five ways onsite primary care helps make this possible. 

Located Right Where Tribes Need It 

When care is located just down the hall or close by in the community, members don’t have to choose between health and convenience. Onsite primary care makes it simple to prioritize wellness without the added burden of organizing additional transportation. If the member is at home or has already made it to work on the reservation, they’ve already made it to care.  

For tribal members living more rurally, onsite care right in their community means avoiding the even longer commutes to metropolitan areas. For the tribe, this convenience helps reduce delayed care among employees while also ensuring the members of the tribal community get the preventive support they need to get and stay well. 

Facilities Built for a Population’s Specific Needs 

Onsite wellness centers are designed with the specific needs of the population in mind. This includes overall size, health priorities, cultural considerations, and even how the space itself should feel. Using these design principles, the tribal community can have a sense of belonging when they visit for care. They may see familiar colors, patterns, and imagery that resonate with the local culture. These purpose-built spaces help members feel more comfortable prioritizing their care and also serve as a powerful recruitment and retention tool for the tribe as an employer. 

Dedicated Providers 

Onsite wellness centers and their providers are dedicated to an exclusive population, not the general public.  This means the workforce and tribal members can get same- and next-day appointments with little-to-no wait times when they’re ready to see their provider.  

When members aren’t delaying care due to provider availability, health issues can be treated earlier before they escalate into more costly conditions. This proactive approach translates into a healthier community and more manageable long-term healthcare costs for both them and their organization.  

Fee-for-Value, Not Fee-for-Service 

Onsite primary care providers operate on a fee-for-value healthcare model, focusing on personalized care and improving member health rather than seeing as many members as possible. This means that each member gets the time and attention they deserve, instead of rushed appointments where they may feel their needs aren’t fully addressed. Improving the member experience in this way encourages return visits and continued engagement from the population, helping to further decrease total cost of care.  

Culturally Competent Care 

Onsite primary care providers are trained to respect and honor the traditions, values, and norms of the tribal communities they serve. Even if they’re not originally from the community themselves, onsite providers are committed to delivering care that feels familiar and respectful. For tribal organizations, this demonstrates a meaningful commitment to their people – staffing providers who truly care helps build trust and strengthen community ties. 

Onsite Primary Care at Premise Health 

Onsite primary care at Premise Health offers tribal organizations a practical solution to any healthcare challenges in their communities. By meeting members where they are, investing in purpose-built facilities, and fostering meaningful, culturally conscious provider relationships, tribal organizations can support a healthier workforce and tribal community while also decreasing their healthcare spend. 

Ready to help your tribal organization get the care they need? Read more about onsite wellness centers and primary care at Premise or contact us! 

Health and wellness don’t just happen during your members’ yearly check-ups; they’re shaped by the lifestyle choices that people make every day – from getting enough sleep, to regularly exercising and limiting stress. 

Don’t get us wrong – access to and utilization of primary care is an essential part of maintaining overall health. But long-term improvement in your population’s health happens when lifestyle support services are available beyond the exam room, too. The Centers for Disease Control say it best: Chronic conditions are among the leading drivers of healthcare costs in the United States, even though many are preventable or reversible through behavior change. A benefits plan focused on lifestyle medicine – i.e. using an evidence-based approach to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic conditions through lifestyle change – can address the root causes of disease, rather than just managing symptoms once they appear. 

For employers, that means thinking beyond the basics when building a benefits plan, and intentionally including types of care often considered supplementary, like medical fitness, wellness coaching, nutrition, biometric screenings, and massage. While these unique offerings might not be as well-known as primary care, they can go a long way in empowering healthier behaviors day-to-day, reducing risk, and delivering lasting value for both employees and the organization. 

Let’s explore how some of these non-traditional options work.

Medical Fitness 

When members are physically active, they incur lower healthcare costs and are less likely to develop chronic conditions. But, for someone who doesn’t know how to build a sustainable, effective fitness plan, it can be hard to get started.  

Medical fitness programs marry clinical oversight with exercise to prevent or manage conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Members are referred by their primary care provider, ensuring their care is quarterbacked by someone familiar with their medical history and making the process of getting connected seamless.  

Then they work one-on-one with an exercise physiologist to increase physical activity, receiving personalized, supervised routines that grow their comfort and confidence so they can independently maintain their progress once leaving the program. This approach keeps members safe they build better health and exercise habits.   

Wellness Coaching 

Sometimes, members need support staying accountable to the lifestyle changes that will help them feel their best. That’s where wellness coaches come in, providing a personalized approach and ongoing support with wellbeing between primary care appointments. 

Wellness coaches are trained in the science of behavior change, advanced listening skills, the application of curiosity, and the process of wellness visioning. Their approach helps empower members to change their lifestyles and report high satisfaction, increased self-awareness, and sustainable health improvements after engaging in regular coaching visits.  

By integrating wellness coaching appointments with a positive psychology and wellbeing focus, members receive holistic care and support that complements the treatment provided by their primary care provider. 

Nutrition Counseling 

Diet-focused interventions are proven to improve weight control and heart health, and good nutrition is foundational for preventing and managing conditions like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.  Personalized nutrition counseling offers clinical care that helps employees translate nutrition science into practical, everyday food decisions for themselves and their families. Members meet up with a registered dietitian nutritionist regularly to assess and review their needs to make sure they’re getting the proper nutrition to reach their health goals safely and efficiently. 

Plus, registered dietitian nutritionists are part of the same care team as primary care providers, care managers, pharmacists, and behavioral health specialists, working in tandem to ensure members receive holistic care and address social drivers of health that might prevent members from eating a healthy diet.  

Biometric Screenings 

Your members can’t start solving for health conditions they aren’t aware of. That’s why when leaders can offer regular opportunities for employees to check in on their health, it can improve their population’s health and save money. 

Biometric health screenings detect risk factors like elevated blood pressure, cholesterol, or glucose early. Knowing one’s numbers often motivates proactive care and lifestyle change, meaning that members can address health concerns before they become costlier conditions. And if they need additional support, members can bring results directly to their primary care provider, making screenings a powerful gateway to personalized prevention strategies. 

Massage Therapy 

Massage therapy might seem like just another workplace perk, but this crucial service offers more than relaxation – it can help reduce stress, ease muscle tension, and support overall wellbeing. 

Research shows massage can lower anxiety, reduce pain, and even decrease blood pressure, all of which support chronic condition management. It can also engage employees who may be hesitant to try more clinical services, providing an approachable entry point into their organization’s health center that can be pivotal to receiving future care.  

The Employer Advantage of Lifestyle Medicine 

When employees and their families have access to resources to support their health goals, they live healthier lives. But when these resources are also integrated with primary care, the impact can be even more holistic and sustainable. Primary care providers act as “quarterbacks” for member care, working in collaboration with the larger care team – fitness experts, nutritionists, behavioral health specialists, and more – to address the root causes of poor health, not just symptoms. They help develop care plans to make sure members are meeting their health goals and making recommendations to fill crucial gaps in care that might be influencing a member’s overall health. 

The result for members: Healthier lives with fewer sick days, fewer emergency room, hospital, and urgent care visits, and more time, money, and energy to spend doing the things they love. And when employees adopt healthier habits, employers benefit from lower medication spend, improved productivity, increased retention, and lower overall cost of care. It’s a win-win across the board. 

Are you ready to see how services like medical fitness, wellness coaching, nutrition counseling, biometric screenings, and massage therapy could foster behavior change, improve health outcomes, and lower long-term costs for your people? Contact us to learn more about how to bring lifestyle medicine to your workforce. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: What is lifestyle medicine, and how can it benefit employees in the workplace? 
A: Lifestyle medicine is a preventive approach to healthcare that focuses on improving daily habits like physical activity, nutrition, stress management, and sleep to reduce the risk of chronic conditions.  

Q: What benefits can employers offer to support lifestyle medicine for their employees? 

A: In the workplace, offering lifestyle-focused benefits like medical fitness programs, wellness coaching, nutrition counseling, biometric screenings, and massage therapy can help employees build healthier behaviors. This leads to fewer chronic health issues, lower healthcare costs, and higher productivity for organizations. 

Q: How can employers use lifestyle medicine to reduce healthcare costs? 
A: Employers can lower healthcare costs by incorporating lifestyle medicine programs that address the root causes of chronic disease. Services such as biometric screenings and nutrition counseling detect and address risk factors early, while wellness coaching and medical fitness help employees maintain healthy routines.  

When employees stay healthier, organizations experience fewer emergency room visits, lower prescription drug spend, and reduced absenteeism-driving long-term savings. 

The health of union members and their families is a top priority for any union leader. Unfortunately, assuring high quality healthcare services for a diverse population isn’t easy: The cost of care going up around the country, provider shortages are making it more difficult to see a doctor, and, even when members do get care, appointments may be short and impersonal, facilitated by providers who keep their hand on the doorknob the whole visit. 

With challenges stacking up against them, where do leaders turn when they want to guarantee their members have access to best-in-class care that treats them like whole people? The answer is simple: A direct healthcare partner who can offer union members the care they need, whenever and however they need it.  

By partnering with unions and benefits funds to provide no-cost acute and preventive care at locations central for union workers and their families, a direct healthcare partner makes care more accessible, personalized, and even enjoyable for members, with an in-depth understanding of the specific health risks that face union populations. From late-night virtual appointments to more in-depth physicals, this care goes beyond what’s possible in a community healthcare setting. 

Here’s just a few true stories of how direct healthcare has impacted the real lives of union workers across the U.S.: 

Turning a screening exam into an early diagnosis 

For one member, what began as a routine screening at a union-backed wellness center turned into a life-saving early cancer diagnosis, thanks to a provider’s thorough care and encouragement to schedule an overdue annual physical. Together, the provider and member worked to develop a plan that gave the member confidence in their treatment and even supported genetic testing for the member’s children. 

 This timely intervention not only supported the member’s health but also helped avoid a potential high-cost claim for their fund’s health plan. If care had not been readily available, the member might have received a delayed diagnosis with major impacts to the members’ health and the cost of their treatment. 

 When providers can spend more time with patients and are able to build trusting relationships, they can identify more than surface-level health concerns. This approach to treatment can lead to early identification of life-changing, expensive conditions, so union members can get, stay, and be well.  

A midnight tooth infection thwarted by virtual care 

When a painful tooth infection flared up at an inconvenient time, access to virtual care meant another member could get fast, effective treatment —without the ER wait or high co-pay. After noticing swelling in their mouth, they contacted a Premise virtual primary care provider, received a diagnosis at midnight, and had antibiotics in hand by morning, all from the comfort of home with no large emergency room copay or long wait. 

Illness doesn’t always happen when it’s most convenient and with varied shifts and responsibilities, what’s convenient for one union member might not be for another. When unions include virtual primary care as part of their benefits automatically, it means that members don’t have to put off addressing their health needs for anything – whether that’s a night shift, a vacation, or a long day on the road to and from the job site. And when they can get care earlier, they can get back to work and life sooner. 

Care that gets to the heart of underlying health conditions 

During a visit for an unrelated issue, a Premise Health nurse practitioner noticed signs of a serious heart concern in one member and insisted on further evaluation from a specialist. After connecting with a referred cardiologist, the member said that this early detection and refusal to overlook warning signs ultimately ended up saving their life.  

When providers have more time to spend with members, it gives them a better chance of identifying dangerous underlying health conditions. And even when those health concerns can’t be treated directly at an onsite wellness center , direct healthcare teams can help guide members to high-value specialists that provide the best possible care and don’t break the bank. Meanwhile, members still have the support of the care team at their wellness center medical home to answer questions and continue quarterbacking their preventive and acute care. 

Behavioral health resources that meet members where they are 

The stigma around getting mental health care can make it challenging for union members to tap into the resources they need to stay healthy. That’s why one behavioral health provider at a wellness center in the Midwest has been reaching their member population with quarterly webinars covering mental health topics. At one session, 50 members joined to discuss their experiences with grief over the holidays – offering the support they needed and building trust in their onsite care team. 

Sometimes members don’t feel comfortable speaking to a behavioral health provider one-on-one, but that doesn’t mean that they have to forgo care. Offering convenient, free behavioral health resources – whether that’s in the health center or from the comfort of home – can remind members that they aren’t alone in managing mental health challenges, substance abuse, grief or stress, and empowers them to seek the treatment they need without judgement. 

Start writing a success story for your members 

Providing dedicated care to your organization’s members doesn’t just make care more convenient and affordable – it can also save lives. Whether they’re staying healthy on the job, taking care of their families, managing a condition, or just looking to refill their medications, union members can find the care they need and more with direct healthcare benefits. 

That’s why Premise Health gives unions access to integrated care that meets members where they are, understands their trade, and takes time to dig deep into their healthcare concerns. It’s something that members won’t find in the community, and it makes all the difference when it comes to satisfaction with their benefits. Ready to start a journey to better health for your members? Contact us today. 

It’s no secret the cost of healthcare has reached record highs, driving demand for better solutions for employers, employees, and families. Primary care is proven to improve health outcomes and lower care costs, which is why an increasing number of employers are turning to this important type of care.  

Premise Health is keenly aware of the challenges facing organizations and their people. In The Shift to Primary Care-Centered Health Plans: Making Care More Affordable, Ashok Subramanian, CEO and Founder of Centivo, joined Premise’s Derek Brochu, Chief Strategy and Development Officer, and Ryan Donnelly, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation, to discuss the healthcare industry’s increased interest in direct healthcare — along with Premise’s partnership with Centivo to offer a primary care-centered health plan. Read more for some highlights from the webinar.  

Interested in learning more about the partnership between Centivo and Premise and the new health plan? Catch the full conversation on-demand. 

Trends Driving Interest  

Derek and Ashok shared some of the biggest trends they’re witnessing in the healthcare industry, along with what they’re hearing from their clients and members.  

Unprecedented cost increases

Employers are continuing to struggle with increasing healthcare costs. Many organizations are seeing double-digit healthcare premium increases on a year-over-year basis. This is, in part, due to a primary care supply demand imbalance. With a shortage of providers, there’s not enough access to care. As a result, employees aren’t getting the preventive care they need, leading to an overuse of reactionary care, like urgent care clinics, which drives up costs for employers. But organizations aren’t the only ones facing these cost increases. Many families can’t afford their healthcare anymore: in the last year, 1 in 4 Americans have missed out on healthcare because of cost.  

High interest in direct primary care

We are at a tipping point in the benefits industry. Now more than ever, many organizations are taking ownership over these cost and access problems. This has led to a greater interest — and bigger investment — in direct primary care. Direct healthcare is gaining popularity due to its ability to eliminate common barriers to care that individuals often encounter in the community, while also providing cost savings for employers. 

Demand for full-suite solution

Put simply: employers are tired of multiple point solutions that drive up healthcare costs and don’t improve the health of their employees. Because of this, a greater number of employers are interested in adopting holistic healthcare offerings. By investing in a full-suite model like advanced primary care, organizations can relieve point-solution fatigue for their people and start focusing on preventive care, leading to improved health, increased employee satisfaction, and reduced costs. 

A Solution to Healthcare’s Biggest Challenges  

Premise is evolving with the healthcare industry to provide a solution, and the answer lies in encouraging more people to get more primary care. Through a partnership with Centivo, Premise is offering a primary care-centered health plan that will launch for the 2026 benefits year centered around the advanced primary care model. It aims to offer members an affordable plan option that provides the comprehensive coverage they need to care for themselves and their families. Those who select this plan will have access to excellent primary care and high-quality specialists when necessary, all while saving money through low premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.  

By pairing Premise’s advanced primary care with Centivo’s high-value network, this partnership is providing employers and members with a better healthcare choice. With 60 years in the healthcare business, we know that when people engage with Premise, they have better healthcare experiences, which leads to higher preventative care utilization, improved healthcare outcomes, and keeps people out of expensive downstream care settings. Both employers — and their people — save money along the way. 

How Does the New Health Plan Work for Employees? 

The health plan is simple. Once someone chooses this plan during annual enrollment, they’ll then need to choose a Premise provider as their attributed provider. Enrollees will get a free annual physical from that provider to check in on their health and free primary care visits for any concerns throughout the year. If a member needs to see a specialist for non-urgent care, their designated PCP will refer them through a high-value contracted network.  

The Premise advanced primary care model consistently improves outcomes and reduces costs, but it only works if people use it. By building this system of incentives, in the form of a plan, more people will be encouraged to engage with the high-quality care available to them. 

Interested in learning more about Premise Health and this primary care-centered health plan? Reach out to us here.  

In our How Health Happens webinar, Jonathan Leizman, MD, spoke with Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH, with Ariadne Labs and Ann Greiner, MCP, with Primary Care Collaborative to discuss how high-quality, advanced primary care can unlock better health for employee populations. Watch “Unlocking Better Health: The Power of Advanced Primary Care for Employers” on-demand to learn more about the benefits of making high-quality advanced primary care easier to use:

Better Health with Advanced Primary Care

The webinar explored healthcare challenges facing organizations as well as the benefits and aspects of high-quality primary care — also called advanced primary care.

A few of the key takeaways included:

The current primary care landscape pushes people to more expensive healthcare options.

There is a growing lack of a “usual place of care”, as Greiner put it, for many people as care becomes less accessible. This is leading to emergency room or urgent care visits taking the place of primary care for non-urgent healthcare needs. The problem is that they meet these needs at much higher costs and without the key relational aspects found in advanced primary care. Having a go-to place for primary care needs helps with avoiding or reducing costs and illnesses as well as improving overall health. There is significant value in having a go-to primary care provider (PCP).

High-quality primary care is relational and community based.

As Greiner and Dr. Bitton agreed, high-quality primary care is relational and should be rooted in the communities they serve. By educating and training care teams in their communities, they become experts in the challenges their communities face including social drivers of health — which can have significant impact on health and healthcare access. This also gives community members that “usual place of care” that Greiner mentioned. Strong relationships between individuals and their PCPs allow social drivers and other community factors to be effectively rolled into high-quality primary care services, enabling whole-person care.

Employers are poised to play an important role through primary care investments.

Dr. Bitton and Greiner believe that employers can play a role in solving primary care issues. By making investments into primary care for their workforce, they can help tip the balance back towards primary care and begin tapping into the benefits it brings such as better health, happier people, and lower costs.

Advanced Primary Care at Premise Health

We know investments into primary care pay off. Our advanced primary care model starts with primary care and includes behavioral health, pharmacy, and more to drive the best results for our members and clients. To show our results, we conducted a claims-based analysis using a Milliman-validated methodology on approximately 148,000 eligible lives. Across this population, which spanned 19 clients, we delivered:

• 25% average total cost of care savings
• 39% increase in routine and preventive office visits routine
• 37% reduction in inpatient hospital admissions
• 27% reduction in emergency room visits

Advanced primary care works and is the first step in unlocking better health for your people. If you’re interested in what advanced primary care looks like for your organization, contact us today.

What are unions and Taft-Hartley funds?

Creating an equitable working relationship between employees and the organizations that employ them has long been negotiated. Often, those conversations are centered around working hours and conditions, healthcare, wages, retirement benefits, vacation days, investment opportunities, and more.  

Healthcare specifically can be a daunting task as unions and Taft-Hartley funds are charged with creating a benefits plan that works for diverse, multi-generational populations. Regardless of industry or membership status, union leaders must ensure that their members’ healthcare needs are met – from active employees to dependents and retirees – while providing organizational value that makes them stand out from the competition.  

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What is direct healthcare? 

Direct healthcare is a term used to describe the business-to-business-to-consumer model of healthcare. Put simply, it serves organizations and their people directly by offering a variety of healthcare services. The goal of direct healthcare is to provide high-value healthcare to organizations of all types through a combination of access points at work, in the community, and virtually.   

The direct healthcare model allows unions and Taft-Hartley funds to tighten up the laborious and complicated benefits plan design process by empowering leaders to speak directly to the provider organization about the types of care their people need and how best to reach them. 

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At Premise Health, we believe that unions and Taft-Hartley funds can benefit greatly from partnering with a direct healthcare company. Here are our top three reasons why:

Increased access and convenience solve for large, dispersed workforces  

Direct healthcare offers greater access to care than traditional community providers. With appointments often available the same- or next-day, not weeks, these companies offer onsite, nearsite, and virtual healthcare solutions that can be tailored to the unique geographic reach of each population.    

• Onsite wellness centers are built for ease of access in a central location like a training facility or a union hall. They provide members with the convenience of being able to walk down the hall for a check-up or follow-up visit and get back on the job quickly – no commute necessary.   
• For workforces that are spread out across a city or region, nearsite wellness centers can be strategically located in and among the communities that members call home which provides convenient access to families and dependents as well.   
• And for many of us, finding time to schedule an in-person appointment can be difficult. Virtual care is available during normal business hours at onsite and nearsite centers or around the clock, allowing members to access behavioral health, primary care, and occupational health resources 24/7.  

When members have access to convenient care when and where they need it, they’re more likely to schedule an appointment and build a relationship with their primary care provider.   

An example of this in action are the results Premise achieved alongside one of our Taft-Hartley partners, Midwest Operating Engineers (MOE). With the implementation of their first two wellness centers, MOE was able to expand access to care for 23,000 members, roughly 41% of their population. 

Comprehensive services built for diverse, multi-generational populations  

For unions and Taft-Hartley funds, one of the most complicated questions to answer is how to provide benefits for their total member population, from dependents to retirees.   

Direct healthcare providers are prepared to offer comprehensive care for people at any stage in life. That’s why they often deliver a full suite of integrated services for organizations to implement in their wellness centers. These services can include any combination of occupational health, primary care, behavioral health, pharmacy, musculoskeletal care (including chiropractic care and physical therapy), care management, care navigation, and wellness.

Premise offers more than 30 types of care across our access models. That means annual physicals, monthly prescription refills, and weekly chronic condition appointments can be taken care of by one coordinated provider team that’s dedicated to serving your members and your organization’s wellness center.   

 You can read more about Premise’s approach to personalized care with longtime partner Shaw Industries.  

Team-based care maximizes benefits and healthcare spend  

Working with a direct healthcare partner allows union leaders to take control of their healthcare spending by maximizing their benefits offerings. The traditional healthcare system is misaligned. The healthcare services that people need are spread out across a range of providers with no price transparency in place. This makes navigating the healthcare landscape difficult and costly.   

 By working with a direct healthcare provider, benefits leaders work side-by-side with the experts to customize their model of care. This means members get exactly what they need and nothing that they don’t. Premise takes a value-driven care approach to population health by focusing on controlling healthcare spend and reducing waste. For example, we:   

• Leverage a team-based approach for greater care coordination across providers; reducing the likelihood of misdiagnosis, repeat visits, medication non-adherence, and a disjointed member experience.  
• Place greater emphasis on primary care as a first resort; preventing or reducing more expensive long-term illness and chronic conditions through a proactive, data-driven approach.  
• Integrate care navigation resources to provide concierge support; pointing people in the right direction toward quality, cost-effective providers and facilities that are in-network, easily accessible, and provide the best outcomes.  

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Unions and Taft-Hartley funds are facing a big challenge when considering how to provide best-in-class care for their large, diverse membership populations. A one-size-fits all approach just won’t cut it. Direct healthcare providers like Premise are in the business of getting people healthy by increasing healthcare access, providing a comprehensive suite of services, and reducing cost with value-driven care. When working with a direct healthcare partner, unions and Taft-Hartley funds have the power to steer the healthcare conversation and find the right working parts to make their benefits plan tick. 

Interested in starting a conversation about direct healthcare? Get in touch with us today or learn more about our work with the Taft-Hartley fund, Midwest Operating Engineers, here.

In today’s workforce, a strong culture is a necessity for attracting and retaining top talent. Equally important, and a contributor to the strength of culture, is the variety of healthcare benefits offered. As healthcare costs for both employers and employees continue to rise, many organizations are offering benefits that promote health and wellbeing as part of their culture. Not only can these benefits help drive down costs and keep people healthy, but they also underscore a company’s commitment to their employees. 

Creating a workplace culture of health and wellbeing was a prevalent topic at the 2023 Premise Health Client Forum. The event brought together more than 150 client leaders, consultants, and brokers from over 100 organizations, spanning industries including manufacturing, municipalities, school districts, and banking, to learn from their peers and share best practices. Here are three key takeaways from the event that organizations can put into practice to create a strong, healthy culture for employees. 

Keep it Simple 

When it comes to benefits, employees can struggle with keeping track of what you offer and understanding how to take advantage of their benefits package. Keep things simple for them, while also ensuring your benefits package supports them through all phases of life. Simplifying your benefits landscape will not only help your employees, but it can also boost engagement! 

Integrating your vendor partners is a great first step to simplify your benefits. Some organizations invest in platforms that pull all benefits information together into one place, while others host monthly group meetings with every vendor to brainstorm how each service can support specific situations. The more offerings you can intertwine, the more your employees will gravitate toward them. For both onsite and remote workers, QR codes embedded on your intranet or added to flyers can also make finding information quick and easy. 

Onsite or nearsite wellness centers meet people where they are and show just how simple getting care at or near work can be. Encourage your health center team to get outside the walls of the center, whether that’s safely visiting manufacturing workers in the plant, having a physical therapist available to care for workers harvesting in fields, or incorporating a “meet and greet” into onboarding and new hire orientations. When your care team is out and about, it creates trusted relationships and often results in an increase in patient engagement. Staggering the hours at your wellness center to reach all shift times also makes it easy and simple for your employees to stay on top of their health. 

Embrace Change

Benefits leaders know what’s relevant today won’t be in the next five to 10 years. That’s why it’s important to embrace change and evolve your benefits offerings based on what your employees are asking for. To best understand their wants and needs, organizations should consider conducting annual surveys, hosting employee listening sessions, or implementing benefits ambassadors that employees can turn to. Creating a feedback loop will ensure you have a pulse on what’s important to your unique population and allow you to adjust to meet their needs. Experts predict in the next few years, employees will ask for health benefits related to digestive health, neurodiversity, caregiving, and fertility.  

When thinking about embracing change with a health center, it’s okay to start basic! Assess what’s working and identify where there’s room for improvement by listening to what additional services your employees would benefit from. Partner with your direct healthcare vendor and dig into your data to explore how needs are changing over time and develop programs to meet them. Your employees’ health and safety are things you can’t put a cost on.

Focus on Engagement 

Employees don’t always prioritize their health and wellbeing. To support them, start with a strategy for engagement, which ultimately creates a culture of wellbeing. The goal is to reach everyone, not just those who are already actively engaging with your benefits. Many companies recognize the difference that incentives can make, but don’t be afraid to get creative! Offer gift cards, company swag, or even dollars off healthcare premiums for completing health-related tasks like downloading benefits apps, completing trainings about your benefits package, or participating in company-wide challenges.  

Communication is an essential part of engaging your employees. While it may seem out-of-date, mailing information home is effective, especially for family-oriented workforces. Other ways to spread the word about your benefits include robust intranet sites, webinars, onsite or virtual benefits fairs, and tabling events during lunch hours or shift changes. 

Don’t underestimate the power of testimonials, especially for driving engagement at your onsite or nearsite health center. When people hear about the great healthcare experiences their coworkers are having, they’re more likely to make an appointment themselves. The experience at your center should always be a top priority, but it’s especially important for new patients. Providing a great first impression is critical – a negative experience leads to poor engagement. The best way to keep engagement rates high is removing the cost barrier to get care. Offering free services isn’t in the budget for all organizations, but it is worth considering if you’re looking to boost your engagement.

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Thinking about adding direct healthcare to improve your organization’s culture of health and wellbeing? Get in touch and let’s create a solution that’s right for you.  

With all the complexity that makes up the American healthcare system, organizations trust their consultants and brokers to guide them to the best healthcare solutions that drive significant value and outcomes. With the right partner and benefits strategy, investing in direct healthcare can improve the health of your client’s entire employee population and provide a competitive edge for their business in the talent market. Read on to learn the top 3 things consultants and brokers need to know about direct healthcare.

Direct healthcare empowers your clients to take healthcare into their own hands.

Employers foot the bill for half of the U.S. population – nearly 160 million Americans – and healthcare is usually the second largest line item on the budget sheet, after labor. That means employers have a tremendous opportunity to disrupt healthcare and innovate within the system.  Direct healthcare empowers employers to take the health of their population into their own hands and serve their employees directly. This means that employers work with their direct healthcare partner to deliver high-quality, advanced primary care that addresses all their employees’ needs.

Direct healthcare companies work with many different industries to provide specialized benefits for them. It’s no wonder that in 2021, Mercer reported that 31% of all companies with at least 5,000 employees offer a primary care center. That same Mercer survey found that of those companies offering primary care centers, 74% reported a return on investment of 1.5 or greater.

Direct healthcare provides all the answers you need, in one place.

Avoid point-solution fatigue by working with a partner that can deliver everything your client needs. Seamless integration means better experiences for your clients and their employees. Whether your client has 50,000 employees or 3,000, whether they’re in manufacturing, entertainment, the public sector, or any other industry, direct healthcare can meet their needs.

With many types of care (primary care, occupational health, behavioral health, chronic condition management) and an integrated advanced primary care model with digital and in-person access points, direct healthcare is built around the needs of your clients, their employees, and their families. That also means that direct healthcare is equipped to address the social determinants of health by providing competent, equitable, and accessible care for any type of employee population.

One organization who has embraced an integrated care model is Shaw Industries. With a diverse workforce including manufacturing workers who are onsite five to seven days per week and truck drivers and field sales who often are on the road traveling, Shaw focused on personalized benefits that could be accessed in-person or virtually. This approach, alongside intentional education and communication efforts helped lead to a 22% increase in portal activations among its population.

Read more about Shaw’s success in meeting their workforce’s particular healthcare needs.

Direct healthcare helps your clients help their people.

Better health outcomes start with whole-person, personalized care that helps people navigate to high-quality, cost-effective, in-network providers and facilities when needed. If your client wants control of their spending without sacrificing quality healthcare solutions for their population, direct healthcare may be the best solution for them. Providing convenient access to care not only supports workers but also makes healthcare easy to navigate.

When evaluating direct healthcare providers, brokers and consultants should look for organizations with a proven track record of delivering the type of care that improves health outcomes and lowers costs. Questions to ask may include:

• What external clinical certifications or validations does the provider have?
• How do their HEDIS scores compare to other providers?
• What quality and cost metrics can they point to that showcase their results?
• Do they work with any other peer organizations of your client? Are there others that can speak to the direct healthcare partner’s experience that you could leverage for insight on their members’ experiences?

Every organization is different, which means it’s important to find a provider whose experience and values align with your client’s healthcare and wellness goals.

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Organizations work with consultants and brokers to put the healthcare of their people into expert hands. Direct healthcare offers you and your clients the power to improve outcomes, reduce costs, and provide exceptional member experiences. Interested in learning more? Premise has compiled a helpful guide for brokers and consultants to answer their biggest questions about what Premise can do for their clients.

Contact us today to learn more about Premise and our seamless integration with your clients.

Traditionally, healthcare organizations and providers have focused the lens of primary care on a patient’s physical and clinical needs and care. Topics such as their mental wellbeing, lifestyle, and social determinants of health weren’t factored in.  

However, approaches are changing. As many seek advanced primary care solutions that encompass a member’s behavioral health and lifestyle, it’s important to make sure that key social determinants of health are addressed as well. Leaving social determinants unattended can undermine even high-quality clinical care and prevent members from achieving the level of health and wellness that they otherwise could.

Why Take Social Determinants of Health into Consideration?

Social determinants of health are the conditions in which members live, work and play. These are matters like access to fresh food, reliable transportation, safe housing, childcare, and more. They have a foundational role in a member’s health and wellness. If this foundation is cracked, it needs to be repaired. Addressing social determinants of health is critical to effective advanced primary care. For instance, a member who attends a routine screening may find they have high blood pressure. Their provider recommends a course of treatment including diet and exercise. Living in a food desert with little to no access to fresh foods, being unable to afford a gym membership, or living in a location that makes running outside challenging can all compromise the member’s ability to follow their treatment plan and effectively manage their blood pressure. 

Taking social determinants into account is a key element of a whole-person care approach, such as advanced primary care. As such, these factors must be addressed for an advanced primary care solution to truly be advanced.

The Role Organizations Have in Supporting Social Determinants of Health in Their Population

Social determinants are sometimes seen as someone’s personal business, and therefore their personal problem. But they are systemic problems that directly impact health. They are hard-to-solve issues that individuals may not be able to change on their own. Large organizations can lend their weight to helping their employees solve these systemic issues at the individual level. Organizational support and community resources can have a considerable effect on the overall health and wellbeing of your population. 

In addition, addressing social determinants can reinforce organizational diversity and inclusion initiatives. Healthcare solutions aimed at providing health equity put weight behind the words, “You belong here.” Social determinants of health are also a core element of culturally competent care, which uses a health equity approach to solve systemic challenges your population is facing. It gives your population the feeling of individualized healthcare designed with intention for them, meeting their needs and makes them feel seen, welcomed, and included. It helps them be the best versions of themselves at home and at work, keeping them engaged and staving off burnout.

Four Social Determinants of Health to Address First

There are many social determinants that influence an individual’s health and wellness, and each of them interact with each other. While every population is different, we’ve seen four social determinants that are a good place to start. 

Food Insecurity 

Food insecurity encompasses issues of access and cost to food. Members may live in a food desert where finding fresh, healthy food is all but impossible. Or they may have medical need for a certain diet they struggle to afford. Rural or third-shift workers may struggle to get to grocery stores while they are open. Whatever the cause, helping your population connect with community or organizational resources that help them have reliable and affordable groceries enables your members to have a healthy diet in support of good health. 

Transportation 

Lack of available private or public transportation can limit where and when they shop for groceries and household goods or go see their doctor. It impacts the hours they can work, limiting their income and reducing their productivity. Building organizational initiatives and awareness of community programs to supply transportation needs can help your members be able to do what they need to do.

Physical Activity 

Being physically active seems simple. You join a gym or get some equipment at home and join a digital fitness platform. For that matter, you can just go outside and walk, right? The truth is not always so simple. Members who live in unsafe or unwalkable neighborhoods and don’t have the ability to join a gym or purchase equipment for the home are left with few options at their disposal. Adding a fitness center or walking path to your workplace or connecting your members with pathways to physical activity can help them manage their weight and get moving. 

Financial Insecurity 

Providing help finding financial security can alleviate other social determinants by providing greater capacity for someone to secure reliable transportation, stable housing, healthy food, and access to appropriate levels of physical activity. On its own, financial insecurity can cause intense stress, anxiety, and uncertainty in someone’s life. Community programs or organizational initiatives can help manage debt, budget income, or have access to fair and honest banking and lending resources.

Support Your Population with Knowledge and Action 

So how do you know which social determinant to start with? What other determinants may be present in your population? Answering these questions and others like them are important, so getting to know your population is important. Trust between your members and the ones asking the questions, be it your own human resources team or a provider from a healthcare partner, is critical. Make sure members have a place where they feel safe enough to be honest about the challenges they are facing at home and at work. Building this trust can take time. Be patient and eventually you’ll learn how best to help your members.  

Once you’ve learned your population’s needs there’s no time to waste. Get to work finding out what your organization can do to support members and identify and connect them to community resources.

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The environment where someone lives, works, and plays impacts their lives immensely. It plays an enormous role in their health. An effective advanced primary care solution should not only consider social determinants but should also address them. Premise sees social determinants of health as so central to healthcare that it is built into our care model and incorporated at the point of care. Our integration with Find Help, a national network that connects individuals seeking help to verified social care services, empowers our providers to connect members with community resources in food security, financial security, transportation, and more, while members can use a self-service portal to access these resources on their own time.  

Contact us to learn more about an advanced primary care solution that can help you support your population.