Zooming in on a strategic healthcare approach for employers
New survey highlights the throughline for managing costs and supporting employee satisfaction
How do you control healthcare spending while still offering benefits that support employee recruitment, retention, and workforce well-being? As an employer, it’s a balancing act. You could pass on some of the rising costs to employees, or redesign plans.
While these options might make a difference at first, they don’t address the deeper reasons that healthcare costs are on the rise. It’s leading strategic HR and benefits leaders to zero in on another approach that has far-reaching benefits.
The impact of passing on costs to employees
As benefits get more expensive or more difficult to use, it becomes more likely that employees put off care, or don’t get care at all.
This is especially true when it comes to preventive services and managing chronic conditions. Unfortunately, delaying care, especially in these situations, may only make conditions more complicated and expensive to treat.
For many organizations, these barriers are prompting a closer look at primary care as a way to manage utilization, outcomes, and cost.
Understanding advanced primary care
Most of us have used primary care at some point in our lives. As the name suggests, primary care is often the first line of care people receive, as it focuses on prevention and wellness. You might have an annual physical exam with your primary care doctor, for example.
Primary care can include:
- Routine office visits and fee-for-service payments
- Providers who diagnose common health problems, treat chronic conditions, offer preventive care, and help patients find specialists when needed
- Physical and mental health services
Advanced primary care (APC) takes primary care a step further. It’s an even more robust, patient-centered approach that focuses on preventive care and coordination across services and providers.
APC offers several tools that make it easier for patients to get the care they need, including:
- Longer visits
- Connected care teams
- Integrated physical and mental health services
- Virtual tools and data that support long-term health
With care teams who are focused on the patient and knowledgeable about their medical history, APC has shown better outcomes and lower costs.
The challenges driving benefits decisions
To learn how organizations are making decisions in response to rising healthcare costs and care delivery challenges, Amazon One Medical commissioned an independent survey of 109 senior HR and benefits leaders across different industries.
Responses from HR and benefits leaders show that rising healthcare costs and employee satisfaction are the most important factors influencing employer decisions. Benefits leaders are also thinking about employee access to care and overall well-being when evaluating changes to benefits.
To address these sometimes conflicting priorities, the survey responses suggest that employers are considering different approaches for managing costs. Short-term tactics like adjusting plan design are still common, but many organizations are also focusing on ways to improve benefits usage through stronger primary care, preventative services, and chronic condition management.
Employers see better outcomes with stronger primary care
While managing costs is essential, employers see the throughline: preventive services and managing chronic conditions can affect workforce health and productivity, as well as healthcare spending.
In the survey, senior HR and benefits leaders often linked stronger primary care with better care coordination, earlier intervention, and more consistent management of ongoing health needs. These factors can influence when and where employees seek care and affect how healthcare is used over time.
A new model for employer-focused primary care
As employers seek ways to manage rising healthcare spending, advanced primary care emerges as a strategy that influences long-term costs through improved access, utilization, coordination, and workforce health.
At Amazon One Medical, we help organizations support employee health while managing costs with an advanced primary care model that combines in-person care, virtual services, and integrated care teams.
Explore how advanced primary care can support the success of your organization.
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Learn more about how One Medical can help your employees to stay healthy here.