Health, and in particular, physical or musculoskeletal health, is a system where you spend more to get more. If you want more energy, you need to spend some energy to allow your body to build energy stores. The more we physically work, the more physical work we can do.
I am pretty sure nobody gets more energy from sitting on the couch watching TV. Yet, this is exactly what we do when it comes to our healthcare spending. We purchase an insurance card that we put in our wallets and hope that we never need to use it. When we do need to use it, It’s quite costly. Just like if we tried to jump off the couch and run a marathon, it would come at a significant cost.
Like our physical health, when it comes to saving healthcare dollars, we need to proactively spend a little to save a lot. We can leverage spending in the form of onsite physical therapists to control, predict, and lower the costs of our employees’ healthcare. Safer, happier, more engaged employees are just a fantastic byproduct.
Predictable Costs - No More, No Less
Imagine an employee went to a healthcare facility, received treatment, and that was the end of it. They were done with the financial transaction. No bill months later. All they need to focus on is getting better.
Well, that’s a wonderful thought but that’s not the way it works. We don’t know what something costs at a healthcare facility, and for the most part, we don’t know what amount of that cost our insurance is going to pay. (Here’s a hint, it isn’t 100%). Months later when the bill arrives in the mail, we’re shocked and out comes another card from our wallet... the credit card.
Imagine instead you contract an onsite physical therapist directly, eliminating the insurance in the middle. This changes the game. No longer is the healthcare provider beholden to the rules of your insurance, they are now following the rules of your company and your team.
In fact, onsite therapy services come with a predictable cost. You know exactly what you’ll pay before anything happens. You are controlling the cost, not waiting for shock.
See how much you could save with an onsite physical therapist by using our ROI Calculator.
Onsite Injury Mitigation
One thing is for certain, everyone will have aches, pains, strains, and sprains. No matter where you work, no matter what you do, our bodies break down with use. Certain industries have more on-the-job injuries, but all industries have employees with injuries.
According to OSHA, the average cost of a sprain or strain is around $65,000. Roughly half of these costs are direct costs and the other half are indirect costs. While insurance may cover some portion of the direct costs, eventually this will increase premiums. In almost all cases, the increase in premium significantly outweighs the direct costs of the injury. The indirect costs however are shouldered solely by the employer. These indirect costs may come in the form of:
- Lost Productivity
- Additional Supervision
- Additional Administrative Costs
- Temporary Labor
- OSHA Fines
- Costs associated with replacement workers
- Possible loss of business
With onsite therapists, you have an injury expert on your team, the costs of which you know and can account for. In most cases, injuries can be treated, employees can return to work in a short amount of time, and then they can be monitored by the healthcare professional you have on your team. This eliminates all of the indirect costs associated with the injury and leaves referring to outside care only when necessary based upon professional judgement.
This is the way Healthcare should work. No time loss and no out of pocket expense for an employee. Consistent professional help from a trusted member of the team and predictable costs for an employer.
Onsite physical therapists can reduce the number of recordable incidents by eliminating unnecessary care and using professional judgement to determine when an employee needs more than first aid. They can reduce the number of days away, job restrictions and transfers by consistently working with an injured employee in their work environment. This significantly reduces both direct costs and indirect costs.
With savings this great, the Return on Investment comes early and it is substantial. The best part is, the financial win comes second to the engagement win for employees. They feel safer in their work environment and they become even more productive because of it. They know they are looked after and cared for by the best company in the industry...yours!
