Office Parks Can Attract Small Businesses With An Onsite Health Clinic
Wed, Oct 7, 2009
Employer Health Costs, Occupational Health, Onsite Health Clinic
Onsite health clinics are growing in popularity with major corporations and small businesses alike.
But, could they be used as a marketing tool to help office parks attract new tenants? In these tough economic times, the more you have to offer a potential customer, the better.
By providing access to a clinic within an office park, landlords could significantly reduce tenants’ employer healthcare costs, which could make their property more attractive. How the landlord/tenant healthcare agreements are structured would vary, but the potential savings could be substantial.
In an onsite clinic, healthcare costs become fixed, at a rate that is much lower than the “fee for service” costs employers pay for visits to a primary care physician. That’s a huge benefit to the small employers who are trying to offer healthcare, but don’t like the wild unpredictability of typical healthcare costs.
Plus, employees are encouraged to focus on their health, and manage it more responsibly. The health screenings, risk assessments and other wellness programs available through onsite health clinics will dramatically improve employee health over time.
And, if an employee gets sick or is injured, he or she can be diagnosed and treated onsite (again, at the lower fixed cost). If they must be referred to a specialist or hospital, their complete medical history is provided, avoiding duplication of testing and improving continuity of care.
Another option is for a group of small businesses within an office park to form a healthcare co-operative. In doing so, they would share the costs of either opening an onsite health clinic, or contracting with a physician group to provide medical services on a lower fixed cost basis.
The members of the co-op would enjoy all the medical and cost benefits described above, without being contractually obligated to their landlord for those services. But the landlord is able to set their property apart from the competition by providing something no one else has thought, or is able, to provide.
An onsite health clinic will not only sharply reduce employer healthcare costs, it just might become one of their most effective selling tools.
Photo: HattiesburgMemory
Scott is the VP, Sales and Marketing at Workplace Health Services. In this role Scott strives to integrate a complex group of service offerings into a simple to understand package for prospects and clients.
Leave a Reply