What Consultants and Brokers Need to Know about Direct Healthcare

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.

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.