This “Direct Primary Care” practice model could save you money.  This is a high-value, low-cost practice with unlimited office visits, no co-pays, wholesale medications/labs, low-cost procedures, decreased ER visits, decreased specialty referrals, and decreased hospitalizations.  It could lower your insurance premiums by 30 – 60%!  That is the experience of some businesses in Wichita, Kansas, including Johnson’s Garden Center. 

Starting in 2014, Johnson’s Garden Center offered to pay for employee membership in a local Direct Primary Care practice.  They also spent $110,000 for employee health insurance premiums in 2014 and, at the end of September 2015, received a check for $50,000 of those premiums back.  (Obamacare requires at least 80% of premiums be spent on actual health care – the refund was required, because Direct Primary Care saved that much money by comparison).  Their overall health insurance premium bill for 2016 is quoted at $103,000… An actual decrease in total premiums even before they get their next refund next year.

It is nice to be able to say that happier employees equals less downtime and less productivity loss, and Direct Primary Care can be used as a tool for retention and recruitment of good employees.  Isn’t it even better to save your business money at the same time?