Selling Virtual Urgent Care to Employers
How to help your clients understand the unique benefits of virtual urgent care.
As an insurance broker, it’s your job to find solutions for your clients. You need to bring value and expertise that employers can’t find elsewhere. To be their trusted partner of choice, you need to understand their daily challenges.
Today’s employers are navigating constant change, tight budgets and complex regulations. They’re in the trenches of the war for talent, and all their employees have unique health needs and life circumstances. They’re trying to keep their workforce happy while running their business as efficiently as possible.
When it comes to employee benefits, the old ways of thinking are just not enough. To meet the demands of today’s marketplace, everyone needs to think differently. For employers, unique and flexible health benefits can be a key differentiator.
By partnering with OSF OnCall, employers can address some of their top challenges. We provide innovative digital health solutions to maintain employee wellness, improve workplace productivity and help control costs. By incorporating virtual urgent care in their benefits package, employers can offer convenient and flexible care on demand — without incurring significant costs.
Quick and convenient care
Virtual urgent care makes it easy to get medical advice and care for minor illnesses and health conditions that could become bigger problems if left untreated. With online scheduling, employees can quickly make a virtual appointment with an OSF OnCall provider. Whether they connect face to face through a video visit or walk through an online interview at their own pace, they can receive medical advice, a treatment plan and prescriptions, if necessary, directly through their smartphone or favorite device.
With virtual visits, no appointments or waiting rooms are needed. Yet should the need arise, we’ll provide a smooth transition to in-person care. Virtual visits are available 24/7/365 — even on holidays — for a wide range of conditions, including:
- COVID-19 (coronavirus), respiratory infections & allergies
- Cold, sinus infection, or influenza (flu)/COVID-19
- COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine side effects
- Hay fever/allergies
- Post-COVID (coronavirus) discharge
- Injuries and pain
- Medication refills
- EpiPen refill
- General medication refill
- Asthma medication refill
- Cosmetic services
- Anti-aging skin treatments
- Eyelash lengthening
- Male pattern baldness
- Eye, ear and mouth problems
- Dental pain
- Eye conditions
- Oral mouth sores
- Swimmer’s ear (outer ear pain)
- Medication to prevent an illness or infection after exposure to an infected person
- Influenza (flu) exposure
- Pertussis (whooping cough) exposure
- Skin and nail problems
- Acne and rosacea
- Burns (minor)
- Diaper rash
- Eczema
- General skin condition
- Women’s health
- Female bladder infection (UTI)
- Vaginal yeast infection
- Sexual health
- Erectile dysfunction
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Stomach problems
- Gastrointestinal conditions
- Heartburn or acid reflux (GERD)
- Quit smoking
- Insects: head lice, tick bite
- Travel medications
- Malaria prevention
- Motion sickness prevention
- Travelers’ diarrhea
Overcoming resistance to change
Virtual urgent care brings a myriad of benefits to employers and employees alike. But in a world of constant change, you must provide a powerful rationale for employers to justify changing their health plans. While every employer is different, they share many common concerns. The benefits of virtual urgent care speak directly to those concerns. As their trusted partner, you must show how their business will benefit as well.
While some of their employees may resist technology-centric solutions, patient needs and expectations are shifting. More people are familiar and comfortable with the convenience of digital tools — and they’ll always have the option to see a provider in person if they prefer.
How can you make the case for virtual urgent care to your clients? The benefits are your selling points.
Improve employee wellness
Every employer wants a healthy workforce. With the convenience of virtual visits, it’s easy for employees to stay on top of minor illnesses and injury. They’ll be less likely to ignore minor symptoms, and earlier interventions will diminish the need for higher levels of care. Should that need arise, however, they’ll have options to connect to providers and specialists in the larger health system. Your clients can expect fewer illnesses, better outcomes and a healthier workforce all around.
Increase workplace productivity
Improving employee wellness goes hand in hand with greater productivity in the workplace. That’s just common sense. With fewer illnesses due to earlier interventions, employers can expect a decline in absenteeism. When employees can get treatment for pain and chronic health conditions, they’ll be happier and more productive at work.
Control costs
Finding new strategies to control health care costs is critical. Not only is virtual care more convenient and flexible than in-person visits, it’s generally less costly — without sacrificing quality of care. Identifying potential health issues in the early stages helps minimize emergency room visits, hospital admissions and unnecessary treatments. That in turn avoids high-dollar insurance claims and controls costs for everyone. In addition, employer-sponsored pricing is based on volume and more cost-efficient than consumer-based pricing.
Enhance employee satisfaction
By offering greater convenience and customization, virtual urgent care caters directly to the unique needs of your workforce. Multiple engagement options allow employees to control when and how they receive care, and it positions them to better manage their own health. Virtual urgent care offers a seamless, coordinated experience. It all adds up to improved employee satisfaction — and greater employee retention.
Navigate the shifting landscape
By providing unique and flexible health benefits, employers can build and maintain a strong, healthy and dedicated workforce. Not only will they retain existing employees, but they’ll attract new talent to the team. They’ll stand out from the pack.
As you help employers navigate the shifting landscape of employee benefits, OSF OnCall can be your partner. Virtual urgent care is a new approach to health care combining clinical expertise with online convenience. With OSF OnCall, it’s simple to receive the right care whenever needed. Give us a call or contact us online to learn more about how virtual urgent care can give employers a leg up on the competition.
Delivering the Future of Health Care Today
Who we are
OSF OnCall Digital Health is an entity within OSF HealthCare leveraging tools, technology and decades of experience to transform today's health care landscape.
This virtual "hospital without walls" platform provides 24/7 access with offerings for partners and patients across the entire care continuum.
What we do
- Urgent Care – treatment for minor illnesses and injuries 24/7/365, both in person and virtually.
- Intensive Care – combining an expert medical staff of critical care doctors and nurses, digital technology, predictive analytics and compassionate care to provide real-time support 24/7/365.
- Hospitalists – digital solutions that provide high-quality inpatient care while improving outcomes and satisfaction and maintaining effective resource stewardship.
- Remote Patient Monitoring – clinical remote monitoring team and tools for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, COPD, heart failure, asthma and more 24/7/365.
- Triage – high-quality nurse triage using national evidence-based practice protocol guidelines 24/7/365.
- Physician Office Answering Service – providing after-hours coverage for physician office phone answering services.