Courtesy of Shutterstock
WorkSiteRight
There are few things more frustrating than taking precious paid time off only to sit in a waiting room, stand in line for a prescription, or listen to more than your fair share of tinny music while placed on hold.
But with health care leaders like Northwestern Health Sciences University (NWHSU), it’s becoming easier to avoid those situations by addressing health concerns without ever having to leave the office. WorkSiteRight is a program through NWHSU that partners directly with employers to provide onsite health care options for employees. With a single onsite provider, companies are able to increase employee wellness and productivity.
Getting Well and Getting Ahead
“We all have busy lives,” says Chad Henriksen, Director of WorkSiteRight at NWHSU. “We don’t always address our health care concerns when we should because it’s not always easy and convenient to get in and see your provider. With our program, that access is much more available.”
With a more accessible provider, employees are often able to “get ahead” of potential health problems, leading to an overall preventative, and not reactive, approach to wellness. WorkSiteRight doesn’t just offer a band-aid solution for employee health, but its providers promote an ongoing healthy lifestyle, “often times the onsite provider can provide motivation and encouragement for you to stay healthy.”
The Interest in Workplace Wellness
As more and more millennials continue to drive the workforce, wellness is becoming a larger point of interest in the workplace. These days, both physical jobs and “desk jobs” trend toward wellness as a goal for workplace culture. No longer is wellness simply an add-on benefit, Henriksen says; it is incorporated into the business models themselves.
When programs such as WorkSiteRight are directly built into company business models, it’s a financial “win-win” for everyone involved. WorkSiteRight onsite health care runs on a fixed cost model, which makes it easy for companies to build the cost into their annual budgets. And for employees, there’s no additional cost to use the program—no copays, no premiums, just care.
“Across all of our programs right now, we’re averaging a $4 return on every dollar the company invests [in the program],” says Henriksen. Because employees are addressing health concerns earlier on, the consequences are often less severe, and the time spent visiting the onsite provider (which happens during work hours) is far less than hurrying to an appointment at a separate clinic.
Customized Health Care
So what types of health concerns can these onsite programs address?
Currently, the WorkSiteRight programs include chiropractic care—among the most common issues are sprains, strains, and back aches. Providers offer specialized examples of active care like stretching, as well as ergonomic focused treatment, like tips for the best ways to sit at your computer or at your workstation.
WorkSiteRight completes an assessment for each company it works with in order to determine the employees’ health needs. Take a tech company with a younger employee demographic and compare it to a manufacturing company with a more varied employee demographic—one may need a plan more focused on ergonomics and the other may need one for handling muscle strains.
The onsite programs can also be helpful in preparing employees in a transitional health period. Consistent onsite care can be especially helpful for those experiencing chronic conditions or when returning to work after a surgery.
“The idea behind it all is to create a comfortable and safe work environment, no matter your job,” Henriksen says. When the opportunity for care is consistent, so is your health.
For the moments when onsite providers see a physical or mental health concern that goes beyond their scope, they’re able to refer employees out to an expanded network of trusted physicians. And as the program continues to grow, NWHSU plans to expand WorkSiteRight to include an even wider range of care.
“In the world today, where there are so many challenges in health care,” Henriksen says, “It’s an important piece of the puzzle that’s being fixed.”
Located in Bloomington, Northwestern Health Sciences University is a pioneer in integrative natural health care education, offering degree programs in chiropractic, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, massage therapy, nutrition, post-bac, pre-health/pre-med, and B.S. completion.
WorkSiteRight is a division of the NWHSU H.C. Sweere Center.
See more content from Northwestern Health Sciences University.
Sign up for our Be Well newsletter to get the latest health and wellness coverage.
