Healthy schools for better education: how an onsite health center benefits teachers, staff and students

Learn how onsite healthcare for school systems helps improve employee health and quality of care

Hard-working school teachers and support staff play a vital role in the education of our children. Unfortunately, they’re often let down by their current healthcare system.

The problem

Instead of inspiring our children to learn, there’s a worrying rise in the number of teachers chronically absent from the classroom.

A recent report from the Education Week Research Center shows that nationwide, 28 percent of teachers were absent for more than 10 school days during the 2015-16 school year [1].

That works out to more than 901,500 pre-K-12 teachers who were not at work when they would have otherwise been expected to be. These high levels of absenteeism can lead to troubling staffing shortages for school systems, not to mention the impact on the quality of education being provided to students.

How an onsite health center can help school systems

To combat this problem, many school systems are starting to take a more proactive approach by making healthcare more accessible for their employees. 

This is where onsite healthcare for school systems can help.

With an onsite or near-site health center, teachers and support staff can conveniently receive free high-quality primary care, vaccines and preventative care—and school systems can reduce their healthcare costs and lower their levels of absenteeism [2].

Our onsite health center results

WeCare tlc has over 15 years of experience providing onsite healthcare for school systems. Over this time, we’ve seen some incredible results!

At one K-12 public school corporation that serves over 13,000 students, we were able to increase employee utilization of the health center from 63% to 76% over 6 years.

The result? By empowering members with the tools and knowledge to better manage health conditions, the school system benefited from having healthier employees—and was able to achieve cost savings over 6 years of $1,657,290.

Another school system, which operates 12 schools and serves over 8,000 students, saw employee health center participation grow from 52% to 73% over 5 years. 

With the onsite health center helping employees at risk of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity to manage their health, they also saw total savings over 5 years of $1,477,050.

For both of these school systems, we launched several successful wellness initiatives and engagement campaigns, including telehealth, onsite health education sessions, flu clinics, and more. If you’d like to learn more about these case studies, please contact us here.

About WeCare tlc

Since 2005, we have been committed to changing the way healthcare is delivered in the United States.

Our onsite and near-site comprehensive primary care health centers save our school system clients money, improve employee health, reduce absenteeism, and boost quality of care.

We are proud to serve 60+ clients and 68,000+ members across the United States.

Ready to change the way your school system delivers healthcare?
Contact us to learn more.

Sources:

1. Education Week: How Many Teachers Are Chronically Absent From Class in Your State?
2. RAND: The Impact of Worksite Clinics on Teacher Healthcare Utilization and Cost, Self-Reported Health Status, and Student Academic Achievement Growth in a Public School District