The primary care statistics employers need to know

Understand the importance of offering advanced primary care solutions to your employees based on the realities of health care in the U.S.

If you’ve ever visited a hospital or urgent care clinic in the United States, you’ve likely noticed the flaws in our country’s healthcare system—slow wait times, high costs for treatment, lack of education on your diagnoses, and overworked medical teams. 

Luckily, there are many organizations and physicians dedicated to providing higher quality care to the public through advanced primary care solutions. As an employer, there are ways you can help solve this lack of quality, accessible preventative primary care for your workforce.

With innovative, advanced primary care solutions like employer-sponsored health centers, you can save money on your health plan while improving the healthcare outcomes of your valued employees. 

To get started in finding a solution that’s best for your workforce, it’s important to gain a complete understanding of the realities of the U.S. healthcare system. 

Continue reading to explore the essential primary care statistics employers need to know as they work to be a part of the solution:

U.S. healthcare system by the numbers

• Family premiums for employer-sponsored coverage have increased 47% in the last ten years, a rate that outpaces both wage growth and inflation over the same time period. [1]

• Relative to the size of the economy, the U.S. spends a significantly greater amount on health care than other countries of similar size and wealth. For example, health spending per person in the U.S. in 2019 was 42% higher than Switzerland, the country with the next highest per capita health spending. [2]

• The immense amount of money the U.S. spends on health care does not equate to high-quality care. A multinational comparison of health systems data found that the U.S. has twice the obesity rate and the highest chronic condition burden than the study’s average. The study also found that the U.S. had fewer physician visits than most countries, the most hospitalizations due to preventable causes, and the highest rate of avoidable deaths. [3]

• An annual study surveying thirty countries worldwide in 2021 found that only 67% of respondents in the U.S. rated the quality of healthcare that they and their family have access to as good or very good. The study also revealed that only 49% of respondents trust the U.S. healthcare system to provide them with the best treatment. [4]

Primary care services recent data

• Research has consistently proven that regularly visiting a primary care provider is linked to improved patient health outcomes and decreased cost for health care services. [5]   

• Only about one-third of U.S. physicians work in primary care despite an anticipated increase in the demand for primary care physicians in the coming years due to population growth with the American Association of Medical Colleges expecting a shortage of between 20,000 and 55,000 primary care physicians by 2032 if current supply and demand trends continue. [5] 

• Primary care services account for only 5-7% of total health care spending in the U.S., a number that seems especially insignificant when compared to the 14% of total health care spending devoted to primary care on average across peer nations. [6,7] 

Did you find these primary care statistics insightful?

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Ready to provide advanced primary care to your employees?

At WeCare tlc, we’re committed to helping improve the lives of your workforce while managing medical risks by offering accessible advanced primary care services through our onsite and near-site health centers. 

Our health centers offer you and your employees:

• Robust, convenient primary care services—all at no cost to members 
• Permanent, physician-led care teams who become patient advocates 
• Ability to direct, manage, and steer care and cost
• Better health outcomes
• Lower health insurance costs over time.

Make a difference in the lives of your employees!
Learn about our advanced primary care services or contact us today to get started.

Sources:
1: Kaiser Family Foundation | 2021 Employer Health Benefits Survey
2: Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker | How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries?
3: The Commonwealth Fund | U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2019: Higher Spending, Worse Outcomes?
4: Ipsos | Global Health Service Monitor 2021
5: Robert Graham Center/American Board of Family Medicine/IBM-Watson Health | Primary Care in the United States: A Chartbook of Facts and Statistics
6: Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative/Robert Graham Center | Investing in Primary Care: A State-Level Analysis
7: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) | Realising the Full Potential of Primary Health Care