Creating a valuable executive employee benefits package is a priority for many companies these days. By providing a top-shelf benefits package, you can attract and retain top talent and protect your company from key person risk for the long term.
One way to do that is through executive health programs.
When evaluating executive health and executive physical providers, what should you look for? As an executive health provider ourselves, we talk with companies frequently about executive physicals and broader executive health programs.
Most companies focus on cost, convenience, and customization. Let’s dive in.
What is executive health? What is an executive physical?
Before we get started, it's important to understand the subtle differences between an executive health program and an executive physical program.
Executive physicals are the bread and butter of any executive health program. They are annual physicals that go above and beyond what health insurance covers and help your top employees identify their vulnerabilities, hopefully before symptoms occur.
Some companies opt to only pursue an executive physical program. However, some want to go beyond just executive physicals. That's where a broader executive health program comes into play.
In addition to an executive physical exam, an executive health program combines the physical with a concierge medicine membership to provide your most important employees with both an annual physical and ongoing care throughout the year to help them make progress toward their health goals.
Executive Employee Benefits: Executive Health Cost
Follow the money, right? At the end of the day, a significant piece of the purchase decision will depend on cost. But there are a couple of aspects relating to cost you should get familiar with at each provider.
- What is the actual cost? You’ll want to know what the total investment is going to be. Have a firm grasp of who your high-end providers are, who land more in the middle-ground, and who may be the cheapest out there.
- Is there a floor or ceiling? Some executive health providers offer one fixed cost. What you see is what you get. Others tailor their offerings, which means they tailor the cost as well. Figure out what the cheapest price might be for each provider and what the most expensive price might be.
- How confident can you be in the price? Executive physicals are a healthcare service, which means sometimes the cost is dependent on the level of services, tests, and screenings provided. Other times the additional tests and screenings may be included in a flat fee. Just make sure that you won’t be going from a fairly standard price to something of an anomaly quickly.
It’s important to note this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – if an executive needs more heart testing, they should get more heart testing, and if you can prevent a life-threatening heart attack or something similar, you’ll consider the cost to be well worth it.
But it could lead to variable prices even beyond a standard floor and ceiling, and that’s something you will want to know.
Executive Employee Benefits: Executive Health Convenience
When it comes to convenience, you should think about three things: the location, the day-of experience, and the physician relationship.
Location
National executive health providers like the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic aren’t hard to explain. Unless you happen to be nearby one of their locations though, it’s going to take a little bit of effort to get there.
For your more local and regional opportunities, you’ll want to identify executive health providers within a day trip and those that are still within driving distance but may require an overnight stay.
Day-of experience
How efficient is the executive health provider at scheduling the executive physical? Will there be dedicated space for employees to work if needed?
Is the entire physical done on-site? If not, do they provide transportation to outside vendors? You’ll want to identify providers that make the day-of experience easy and comfortable, so participants keep going back.
Is the healthcare provider inside a major hospital with parking garages and mazes of hallways? Or is it inside a small intimate physician’s office? Or somewhere in between?
These little things should be taken into consideration when thinking about what your executives would prefer.
Physician relationship
Some people may value the possibility of establishing a long-term relationship with the doctor they see year after year. Does the executive health provider offer continuation of care beyond just the annual physical?
Some may only provide the annual physical. Figure out which providers offer just an executive physical and which offer some prospect of a longer relationship either as a traditional patient or as a concierge medicine member of their practice.
You will want to factor all of this into your decision process.
Evaluating Executive Health: Customization
Some clients may want to offer the simplest executive health or executive physical program. Maybe this is just a check-the-box feature of a benefits package or maybe that’s just what will be most effective for the company. One option. Take it or leave it.
Others may want to work with a provider willing to customize the program for their company or even down to each individual program participant.
If truly improving the health of employees is at or near the top of the priority list, customization options are a must. Everyone’s personal health and family medical history is different after all, and their physical should be, too.
So look for executive health providers with a stable, low-maintenance solution and also those with a little more flexibility and versatility in their offerings.
They might be the same provider, but you’ll want to have ideas for both scenarios in your back pocket.
Executive Health at PartnerMD: A Benefit for Peak Performance
At PartnerMD, we’ve worked with countless businesses to structure an executive health program that works for them. Some look for just executive physicals.
Whatever the case – we tailor programs to fit what’s needed. An executive health program at PartnerMD helps your clients:
- Keep their most critical leaders at peak performance.
- Diagnose health risks before symptoms occur.
- Provide access to 24/7 top physician care.
- Reduce long-term health-related risks.
- Protect your continuous business operations.
- Ensure long-term success
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