Healthcare is a benefit both from the point of view of the employee and the employer - Medicover report ‘Work. Health. Economics. Perspective 2020’ shows. Employees under Medicover's care are less affected by illnesses and spend half the time on sick leave, which in turn results in savings for a company in the amount of PLN 1,005 per employee annually.
Records of 347,000 patients - company employees - have been analysed for the purposes of the following Medicover report. Data from 2018-2019 has been analysed.
One of the most important conclusions of this report is that access to good healthcare brings measurable savings for companies.
An employee, covered by healthcare in Medicover, stays on sick leave for an average of 5.5 days during a year - i.e. less than half the time compared to all employees/ insured with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) where the rate is nearly 11 days. The most common causes of sick leaves, not counting pregnancy-related absences, are acute respiratory infections as well as back pain, trauma and reactions to severe stress. Moreover, employees under Medicover's care are less affected by symptoms of illnesses and the resulting decrease in productivity, i.e. so-called presentism.
In this context, there is also interesting data showing that the most common reason for medical consultations in Medicover, used by employees of cooperating companies, is prophylaxis - over 70% of the analysed population used some form of prophylaxis visit (including occupational medicine) during the year. It is twice as much as in the general population of Poland.
- Prophylaxis, access to healthcare - including digital healthcare and telemedicine solutions which are being systematically developed by us - and proper procedures translate into shorter absence of Medicover patients compared to the general population of Poland – says the report coordinator Piotr Soszyński, MD, PhD, Medicover Poland Director of Strategic Medical Consulting.
- Good health means a better quality of life and, in the perspective of the labour market, higher productivity. Every employer bears the costs associated with the absence of employees or their lower productivity, including so-called presentism - that is working during an illness - says Artur Białkowski, Managing Director for Business Services Medicover Poland – Choosing a healthcare model has a significant impact on business and can be a benefit not only for the employee but also for the employer.
Medicover experts estimated that the Medicover’s care over an employee brings the employer 1,005 PLN in savings per year in comparison with employees using a different healthcare model. The calculation took into account the fact that the costs of the disease are determined by external factors such as the incidence of the disease or population structure. In addition, there is a number of factors related to the organization and the quality of care that can affect the extent of absenteeism and presentism. These include: cooperation between the patient and the doctor, access to coordinated healthcare, time of obtaining adequate assistance, effectiveness of treatment, patient's compliance with recommendations.
Medicover's response to the needs of employees and employers, expressed in the report, is the concept of a Healthy Company
- adds Artur Białkowski - These solutions support the physical, mental and social health of employees, improving immunity and physical condition, boosting commitment and increasing safety at work.
The report "Work. Health. Economics. Perspective 2020" is a comprehensive analysis of the health condition of the population of employees under Medicover Sp. z o.o.'s care describing the main health problems and factors influencing sickness absence. An important part of the report is the updated calculation of costs incurred by employers due to selected employee diseases. The sixth edition of the report was published in 2020. Medicover experts analysed data for the period 2018-2019 for 347,311 people aged 18-67. The report covers the performance of production workers (including shift workers), office workers, mobile workers and people in decision-making positions. The report was also prepared using publicly available analyses of ZUS and the Central Statistical Office (GUS).
Most common health problems among employees were selected for economic analysis. These include chronic diseases: arterial hypertension, diabetes, back pain, headaches, asthma and allergy, as well as gastrointestinal diseases and a group of acute diseases - respiratory infections. The population was then standardized by age, which allowed the Medicover population to be compared to the population insured with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). Subsequently, the costs of absenteeism and ineffective presence at work for employees under Medicover's care and the general population insured with ZUS were calculated. The obtained results show the costs of a given disease incurred by the employer per one statistical employee and not per only a sick one.