Teachers who used school-based health care clinics as the source of primary care were significantly more likely to have fewer inpatient admissions and lower annual health care cost, and were less likely to be absent from work.
ResearchPosted on rand.org Jul 3, 2018Published in: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine [Epub May 2018]. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001373
To examine the impact of worksite clinics on health care utilization and cost, self-reported health status, and student achievement growth in a public school district.
We used insurance claims, health risk assessment, and student achievement growth data for active teachers during 2007-2015. A difference-in-differences approach was applied to measure the impact of worksite clinics.
Compared to using a community-based clinic as the usual source of primary care, using a worksite clinic was associated with significantly lower inpatient admissions (53 vs. 31 per 1,000 teacher years), annual health care cost ($5,043 vs. $4,298 in 2016 US dollars, a difference of $62 per teacher per month), and annual absent work hours (63 vs. 61). No significant differences were detected in self-reported health status or student achievement growth.
Worksite clinics reduce teacher health care cost and absenteeism.
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