Moving from Sick Care to Health Care: Issue 64

Employers and Direct Primary Care

This episode of Tradeoffs explored how some companies are cutting out the layers between their employees and healthcare by offering primary care directly to employees, sometimes directly at the office or worksite.

There are two main ways companies can offer Direct Primary Care to employees:

1) Direct partnerships with providers. This can be a direct contract with a local health system or hiring a primary care company to offer employees and their families direct access to primary care providers. This can include onsite or near site clinics, virtual options, and more to adequately serve your employees.

2) Enter into value-based care contracts with health systems. This can be harder to do depending on the size of your company but it's a way to shift away from paying per visit or per service and instead incentivizes prevention and primary care.

If you're looking to make benefits more valuable for employees and drive down costs long-term, offering a primary care solution can be a great choice.

Shifting from Sick Care to Health Care

Trilliant Health released their 2024 report on Trends Shaping the Health Economy and it's full of insights on our healthcare system and issues plaguing employers and employees.

Health status for most Americans is declining, and this is especially pronounced for younger Americans. In fact, mortality is higher than pre-pandemic for the 18-44 age group.

Early onset cancer is on the rise, particularly for patients under 45 years old. Some cancers seeing higher rates include breast, colon, kidney, uterine.

The high level theme here is that our healthcare system treats you once you are sick, rather than keeping you healthy in the first place. While we can (and will!) bemoan this fact, we can directly impact how employers provide care to employees.

Employers should be aiming to drive greater adoption of preventative care, screenings, and other low cost, early detection strategies to keep people healthy and catch issues as early as possible. Healthcare should be about staying healthy, not only treating you once you're sick.

Check this report out, I'll likely draw more from it for future issues.

"Networking Across" from Issa Rae

I came across this clip from an interview with Issa Rae from a few years back and thought it was interesting to share. In it, she talks about the value of networking across, rather than networking up. She means that there are serious benefits to getting to know your peers and people who haven't yet made it, rather than going to the gatekeepers in your industry for opportunities.

Go partner with your friends, build and create things with the people you know and who maybe haven't made it yet!

California Employment Law Updates for 2024

Governor Newsome signed multiple bills during this legislative session that will impact California employers. Check out this overview from Swerdlow Florence Sanchez Swerdlow & Wimmer for laws affecting workplaces beginning on Jan 1 2025.

Workplace Law After ‘Loper’: Are Non-Competes Dead?

"The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision to end the Chevron doctrine in the Loper Bright case exposed a governmental fault line, which may have far-reaching implications for many entrenched U.S. federal agency regulations that have existed for decades and, consequently, for employers." Full Article

EEOC Initiates Initial String of Lawsuits Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

"Last month, the EEOC filed its first three lawsuits against employers under the PWFA and announced a settlement against a fourth employer resolving a pregnancy discrimination charge where the employer terminated the employee after she requested an accommodation to attend medical appointments. These matters serve as a stark reminder to employers of their obligations under the PWFA and the EEOC’s intent to enforce those obligations." Full Article

How Well-Constructed Dress Codes Can Promote Civility

"While one may not automatically equate dress codes with workplace civility, dress codes do have a role in promoting a respectful and professional workplace culture. Conversely, a dress code policy can lead to discord among employees and even violate employees’ legal rights under some circumstances." Full Article

U.S. Department of Labor Announces New Tool for Compliant Use of AI

"The DOL has partnered with the Partnership on Employment & Accessibility (PEAT) to create a new tool to assist employers in avoiding unintentional discrimination against persons with disabilities when using artificial intelligence in hiring and other decisions within the workplace. Among the tools included on PEAT’s website is The AI Inclusive Hiring Framework, which is intended to make hiring with AI tools more inclusive and accessible for disabled applicants." Full Article

Federal Contractors Should Prepare for 2025 Minimum Wage Hike as Legal Challenges Unfold

"Federal contractors may need to be prepared to increase pay for employees working on, or in connection with, covered federal government contracts. The hourly minimum wage for employees performing work on federal contracts will rise from $17.20 to $17.75 on Jan. 1, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) has announced. The new minimum wage rate will apply in full to tipped and non-tipped employees alike, as well as to workers with disabilities." Full Article

Navigating Employee Political Speech and Expression in the Workplace (in an Election Year and Beyond)

"As we approach election day, employers are likely to notice an increase in discussions about political and social issues in the workplace. Indeed, a recent survey found that 87% of employers expressed concern with managing divisive political and social beliefs among their employees leading up to the election." Full Article

California Inches Closer To Killing Arbitration As We Know It…

"It’s not like we didn’t tell you so, cuz we did! Just last year, we predicted that the latest assault on employer arbitration rights had the potential to destroy arbitration everywhere in the country. Is Arbitration Becoming “Just Somebody That We Used to Know”? Well, it’s happening, and the most recent salvo (not surprisingly) comes from the Golden State." Full Article