Employers with onsite clinics are turning to telehealth in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by the National Association of Worksite Health Centers.

The survey, conducted in March, found that 81% of respondents were currently offering telehealth or virtual services, and 57% planned to increase those types of offerings as a result of the ongoing national health crisis.

Only 40% of survey respondents said they had access to COVID-19 testing kits, which were obtained primarily from private sources. Staff safety was the top concern for respondents who were asked about offering COVID-19 testing at their centers, and a majority said they were having trouble securing medical masks and gowns.

NAWHC said that it received 47 responses from employers, third-party clinic vendors and health providers that manage centers. The results, it said, were directional–and not statistically accurate–but reflected "in general, how employer and union centers are addressing the crisis."

The majority of respondents said they were offering only limited onsite services, while just 36% responded that they were continuing to conduct a full complement of services at clinics. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they were repositioning staff to perform telehealth functions.

The vast majority said virtual health services, like chronic disease management, behavioral health and primary and urgent care, were offered over the telephone, but 74% of respondents also said they had the ability to conduct appointments by video, using smartphones, tablets and computers.

Since the pandemic, 45% of respondents said they were seeing only flu and respiratory symptoms, though 42% reported an uptick in mental-health and stress cases.

An overwhelming majority, or 77%, of employers that contract with vendors or providers to manage centers, said they were satisfied with their response.

Eight-seven percent of those surveyed said their centers were not open to the public, and 66% of respondents reported having a formal infectious disease plan in place to deal with the hazards posed by COVID-19. Despite the planning, centers responded that, in addition to a lack of testing kits, they were having difficulty obtaining vital personal protective equipment needed to keep onsite workers safe from the virus.

Masks were the most scarce item, according to 81% of survey respondents, who said they'd had trouble obtaining them. Fifty-nine percent said they'd had trouble finding gowns, while less than half of the respondents said they were dealing with a shortage of gloves, thermometers and other equipment.

The NAWHC survey was done in collaboration with Mercer, a global consulting firm and a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos.

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Instant Insights /

How are employers' onsite clinics faring amid COVID?

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