Onsite Clinics: Frequently Asked Questions

A deep dive into how onsite clinics work, what they cost, and how to evaluate whether one belongs in your benefits program.

The Basics

What is an onsite clinic?

An onsite clinic is a fully functioning medical practice located inside an employer's facility. It's staffed by a clinician — typically a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, sometimes a physician — who provides primary care, acute care, preventive services, and chronic condition management to the employer's workforce, often at little or no cost to the employee.

How is this different from urgent care or telehealth?

Urgent care handles episodic, acute issues — when you're sick or hurt. Telehealth provides convenient access, often with whichever clinician is available. An onsite clinic provides continuous, relationship-based primary care from a clinician who knows your employees by name, located inside the building they already work in. The continuity of care is what drives the dramatic improvements in chronic condition management and early detection.

Are onsite clinics replacing traditional health insurance?

No. An onsite clinic complements traditional health insurance, not replaces it. The clinic handles primary care, acute care, and preventive services. Specialty care, hospital care, and complex procedures still flow through the employer's health plan. The clinic typically reduces the cost of those downstream services by catching issues earlier and reducing unnecessary referrals.

Who Onsite Clinics Are For

What size employer does an onsite clinic make sense for?

Modern onsite clinic programs work for employers as small as 100 employees. Below that threshold, the economics typically favor virtual care or shared near-site arrangements with other small employers. Between 100 and 500 employees, hybrid models — combining a few days of onsite presence per week with virtual care coverage — usually deliver the best results.

What kinds of industries benefit most?

Onsite clinics consistently deliver strong results in manufacturing, distribution and logistics, healthcare and senior living organizations, school districts, municipalities, professional services firms, and any employer with a concentrated workforce that has historically had limited access to convenient primary care.

Does our workforce have to be on a single campus?

Not necessarily. Multi-site employers often use a combination of onsite clinics at the largest locations, near-site clinics for clusters of smaller locations, and virtual care to extend coverage to everyone else. The right design depends on workforce density and geography.

Is this only for self-funded employers?

The financial case is strongest for self-funded and level-funded employers, because claims savings flow directly to the employer. Fully insured employers can still benefit operationally — better access, healthier employees, improved retention — but the dollars-and-cents ROI is captured by the insurance carrier rather than by the employer.

What an Onsite Clinic Actually Does

What services are typically offered?

Most onsite clinic programs include acute care for routine illnesses and minor injuries, primary care including annual physicals, chronic condition management for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and high cholesterol, preventive screenings and vaccinations, behavioral health screening and warm referrals, occupational health services including injury triage and DOT physicals, and onsite medication dispensing for common prescriptions.

What conditions can be managed at the clinic?

The clinic can manage the conditions that account for roughly 70 to 80 percent of all primary care visits — both acute issues and ongoing chronic conditions. Specialty care, surgery, advanced diagnostics, and emergencies are referred out to appropriate providers.

Can family members and dependents use the clinic?

Yes, in many programs. Dependent access is one of the highest-value features of an onsite clinic, particularly for chronic condition management and pediatric primary care. Specific eligibility is configurable based on the employer's preferences.

What about employees who already have a primary care doctor?

Employees who already have an established primary care relationship can continue using their existing doctor. Many of them still use the clinic for convenience — acute issues, biometric screenings, vaccinations — and gradually migrate more of their care over time as they build a relationship with the onsite clinician.

Staffing

Who works at an onsite clinic?

Most Archer Health clinics are staffed by an experienced nurse practitioner, often supported by a medical assistant. Some larger programs include physicians, physical therapists, behavioral health providers, or other specialists, depending on workforce needs.

Why nurse practitioners rather than physicians?

Nurse practitioners deliver excellent care for the conditions onsite clinics typically handle, with strong patient satisfaction scores and clinical outcomes. The cost difference between NP-led and physician-led models is significant, which is one of the main reasons modern onsite care has become economically viable for smaller employers.

How is the clinician selected?

We recruit clinicians specifically for the role — looking for the right combination of clinical excellence, communication skills, and cultural fit with the employer. Employers are involved in the selection process, including final-round interviews, to ensure the right match.

What if the clinician leaves?

Clinician turnover is a real risk in any healthcare staffing model. We work hard to retain our clinicians through competitive compensation, supportive operating models, and ongoing professional development. When transitions do happen, we manage the search and onboarding process to minimize disruption.

Costs

How is an onsite clinic priced?

The most common pricing model is per-employee-per-month (PEPM), where the employer pays a flat monthly fee for every eligible employee. For Archer Health programs, PEPM typically falls between $25 and $60, depending on staffing, services, and geography.

What does the total annual investment look like?

For an employer with 250 to 300 employees, total annual program cost is typically between $85,000 and $200,000. For larger employers, the per-employee cost generally decreases as fixed costs spread across a bigger workforce.

What's included in the price?

Pricing typically includes clinician salary and benefits, medical supplies and equipment, technology platform, malpractice and liability coverage, ongoing program management, regulatory compliance, and reporting. Build-out of clinical space is often a separate, one-time cost.

Are there any additional costs?

Possible additional costs include initial space build-out (varies widely by location), specialty services beyond the standard scope, dependent access in some structures, and onsite pharmacy if added separately. We provide a clear, detailed budget during the contracting process — no surprises.

ROI and Outcomes

What's a realistic ROI on an onsite clinic?

Well-designed programs typically deliver 1.5x to 3x ROI over a three-year horizon. Year one is usually break-even or modest savings; years two and three are where the strongest returns appear, as engagement builds and chronic condition management compounds.

Where do the savings actually come from?

The largest savings categories are: reduced ER and urgent care visits, reduced specialty referrals, lower pharmacy costs (especially with onsite dispensing), productivity gains from less time lost to medical appointments, and catastrophic claim avoidance from earlier detection of serious conditions.

How is engagement measured?

Engagement is typically measured as the percentage of eligible employees who use the clinic at least once during a defined period (commonly per quarter or per year). Strong programs achieve 50 to 70 percent annual engagement within 12 to 18 months.

What if engagement is low?

Low engagement is almost always a fixable problem, and it's fixable through specific levers — communication, leadership visibility, hours of operation, additional services, dependent access, or clinician fit. We monitor engagement closely and work with each employer to optimize the program over time.

Implementation

How long does it take to launch a clinic?

Typical timeline is three to six months from contract to opening day. Faster timelines are sometimes possible, particularly for hybrid or virtual-first programs that don't require space build-out.

What does the employer need to provide?

Physical space (we help design it), basic utilities, and HR/leadership support for communications and rollout. Archer Health handles everything clinical and operational — clinician recruitment, equipment, supplies, technology, compliance, day-to-day management.

What does the space need to look like?

A typical onsite clinic needs roughly 400 to 800 square feet, with at least one exam room, a waiting area, a small lab/processing area, and an office or workspace for the clinician. Smaller hybrid setups can fit in less space.

How do we roll the clinic out to employees?

We provide a launch communications playbook including all-employee announcements, leadership talking points, FAQ documents, and signage. Strong rollouts include visible executive sponsorship, easy-to-understand communications, and a clear "soft launch" period for early adopters.

Privacy and Compliance

Is the clinic HIPAA-compliant?

Yes. All clinical operations follow HIPAA requirements. Individual employee health information stays between the employee and the clinical team.

What does the employer see?

Employers receive aggregate, de-identified reports showing program engagement, common visit types, biometric screening trends, and overall ROI metrics. Employers never see individual employee health information.

Can a manager find out if their employee visited the clinic?

No. Clinic visits are confidential. The clinic is not a workplace surveillance tool, and we won't be one — that's both a legal requirement and a fundamental design principle.

Evaluating Vendors

What questions should we ask when evaluating onsite clinic vendors?

The questions that surface real differences between vendors include: who specifically will be staffing our clinic, what is your clinician retention rate, how do you measure engagement and what's a realistic year-one target, what's your follow-through process for abnormal screening results, how do you integrate with our health plan and pharmacy benefit, can you share three references from similar-sized employers, and what happens at renewal if the program isn't delivering projected ROI.

How do we know if a vendor is the right fit?

The right vendor is honest about whether their model fits your situation. If a vendor recommends the same program structure for every client regardless of size, geography, or workforce profile, that's a warning sign. The best vendors will tell you when an onsite clinic doesn't make sense for your situation — and recommend a different approach instead.

Getting Started

How do we explore whether this makes sense for our company?

The best starting point is a brief conversation with our team — typically 30 to 45 minutes — where we can walk through your workforce, current benefits, and goals, and give you an honest read on whether an Archer Health program would deliver real value. Reach out at hello@archerhealth.com or 601-565-0075.