An employer's dream - no employee time wasted in a physician's waiting room?

This fantasy is being made possible by some business- and service-minded physicians and entrepreneurs.

I was recently alerted to yet another innovative offering - a variant of the house call. At WhiteGlove House Call Health, not only will the healthcare professional come to your house, but he or she will stop by your workplace and deliver your diagnosis and treatment.

A quick phone conversation with a WhiteGlove House Call employee revealed that the healthcare professionals who do most of the onsite visits are supervised nurse practitioners. This suggests the actual medical services rendered are no different than those offered by a retail clinic -- a menu of primary care services, diagnoses and treatments that any well-trained midlevel provider can handle.

The business model is one that is becoming familiar as well. Like concierge practices, theirs is a membership model. For a monthly services fee per employee, the practice offers the convenience of onsite care with extended hours, with some add-on services. Should you insist on your employees receiving care from a physician instead of a NP, the costs go up.

Another option for care delivery to the workplace uses telemedicine. It appears there is a good argument to be made for this form of care delivery as there are some significant cost savings to the employer. From "Telemedicine brings doctors to workplace virtually":

An in-house study by American National Insurance Corp. found that companies saved $44 every time an employee visited the telemedicine doctor instead of taking sick leave for a doctor visit. Other employers using telemedicine have similar results, Hammack said.