Marathon Health
Democratizing Access to Employee Healthcare

Prioritizing employee health and well-being powers a company’s success. When employees have access to high-quality primary care and mental health resources, employers can create a happier and more productive workplace. Yet, as healthcare costs continue to rise, employers are scrambling to improve health outcomes for their employees and achieve the cost-efficiency of benefit plans.

Marathon Health, a leading employer health company, is changing that with its advanced primary care model focused on population health management. Marathon partners with employers, such as financial institutions, manufacturers, school districts, municipalities, and unions, to offer employees unmatched access to advanced primary care. The care model includes dedicated onsite health centers, shared Network locations around metro areas, and virtual primary care. The Marathon team ensures employees and their family members take full advantage of primary care with a focus on prevention, thereby creating a positive impact on health and cost.

Through a collaborative and integrated care team approach, which includes primary care providers, health coaches, behavioral health, physical therapy, and occupational health, Marathon Health focuses on building relationships with its members. “We take a holistic approach to every member’s well-being – physical, emotional, and mental,” says Jeff Wells, MD, CEO and co-founder of Marathon Health. “Our care teams are united by their focus on improving overall health outcomes.”

Travel time to a doctor takes an average of 34 minutes, with average wait times lasting another 11 minutes, according to Altarum, a health research and consulting firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An employer health center, however, not only improves access to care but offers convenience for employees to visit with the care team during work hours.

Onsite health centers at the jobsite make it exceptionally easy to get healthcare, and employees spend less than 5 minutes waiting to see a provider. Appointments average 30 minutes or more so the care teams can get to know their patients, allowing them to ask questions and talk through their concerns.

“I get to know the patients on a personal level,” says Kristen Osburn, a nurse practitioner with Marathon Health. “I get to know what their grandchildren call them, I learn about their pets, and then it just opens the conversation to a different level when it comes to their health. We build trust.”

The Marathon Health Network, a purpose-built near-site health center network, relieves employers of the costs involved in building and running facilities. These freestanding centers are strategically located where employees and their family members live and shop.

Marathon Health Anywhere virtual care enables employees across the country to engage virtually with healthcare professionals through messages, telephone calls, and video visits. It supports the management of chronic conditions, ensures care continuity, and prevents health complexities.

“There is no one way to manage diabetes, lose weight, or control stress. We personalize the experience with empathy and shared decision-making, which are part of our core values,” Wells says.

To help employers unlock economic returns from its services, Marathon Health designs a robust communication and promotional strategy, like data-driven proactive marketing campaigns across digital channels and event-based marketing, including webinars. These programs engage employees and their family members in healthy behaviors and reward them for the same.

“Primary care is about the right way of influencing human behavior change,” Wells says. “Changing your lifestyle is hard, and we respect that. Instead of insisting employees change their behavior, we talk about their healthcare or lifestyle goals and discuss how we can best help them to achieve those goals.”

Marathon Health is leading the way to better care for numerous employers and employees. When one of their clients switched to a hybrid work environment post-pandemic, they decided to expand their reach by also offering employees access to a Network and virtual care through Marathon Health. This flexibility allowed the client to unlock more value from the partnership while their employees gained even more access to quality care.

Wells says there are multiple factors that drive the success of Marathon Health. It recruits and develops the best clinical talent to enhance the overall experience, and because of its efforts, they have a 90 percent provider retention rate. As a fully independent provider, Marathon Health helps its members avoid unnecessary and overpriced downstream care. Its value-based payment models operate completely outside of the traditional fee-for-service healthcare system, aligning provider and employer incentives.

The ability of Marathon Health’s advanced primary care model to drive transformational savings for employers and improve employee health through relationship-based care continues to propel it forward, making it an industry standard. Their clients see up to $2,000 in annual savings for every engaged employee, and 67 percent of its engaged members have made improvements on one or more of their biometric healthcare markers. “When you make it easy for people to get the care they need, they are more likely to take care of their health,” Wells says.