Pros and Cons of company having a panel of doctors?

Question

I'm sure some of the companies you are working has appointed panel of doctors whom you should seek and obtain MC, and immediately your MC leave is recognized. My company is intend to appoint panel of doctors. As a HR, I need to gather information such as pros and cons, doctors selection, location. But the main issue I want to seek advice is that how to negotiate or inform the employees, because some of them may disagree with comments like "The clinic is too far", "What if I got sick at home and able to go to clinic nearest to my home which is not a panel?".

Appreciate your advice.

Answer 1

Some of the pros and cons I can think of are as follows:
Pros:
1. The co. can control their medical expenses. If it doesn't have a panel and allows staff to just see any doctor and claim for the expense, staff may choose all the expensive specialists
2. Less admin hassle. If staff are allowed to see only doctors in the panel, companies have company a/cs with these clinics and the staff don't need to be reimbursed one by one. The co. just pays the clinics once a month.
3. The co. doctors keep a history of these staff, and will know if the same ones always ask for an MC. If any GP's MC is accepted, the staff will GP hop and get their MC every time.

Cons:
1. Most companies choose clinics which are nearby so that staff can see the doctor without travelling too far from the office. However this also means that staff can pop over for every little thing, when just taking 2 Panadols will do.

You should choose a group practice which has many branches all over the country. If the staff still complain it's too far, do what some companies do - accept the staff's own GP's MC, but don't reimburse the medical charges (or reimburse half or whatever). This will act as a deterrent against staff refusing to see a doctor in the panel.