Corporate travel medicine: benefit analysis of on-site services.
BACKGROUND
Corporations with employees who travel internationally address their travel-related medical needs in a variety of ways. Options utilized include corporate medical departments, local health departments, and local clinics, both contracted and independent.


METHODS
A travel clinic at a university medical center routinely provided preventive travel medicine services for many of the local companies. Two of these companies had on-site medical clinics which routinely saw patients for occupational and personal health reasons. At these companies , the university travel clinic assisted in moving employee travel medicine services to the on-site clinic. Direct and indirect costs for new, predeparture employee travel care at each company were compared before, and after, the move on-site.


RESULTS
When measured per patient, total cost savings associated with the on-site travel clinic were greater than 15% at both companies (17%, 25%), primarily due to the value of the employees' time saved with decreased travel. Utilization increased at one company by 24% over the first 8 months and lead to higher overall cost, but this cost increase was only 4%. Informal assessments of the value of the on-site service at both companies was uniformly positive.


CONCLUSIONS
For certain corporate settings, on-site clinics may be effective ways of providing travel medicine services.
Prince
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Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Kentucky, 1141 Red Mile Road, Lexington, KY 40504, USA.
Spengler
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Collins
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D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D003132:Commerce; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014195:Travel / Q000191:economics*; D017132:Workplace