Outsourcing the management of medical examinations is an HR practice that helps free up time for internal teams. With rising absenteeism, companies are increasingly interested in outsourcing the management of this legal obligation. Let’s explore the various benefits of outsourcing medical examination management.
Why Talk About Outsourcing Medical Examinations?
HR outsourcing is a solution to reduce costs and improve service quality. But, above all, to refocus internal resources on their core business missions.
What Does Outsourcing Medical Examination Management Involve?
Outsourcing medical examinations is the delegation of employee medical examination management to specialized external providers. In short, the company entrusts all its medical services, such as fitness-for-work assessments and health evaluations, to occupational health professionals external to the company.
Why Are Some Companies Turning to This Practice?
Through outsourcing medical examinations, companies focus their efforts on their added value. This can also reduce administrative costs, improve flexibility in appointment scheduling, and ensure legal compliance.
What Triggers These Medical Examinations?
- Frequency: medical examinations are now mandatory every 5 years.
- Hiring: with turnover reaching 20% in some sectors, this multiplies the number of medical examinations to be managed.
- Return to work: the increase in absenteeism and long-term sick leave leads to a rise in medical examination follow-ups.
Decrease in the number of practitioners: a future concern for covering medical examinations nationwide?
Fewer Practitioners, More Complexity
In France, there are an estimated 7.2 occupational physicians per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Observatoire de la mutualité Française in 2023.
The National Council of the Order of Physicians observes a 21% decrease in the number of practitioners. However, sick leave and absenteeism are not slowing down. Indeed, according to Ouest France, absenteeism had already increased in 2022, reaching a rate of 5.76% compared to 5% in 2021. Still according to Ouest France, 35% of employees had at least one work stoppage in 2022, a proportion that is increasing sharply (by more than 7 points).
More Hybrid Work Models, Less Uniformity
A multi-site company, or a company combining several hybrid work models, may find itself with human flows distributed across the entire territory.
This raises several questions.
- The first is, can the company manage these different flows (without encroaching on its higher value-added missions)?
- The second is, is there any particular added value in our internal teams taking on this (often time-consuming) responsibility?
- Finally, can I ensure compliance for all my employees (regardless of their location in the territory)?
Benefits of Outsourcing Medical Examinations That Attract Companies
- Cost reduction: we realize that a company can quickly achieve cost savings: human time, travel, infrastructure…
- Focus on core business: refocus the HR department on missions where they make a real difference (internal dialogue, HR policy, company culture…).
- Ensure legal compliance: beyond a certain size, the support of an external provider alleviates legal requirements. We know it’s managed and compliant.
- Confidentiality and privacy: external providers are required to comply with strict standards for medical confidentiality. This strengthens employee trust in the protection of their medical information.
- Save time: This approach relieves human resources teams of administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on core activities. Furthermore, by relying on dedicated medical centers, companies ensure efficient regulatory compliance, thereby optimizing their internal processes and freeing up time to devote to their core business.
Overall, outsourcing simplifies administrative management, with the external provider handling the coordination and planning of visits, medical record keeping, and compliance with regulatory standards.
Althéa to Support You in Outsourcing Medical Examinations
Althéa is a Management Consulting firm with over 250 consultants possessing triple expertise: Consulting Methodology, IT Solutions & Business Lines.
In 2023, we achieved 28 million euros in revenue.
We support our clients in their transformation projects across HR, Finance, Procurement, and Supply Chain, from defining the transformation roadmap to the operational deployment of projects.
Given the challenges of outsourcing, Althéa can support you; indeed, we offer a service dedicated to HR Performance.
To learn more: https://althea-groupe.com/offre/performance-rh/
