Indianapolis– As employers face the steepest rise in healthcare costs in nearly a decade, new research from Marathon Health shows that investing in advanced primary care (APC) offers a reliable path to reducing expenses and improving employee health outcomes—beginning as early as the first year.
The large-scale claims analysis, conducted across millions of medical records and independently reviewed by Milliman, found that employers implementing Marathon Health’s APC model saw immediate returns. The study revealed that by year one, the model pays for itself, and by year five, it delivers a 3.7x return on investment. The findings highlight substantial cost savings driven by a sharp increase in preventive care utilization and a corresponding drop in emergency room visits and inpatient admissions.
As healthcare expenses continue to soar—reaching $35,119 per year for a family of four under a typical employer-sponsored plan, according to the 2025 Milliman Medical Index—these results present a compelling case for rethinking care delivery. Over the 20-year span of the Milliman index, healthcare costs have surged by 188%, far outpacing both wage growth and inflation.
Dr. Nirav Vakharia, chief health officer at Marathon Health and a practicing primary care physician, said the findings reinforce the long-established value of strong primary care. “Advanced primary care isn’t about reinventing the fundamentals. It’s about delivering them with greater consistency—timely access, continuity of care, and a whole-person approach,” Vakharia said. “This is how we build a healthcare system that actually works for working Americans.”
The study evaluated more than 3 million claims from two cohorts: one comprising 89,000 members across 29 sponsors over five years, and another with 224,000 members across 60 sponsors. Even under conservative assumptions, the analysis showed that engaged APC members had 21% lower overall claims costs, 82% higher primary care engagement, 15% fewer ER visits, and 41% fewer inpatient admissions.
These results illustrate how APC shifts care away from reactive, high-cost treatments toward preventive, value-driven services. As a result, employers are increasingly embracing the model. According to the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, 76% of healthcare purchasers now offer or are considering APC adoption within the next one to three years.
Marathon Health’s study not only confirms the economic advantages of APC but also reinforces its clinical relevance at a time when employers are urgently seeking sustainable healthcare strategies that benefit both organizations and their workforces.
