How long does employer enrollment take end to end?

Plan on roughly twelve weeks from census review to the first cohort of completed visits. Groups that already have a broker relationship and a clean eligibility file often move faster. The step that stretches most often is the communication window, because employees need two to three touches before they act.

What enrollment rate should a 50 to 200 employee group expect?

Participation varies widely with how the benefit is communicated and whether the employer covers the full cost. Employer-paid benefits with onsite enrollment sessions consistently outperform voluntary, employee-paid arrangements. Set expectations with the employer during contracting rather than after the first month, and measure against the eligibility file, not headcount.

How do remote or multi-site employees enroll?

The same registration path, with a virtual welcome visit and a telehealth-first care relationship. For groups with a meaningful remote population, we set expectations up front about which services require an in-person visit so those employees are not enrolled into a benefit they cannot fully use.

Does the employer handle payroll deduction?

Usually not. Most mid-sized groups pay a single monthly invoice based on the eligibility file, which keeps the arrangement off the payroll system. Employee-paid or cost-shared structures are possible but add administrative work on the employer side, so they are worth discussing before contracting.

What does HR actually have to do?

Send the census, approve the communication plan, host the enrollment sessions, and keep the monthly eligibility file current. Everything else, the materials, the landing page, the follow-up, the reporting, sits with us and the practice.

How does this pair with the employer's existing health plan?

DPC typically sits alongside a wraparound plan that covers hospitalization, specialty care, and catastrophic events. It is not a replacement for insurance, and it should not be presented to employees as one. Plan design and any claims impact should be reviewed with the group's broker and benefits counsel.

Employer Groups

How employees and dependents actually get enrolled.

The twelve-week workflow we run with practices onboarding a 50 to 200 employee group, from census file to first completed visits, including who owns each step.

Read the employer guide →

At a glance

Census and eligibility rules first
PEPM pricing, one monthly invoice
Enrollment sessions across every shift
Roster reconciliation at day ninety

Timelines are typical and vary with group size, broker involvement, and plan design.

What is the employer enrollment workflow for a mid-sized group?

Enrolling a 50 to 200 employee group into a DPC practice takes about twelve weeks and runs in five phases: census and eligibility review, employer agreement and PEPM pricing, communication and enrollment materials, enrollment sessions with member intake, and a ninety-day reconciliation with utilization reporting. The employer owns the census and the eligibility file; the practice and its operating partner own everything else.

The workflow

Twelve weeks, five phases, one owner per step.

Most enrollments stall in the same two places: an eligibility file nobody owns, and a communication plan that stops after one email. The sequence below is built to close both gaps.

Weeks 1 to 2

Census review and eligibility file

Owned by Employer + benefits broker

The group sends a census with headcount, dependent counts, locations, and current plan structure. We use it to size the panel, confirm the practice has capacity, and set the eligibility rules that drive everything downstream: who qualifies, when coverage starts, and how dependents are handled.

Eligibility rules documented in writing
Panel capacity confirmed against current membership
Worksite vs. remote employee split identified

Weeks 3 to 4

Agreement, pricing, and payment terms

Owned by Practice + employer

Per-employee-per-month pricing is set by tier (employee, employee plus spouse, family), along with the invoice cadence and the effective date. Most mid-sized groups run a single monthly invoice against the eligibility file rather than collecting from individual employees, which removes payroll deduction complexity entirely.

Signed employer agreement with PEPM rates
Monthly invoice cadence and billing contact set
Effective date locked for enrollment planning

Weeks 5 to 6

Communication plan and enrollment materials

Owned by Freedom Healthworks

Employees do not enroll in something they do not understand. We build the announcement email sequence, a one-page explainer, an FAQ for HR, and manager talking points. The message that consistently works is simple: same-day access, no copays, direct messaging with your physician, at no cost to you.

Announcement sequence scheduled
HR FAQ and manager talking points delivered
Enrollment landing page live for the group

Weeks 7 to 9

Enrollment events and member onboarding

Owned by Practice + Freedom Healthworks

Onsite or virtual enrollment sessions run across shifts so the whole workforce gets a chance, not just day shift. Employees register on the group landing page, complete intake, and schedule a first visit in one sitting. Remote employees get the same flow with a virtual welcome visit instead of an in-person one.

Enrollment sessions held across all shifts and sites
Intake completed and charts created in the EHR
First visits scheduled during registration

Weeks 10 to 12

First visits, reconciliation, and reporting

Owned by Practice + Freedom Healthworks

The first ninety days set retention. We reconcile the enrollment roster against the eligibility file, chase the employees who registered but never scheduled, and give HR a utilization report they can take to leadership. That report is what renews the contract a year later.

Roster reconciled against payroll eligibility
Unscheduled registrants followed up individually
Quarterly utilization report delivered to HR

What keeps running after the first cohort.

Enrollment is not an event. Groups that treat it as one lose members quietly through turnover in the first year.

Monthly eligibility sync

New hires, terminations, and dependent changes flow in on the same cadence as the invoice, so the practice is never carrying members the employer no longer covers or missing employees who joined in week two.

New hire onboarding path

Every new employee gets the same welcome sequence the original cohort received, triggered off the eligibility file rather than an HR reminder. Groups that leave this to memory lose enrollment steadily over the first year.

Open enrollment support

When the group's annual benefits cycle comes around, the DPC benefit is presented alongside the wraparound plan rather than as an afterthought, which is where most second-year enrollment growth comes from.

Utilization reporting

Quarterly reporting on visits, message volume, chronic condition touchpoints, and avoided urgent care visits, framed for a CFO rather than a clinician.

Questions employers and HR teams ask.

Working on a group and want the workflow adapted?

Bring us the census size, the plan structure, and the timeline the employer is working against. We will tell you what the enrollment sequence should look like for that specific group.

Employer contracting basics

Timelines, participation, and cost outcomes vary by group and are not guarantees. Plan design, ERISA, and tax questions should be reviewed with the employer's broker and benefits counsel.