Big companies turn to on-site health care

In an era when employers are trying to increase workers’ access to health care while holding down ever-rising costs, some businesses and organizations are finding a solution in on-site clinics.

Larimer County, which employs about 1,600 people, set up its own employee health-care clinic last November, and it’s been an unqualified success. Nearly every county employee has enrolled in the program, which is also available to their dependents.

“It’s been really well used since the day it opened,´ said Pam Stultz, the county’s benefits administrator.

The county’s Wellness Clinic at 2310 E. Prospect Road is run by Healthstat, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company that provides contracted basic health-care services. Stultz said the county made the decision to hire Healthstat to save on its health-care expenses.

“They’ve been shown to help manage health-care costs,” Stultz said of on-site clinics. “It’s gotten to the point that you can’t keep cost-shifting, raising co-pays and that kind of thing. Based on our claims utilization, we project we’ll save approximately $3 million over the first five years.”

For a self-insured organization like Larimer County, those savings come from less time lost off the job, higher productivity from healthier employees and paying less for visiting the doctor.

“As an added incentive to use the clinic, there’s no additional charge to pay,” Stultz said. “There’s no co-pay as there would be if they went to a family physician.”

Services provided by the clinic include treatment for allergies, flu, colds, sprains, asthma and various shots as well as annual employee physicals and school and sports physicals, along with health management information and monitoring.

“We have heard employees say they’ve gone in to get care that they couldn’t otherwise afford, and that was our goal,” Stultz said. “We didn’t want them waiting until later when it would be more costly.”

Gaining in popularity

Employer-based clinics have been gaining in popularity over the last few years. A survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health found the percentage of large employers that either already had an on-site clinic or planned to open one within the year increased from 27 percent in 2006 to 29 percent in 2008. The survey also found that on-site clinics are most financially feasible for employers with at least 500 workers.

Woodward-Governor, which has production facilities in Fort Collins and Loveland that employ about 900, has been a pioneer in on-site clinics.

Kirby Duvall, M.D., who provides services at both locations, has been employed by Woodward as a health clinic physician since 1994. Duvall said Woodward has had on-site health clinics since the 1940s, and the Fort Collins site has had a clinic since it opened in the 1950s.

Duvall said the “health and productivity centers” are extremely popular with Woodward employees. “We have a high percentage – over 90 percent – who take advantage of the medical clinics and an even higher number who take advantage of the dental clinic as well.

“I think it’s a win-win concept,” Duvall added. “The members like us because we’re so darned convenient and the company has less downtime and more productivity because of that.”

Duvall said Woodward in Fort Collins and Loveland saved about $120,000 last year by having its own medical clinic and about $170,000 by having its own dental clinic.

Duvall said savings are accruing from such things as reduced absenteeism and lower worker compensation costs.

He said the clinics also help decrease what he calls “presenteeism,” which means showing up for work but not really accomplishing much because of an untreated illness or injury.

“If someone doesn’t feel well, there’s a loss of productivity,” he said. “Not only are we reducing absenteeism but we’re also making sure people feel better while they’re here and do more productive work.”

Duvall said Woodward has taken the approach that it makes sense to invest in healthier, more productive employees.

“It’s an investment in the most important asset a company has, and that’s its people,” he said. “You can look at it as a cost-control measure, but it’s really a value measure.”

Steve Porter covers health care for the Northern Colorado Business Report. He can be reached at 970-232-3147 or at sporter@ncbr.com.

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