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Collins to open clinic for workers
Rising health care costs have prompted a South Hutchinson business to offer an on-site health clinic for its employees.
Collins Bus Corp. will open the clinic Thursday — the first of its kind in Reno County — allowing their more than 250 employees to receive free medical care.
“By focusing on preventative care, it will help us control our health care cost in the future,” said Kent Tyler, president of Collins Bus. “It is an investment. It is costing us, but in the long term we hope we, as well as our employees, see the benefits.”
Care for illness is available at the clinic, but the focus will be on preventative medicine in the form of health assessments and screenings for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and cancer.
Medical care made quick for workers downtown
Several large employers in downtown Akron are hoping they’ve found a cure for at least some cases of absenteeism and rising health costs for their workers.
On Oct. 6, CVS Caremark is opening a MinuteClinic walk-in medical practice and a retail pharmacy inside the FirstMerit Tower building on South Main Street.
The MinuteClinic and CarePlus CVS Pharmacy will be open to the public but will cater to workers at Akron-based employers who belong to a group called Employers Health Purchasing Corp. of Ohio (EHPCO).
Many of the business coalition’s members–including at least five employers headquartered in downtown Akron–use CVS Caremark to manage pharmacy benefits for their employees.
ReadyOne medical clinic: Workers praise on-site health care
Nieves Jacquez likes to rave about the clinic at ReadyOne Industries, where he has worked for the past 18 months.
The sewing machine operator said he’s used the Care Here clinic several times with satisfactory results. The best part is he doesn’t have to leave work to get medical attention.
“The staff at the clinic is great. I don’t have a lot of (financial) resources, so this benefit is very important to me,” Jacquez said. “I would like to see it continue.”
Under the leadership of board Chairman Tripper Goodman, the company opened the clinic last October as an enhanced benefit for employees.
Employee health and productivity — a growth segment
If employers got their collective hands on Aladdin’s lamp, they’d wish for:
- Increased employee accountability
- Reduced health risks
- Tailored health management programs that account for risk
- Health data and measurement tools that feed into analytics and outcomes measures, and
- Integrated and well-managed benefits and programs
These wishes are brought to you by Hewitt Associates’ 2008 survey, The Road Ahead: Driving Productivity by Investing in Health.
City of Gainesville’s Wellness Center opens
The City of Gainesville opened its new wellness center for employees, their families and city retirees Thursday morning off Queen City Parkway near I-985.
Human Resources Director Joan Sheffield said it’s about more than cutting health insurance cost; it’s also a community-wide initiative aimed at providing a safe medical care haven.
Sheffield said coming here is voluntary, but there’s no co-pay.
“It will not be a requirement. This is a totally voluntary clinic,” Sheffield said. “If they choose to stay with their own provider they may do that through our insurance program, but they will continue to pay the co-pay associated with that office visit and any co-pays associated with prescription drugs.
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