Posts Tagged ‘Perdue Farms’
The Doctor Is In-House
Tom Hopkins was at work when he felt the pain in his chest and abdomen. It seemed minor, but the health professionals at his company’s on-site wellness center urged him to go to the hospital, where doctors found problems with his heart.
Two days later, Hopkins underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. Now enjoying a healthy recovery, he credits the worksite clinic with saving his life.
“If it wasn’t for the clinic, I probably would not have gone to the doctor right away, and who knows what would have happened,” says Hopkins, manager of the Central Florida Market Unit of the Pepsi Bottling Group, in Orlando, Fla.
Stories like Hopkins’ are becoming more common as businesses increasingly adopt a new approach to the old model of employer-sponsored health benefits. Reminiscent of the “company doctor” of years past, today’s trend of providing on-site medical care is building rapidly, experts say, spurred largely by the fact that these on-site facilities enable employers to better manage—and even scale back the growth rate of—their health care expenses.
“I think it’s a modern model that is indeed proving to be cost-effective,” says Sean Sullivan, president, CEO and co-founder of the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, a nonprofit corporation in Scottsdale, Ariz., that works to link employee health to corporate performance. “Not only does it pick up health issues earlier, but it doesn’t require time away from work and at the same time creates a culture of caring.”
Companies forming own health clinics
In his medical practice, Peter Krause now allots a full hour for new patients and a half an hour for routine visits.
The additional time has changed the way he practices medicine.
“You have more time to think about each individual problem the patient has,” said Krause, a family-practice physician. “It allows you to slow down your whole thinking process, so that you are more thorough.”
Krause’s new practice is at Kohl’s Wellness Center, a family-practice clinic less than a half a mile from the company’s corporate headquarters in Menomonee Falls.
The clinic, which opened in July, is one of at least eight in Wisconsin run by companies. It also is part of a growing trend in which large companies try to rein in rising health care costs by providing the care themselves.
Many of those companies - including Quad/Graphics, one of the first to set up its own clinics - have shown that they can provide better care at a lower overall cost.
They’ve done that partly by focusing on primary care and prevention.
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