Posted by TDCTY Editor on January 10th, 2008
On-site clinics are generally staffed by physicians and nurses, who usually treat minor injuries and illnesses, such as the flu, earaches, minor cuts, etc. The clinics also provide X-ray and pharmaceutical services.
Most employers use outside contractors to run these facilities. The big three providers are Comprehensive Health Services, CHD Meridian and Whole Health Management. Comprehensive Health Services says clients usually see a positive return on their investments within two years, ranging as high as $4 for every $1 a company spends. The largest savings come from avoiding emergency room visits.
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Posted by TDCTY Editor on December 12th, 2007
FalconStor Software, Inc., the market leader in disk-based data protection solutions, announced today that Whole Health Management, Inc., a leading operator of on-site corporate health and wellness centers, has implemented the FalconStor(R) Network Storage Server (NSS), powered by the FalconStor(R) IPStor(R) virtualization platform. Chi Corporation, a leading FalconStor Solution Provider partner, integrated the FalconStor IPStor SAN consisting of two NSS appliances into Whole Health’s existing SAN infrastructure.
Chi integrated two NSS appliances into a High Availability (HA) cluster with 24 drives each, housed at Whole Health’s secure data center, to manage Whole Health’s SAN infrastructure. The SAN hosts Whole Health’s critical business operations data and utilizes TimeMark(R) snapshots and replication option between the FalconStor NSS at the main office and the remote data center for disaster recovery.
“We store everything from email to confidential electronic medical records,” said Chuck Siemon, Chief Information Officer at Whole Health. “The FalconStor NSS saves us time and money, optimizing the use of disk space and no longer requiring the reconfiguring or ordering of new disks for each server we purchase. Due to the FalconStor NSS’ snapshot capabilities, we have a solution that is better than data encryption for protecting copies of our data. We are confident that the FalconStor NSS will keep our confidential healthcare data secure and in compliance with HIPAA regulations.”
Whole Health chose the FalconStor NSS as a long-term solution that will grow with their data. Currently, they are using approximately 60 percent of their 4TB capacity.
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Posted by TDCTY Editor on October 7th, 2007
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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Posted by TDCTY Editor on September 7th, 2007
Spiraling health-care costs were becoming a major pain to Harrah’s Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman. He wanted a plan to slow the ever-growing medical bills his company and its employees were facing. Thus, he asked the company’s senior executives and benefits division to come up with a two-pronged plan to help control costs while providing employees more and better services.
One of the results of this assignment is the $2.5 million Harrah’s Health and Wellness Center, which opened in January on Flamingo Road west of the Gold Coast.
The 7,000-square-foot medical clinic offers both urgent care and primary care on the second floor of a former Las Vegas College building. The downstairs is a fitness center with 12,000 square feet of weights, treadmills and exercise rooms.
“Our employees have asked for high-quality health care at affordable rates,” said Loveman during the center’s opening. “This is both affordable and convenient.”
Only employees covered under Harrah’s health plan can use the medical clinic, but the fitness center is open to everyone who works at the company.
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Posted by TDCTY Editor on March 19th, 2007
With employee health coverage premiums rising 7.7 percent last year, sick days have become more than a scheduling nuisance for area employers.
They are a threat to the bottom line, and one San Diego-based corporation pioneering a much-needed vaccine is Qualcomm Inc.
Working with Cleveland-based Whole Health Management Inc., Qualcomm is developing a comprehensive on-site medical clinic for its 7,000 local employees.
Qualcomm already operates a small on-site center for immediate health needs but it is planning to open a larger 5,000-square-foot clinic this summer. Details about what services might be offered are still being discussed, according to a spokeswoman.
The use by large corporations of on-site medical clinics is growing. About 100 of the country’s largest employers offer on-site primary care or preventive services, ranging from a nurse on the payroll to multi-room facilities with extended hours staffed by physicians offering services such as X-rays. The number is expected to grow to as many as 250 by year end.
Sara Crate, senior vice president of business development for Whole Health, said her company will open 20 new or expanded on-site medical clinics this year. The business started 25 years ago to serve NASA employees.
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