Employee Health Clinic Concept Moving Forward

In October and November of 2010, while researching ways self-insured entities like the Escambia County School District could save money on Employee Health Plan costs, I read a lot about walk- in Employee Health Clinics. 

I found that many municipalities, school districts, and county governments were establishing their own clinics to save money and provide employees a low cost alternative to going to the Emergency Room, a Primary Care Physician, or an Acute Care Facility.

Several school districts in Florida, Including St. Johns County and Manatee County, had clinics up and running that were successes at that time (2010). 

I spoke with the Risk Manager for the city of Ocoee, who told me their city’s clinic had been established for years and had been a huge success.

So I contacted some companies, gathered my materials and presented the concept to the school board at the November, 2010 meeting.  I explained that I felt this sort of an employee clinic concept could alleviate some of the pressure on our plan due to rising health costs.  The Board and the Superintendent’s staff were generally positive about the idea.

For the next year, the staff and our Health Care Consultant, Gallagher Benefits, studied the concept and formulated a plan and a cost estimate.  This estimate and a summary was presented to the school board one year after the idea was initially discussed, in November of 2011.

In early 2012, we terminated our relationship with Gallagher, and established a relationship with a new benefits consultant.  The new consultant, utilizing input from staff, the internal auditing department, the employee unions,  and the School Board, produced an RFI in early April, of 2012.  From the RFI, a group of several interested companies provided input into what a plan for the Escambia County School District could look like. 

From all the research and fact finding, an RFP was put out for an employee clinic.  A total of Eight companies responded to the RFP over the last few months.  Within that time span, the list was whittled down to two companies, and from the two companies, one company was selected, unanimously by the benefits committee and the Superintendent  to present their plan to the school board.

That Company, Marathon-Health of Vermont, gave an excellent presentation to the school board yesterday on the subject of the positive aspects of an employee wellness plan and clinic.  The presentation allowed for Board members to ask questions and elicit feedback from the company.  I was extremely impressed with the presentation by Jerry Ford and his team from Marathon.  The video of the meeting, including the question and answer session between Marathon and the School Board, can be found here

What a fantastic benefit this clinic will be for ALL employees!  A true win-win that will also save precious taxpayer dollars in the process.